RIDGEWELL DELIGHTED WITH NEW MAN MCLEISH
Alex McLeish would rather avoid relegation with his new club Birmingham City than have qualified for Euro 2008 with Scotland - captain Liam Ridgewell thinks. And the former Aston Villa centre-back is delighted with the impact the new manager has had on his team’s confidence.
He believes that the 48-year-old, who won seven trophies in five years at Rangers before taking the reins of the Scottish national team in January, is just the man to steer Birmingham in the right direction.
Before Birmingham’s 3-2 away win over Tottenham the erstwhile Scotland head coach, who started at St Andrews last week, had instilled a fearless belief into the team, which reaped immediate rewards.
The 23-year-old said: “For Scotland not to go through to Euro 2008 is very disappointing for Alex. But it will be more of an accolade for him to keep Birmingham City in the Premier League. We are all pushing hard to try and make sure we do that.
“I think he is a great manager and it’s a great shout to get him. All the players are happy that he is here, and that he has brought in all his backroom staff too. I’m sure we will go from strength to strength.”
Ridgewell continued: “He just told us to go out there against Spurs with a bit of confidence and to have the belief to play your game and do what you do.
“Alex has seen a couple of our games that we have played and has seen the desire that is there. He told us to go out and build on that, and not fear any side.”
Sebastian Larsson won the game for Birmingham with a potential goal-of-the-season strike, in deep injury time, to bring Tottenham manager Juande Ramos’ unbeaten start to an end.
“It was an unbelievable, fantastic strike,” added the defender. “I’m sure Sebastian’s never hit one like that before. He’ll hopefully do another one next week. We’ll have to practice them in training a little more!”
Alex McLeish would rather avoid relegation with his new club Birmingham City than have qualified for Euro 2008 with Scotland - captain Liam Ridgewell thinks. And the former Aston Villa centre-back is delighted with the impact the new manager has had on his team’s confidence.
He believes that the 48-year-old, who won seven trophies in five years at Rangers before taking the reins of the Scottish national team in January, is just the man to steer Birmingham in the right direction.
Before Birmingham’s 3-2 away win over Tottenham the erstwhile Scotland head coach, who started at St Andrews last week, had instilled a fearless belief into the team, which reaped immediate rewards.
The 23-year-old said: “For Scotland not to go through to Euro 2008 is very disappointing for Alex. But it will be more of an accolade for him to keep Birmingham City in the Premier League. We are all pushing hard to try and make sure we do that.
“I think he is a great manager and it’s a great shout to get him. All the players are happy that he is here, and that he has brought in all his backroom staff too. I’m sure we will go from strength to strength.”
Ridgewell continued: “He just told us to go out there against Spurs with a bit of confidence and to have the belief to play your game and do what you do.
“Alex has seen a couple of our games that we have played and has seen the desire that is there. He told us to go out and build on that, and not fear any side.”
Sebastian Larsson won the game for Birmingham with a potential goal-of-the-season strike, in deep injury time, to bring Tottenham manager Juande Ramos’ unbeaten start to an end.
“It was an unbelievable, fantastic strike,” added the defender. “I’m sure Sebastian’s never hit one like that before. He’ll hopefully do another one next week. We’ll have to practice them in training a little more!”
Labels: Alex McLeish, Birmingham, football, Liam Ridgewell, Premier League, Tottenham
