Krong Angkor

Birmingham owner's funds boast backfired: director

BIRMINGHAM, England (AFP) - Carson Yeung's pledge to give Birmingham manager Alex McLeish up to 40 million pounds to spend in the transfer market backfired as rival clubs racked up asking prices for players, a club director has reportedly admitted.

Yeung, the Birmingham owner, made his pledge shortly after taking over the club in October and Birmingham's vice-chairman Peter Pannu believes the Hong Kong businessman would have been wise to be more discreet about his spending plans.

"It was not particularly helpful that our chairman indicated a desire to buy players in January and spend some money," Pannu was quoted as saying by The Guardian. "I think that raised expectations among the clubs that we approached."

McLeish had made a new striker his priority during the transfer window but Birmingham's moves for Germany forward Kevin Kuranyi, Liverpool winger Ryan Babel, Sunderland's Kenwyne Jones and Tottenham's Russian international Roman Pavlyuchenko all came to nothing.

Pannu said the asking price for Pavlyuchenko had gone from 10 million pounds to 15 million plus during the course of negotiations with Spurs while Kuranyi's wage demands doubled.

"We have every support possible from Carson," Pannu stressed. "There is no problem there. The problem we have is the way some of these clubs have behaved. We have been messed around."

Birmingham winger James McFadden meanwhile has backed team-mate Barry Ferguson to make a successful return to the Scotland squad following Craig Levein's appointment as manager.

Ferguson was banished from the international set-up last season following an all-night drinking session between two World Cup qualifiers and a subsequent furore over obscene gestures he made to photographers.

Levein has promised a fresh start however and McFadden believes Ferguson, 32, has earned a recall on the strength of his outstanding form for Birmingham this season.

"Everybody that watches Birmingham can see what a good player Barry is," McFadden said. "In his last year up in Scotland, he was maybe starting to doubt himself a little bit but he has come here and shown everybody exactly how good he is.

"He has been brilliant for Birmingham and a big part of the reason that we've had such a great run.

"I think he's still got a big contribution to make in the international scene. I think it would be great for the country if Barry did come back in."