Express & Star

Birmingham chairman David Gold insists manager Alex McLeish retains the faith of the board despite the club’s precarious position.

Blues were pushed to the brink of relegation from the Premier League with the 2-0 defeat by Fulham, increasing the pressure on McLeish.

McLeish replaced Steve Bruce - who has subsequently steered Wigan to safety - last November but Gold vowed he will not be sacked even if Birmingham go down.

“If Birmingham are relegated we will stick with Alex,” he said. “The tradition of Birmingham is that in the board’s 16 years in charge we’ve only fired two managers.

“We have great faith and believe in Alex and his backroom staff.”

Gold believes Birmingham’s board must share the blame for the club’s impending relegation - they must defeat Blackburn next Sunday to have any hope of staying up.

But if Fulham beat Portsmouth, Birmingham and Reading will both be relegated along with Derby.

Gold admits mistakes were made during Carson Yeung’s failed takeover and insists the club will be far more cautious when approached by potential buyers in the future.

“We couldn’t hang on to Steve Bruce. We needed to enhance his contact and the takeover board refused permission to do that,” he said.

“There’s no doubt the board made mistakes in allowing the takeover to take three months to collapse.

“Had we realised earlier that it was going to collapse we could have acted.

“Now we would only sell the club to a seriously wealthy potential owner who is capable of taking it further.

“We would want an owner who can challenge the top six otherwise there’s no point changing. But we’re not actively looking.”

McLeish heads into the most important week of the season insisting he can turn around the club’s fortunes.

Blues crashed to a devastating 2-0 defeat at Fulham thanks to second half goals from Brian McBride and Erik Nevland. McBride converted Jimmy Bullard’s 52nd-minute free-kick to nudge Fulham ahead before Nevland pounced late on to register the club’s first back-to-back top flight wins since September, 2006.

McLeish is trying to remain optimistic as he prepares for the final day drama.

He said: “I’ve said before that the team will be built over a period of time rather than overnight, but a lot of the guys are heading in the right direction.

“I would love the next game to be in a couple of days because we need to get this out of our system. But the players also need some time to rest up and get their energy back because we looked a bit leggy against Fulham.

“We certainly need to be razor-sharp next week. We have to go for the win and do what Fulham have done over the last few weeks - throw caution to the wind and get the result.”

Good news for Blues fans is that McLeish brushed aside any stories suggesting thatÊhe hadÊa row with captain Damien Johnson after the Fulham defeat.

The pair appeared to haveÊan argumentÊafter the full-time whistle. But McLeish added: “Not at all. I was just asking him to wave to the fans.”

Fulham: Keller, Stalteri, Hughes, Hangeland, Konchesky, Davies, Bullard (Andreasen 88), Murphy, Dempsey (Healy 90), Kamara (Nevland 67), McBride. Subs not used: Warner, Bocanegra.

Birmingham: Maik Taylor, Kelly, Jaidi, Ridgewell (Queudrue 46), Murphy, Larsson, Muamba, Johnson, Kapo (Zarate 58), Forssell (Jerome 74), McFadden. Subs not used: Doyle, Parnaby.

Attendance: 25,308. Referee: Chris Foy (Merseyside).