McLeish to keep job at Birmingham

Birmingham City have said that Alex McLeish will stay on as manager despite failing to prevent his side from being relegated from the Premier League on Sunday. The drop for the Blues came when they lost 2-1 to Tottenham at White Hart Lane on the last day of the season joining West Ham United and Blackpool into the Championship for next season. Birmingham's acting chairman Peter Pannu told the club's official website that McLeish's job is "safe". But the Scot has been told the board expect him to lead the team back to the top flight at the first attempt next season. Birmingham will play in the Europa League next season after their win in the League Cup three months ago. "The board will take stock of what went wrong this season despite Carson Yeung's promised injection of £40million in funds - not £80m as the media wrongly assumed," Pannu added. "The board will closely discuss and implement appropriate procedures to ensure a speedy return to the top flight.