Thoughts On Birmingham City Manager Alex McLeish Airing His Dirty Laundry Regarding Two Fulham Strikers - Opinion

I have been reading comments over the weekend by Birmingham City Manager Alex McLeish regarding two Fulham strikers he was not able to attain in the transfer window. In these two articles in the Birmingham Mail, there are quotes from McLeish talking about his attempts to land Fulham strikers Bobby Zamora and Moussa Dembele. I have some thoughts on Alex McLeish airing his dirty laundry regarding the two Fulham strikers.      

Let me start by saying I have much respect for the job Alex McLeish did last year as manager of Birmingham City. This club I think is a team to watch this season. They are a very disciplined team that could contend for a European spot in the EPL this season.

With that said, I was surprised to read quotes from him regarding transfer attempts to land current Fulham players Bobby Zamora and Moussa Dembele. In my opinion, there is no reason to discuss to the media about the players he could not get in the transfer window.  He should be concentrating on the players he has on his own club. What good can come out of airing his dirty laundry?    

According to the Birmingham Mail, Birmingham City after the season ended made a bid of around £8 million to Fulham for Bobby Zamora that was turned down. Alex McLeish discusses why he did not make another attempt to land Bobby Zamora. 

Here are quotes below from Birmingham City manager Alex McLeish that come from the Birmingham Mail.

' I  never went back in for him officially, for Bobby.'

'We sounded out Fulham privately but we never made an issue of it because I had read Mark Hughes comments in the newspaper about  him being a focal point for Fulham and that he had started the season great.'

 

There is no good reason to me to talk about Zamora to the press. I have a feeling he is discussing Zamora to show to the public that he was trying to upgrade his club. For me I don't need a manager to talk about players he could not bring to the club. I want to know about the players the manager did bring to the team. I think this is just sour grapes from McLeish in not being able to land Zamora.

Also, according to the Birmingham Mail, Alex McLeish discusses his thoughts on why he was not able to land Moussa Dembele. The article discuss that McLeish has a feeling that Dembele's agent could have been a huge factor in why he went to Fulham instead of signing with Birmingham City. I have quotes from the Birmingham City manager mentioning Dembele's agent and his potential role in the player going to Fulham. These quotes come from the Birmingham Mail.

Below are quotes from Birmingham City manager Alex McLeish that come from an article in the Birmingham Mail.

   McLeish stated,'We believe the agent had told his father and Dembele that we offered less than we actually did offer.

'That was why Dembele talked to Fulham. So we don’t know, maybe the agent on the other side of things was getting more money in the other deal.' This quote was also from Alex McLeish.

 

In my opinion, the Dembele situation is a classic case of sour grapes from the Birmingham City manager. He sounds like he was very disappointed in not landing Dembele. I understand that by why he is he complaining about it? Football is a business and every team is going to lose out on players.

There was speculation that Fulham were interested in Eidur Gudjohnsen for awhile. He ended up siging with Stoke on the last day of the transfer window. I haven't ready anywhere that Mark Hughes was complaining about not getting that player.

It is a part of the game dealing with agents, and I don't see where complaining about Dembele's agent benefits Birmingham City in the future. Alex McLeish is a fine manager. I think he is better than this. Complaining to the press doesn't show me anything as a fan. I want my manager to worry about my club, and not discuss what I did not complete for my team.    

I understand the press are going to ask questions, but there are ways of answering the question without telling them anything. He could have easily handled these questions by saying he doesn't comment on other teams players. I feel that would have been the best way to handle questions on both Zamora and Dembele.

In my opinion, Alex McLeish did himself no favors in discussing players he could not bring to Birmingham City. I wish he kept his feelings about these situations to himself. Instead, he sounds like a manager that has not gotten over losing out on two potential strikers for his team.