New contract can wait for McLeish
Birmingham manager Alex McLeish will not talk with the club's new owners about a new contract until survival in their first season back in the Premier League is achieved.
The Carson Yeung era officially began this week at St Andrew's as the Hong Kong businessman completed his takeover of Blues, bringing to an end 16 years of the David Sullivan and David Gold regime in a £81.5million deal.
The new set-up, after voicing their confidence in the current manager, have already promised a £40million transfer kitty for new players in the January transfer window.
That will be expected to be enough to keep Blues in the top-flight in May, when the future of the boss - who is on a rolling contract - will again be discussed.
McLeish is happy to wait until then and channel all of his energies into the team.
He said: "A new contract is the furthest thing in my mind to be honest. I've got my head down here at Birmingham City since the day I arrived about two years ago and it's been really about staying in the Premier League.
"We couldn't do it at the end of my first six months here, but we came back up the first time.
"Again we can talk about all these things if survival is achieved. But I'm not interested. It's not about money for me.
"It's about ambition, it's about winning, it's about getting these players to get tougher and stronger mentalities to help them become better players."
McLeish may have a little more money to play with come January, but the manager insists the club won't be held to ransom when buying players.
He said: "We will not pay over the odds, because that is the road to ruin. If, for example, we are competing with a club and have to pay a little bit more to acquire a player we want, then we may look at that – but not if the selling club decide to double the price.
"I think we still have to realise we are not Manchester City, Manchester United, Liverpool. Let's not get carried away with ourselves.
"We will still target a certain type of player, but I know there are players out there who can enhance my first XI and they would be within reasonable parameters.
"But we are not going to go out and look for an Adebayor all of a sudden. I come from a prudent background and worked at clubs where I turned the lights off in every room."
