The board of Birmingham have reacted angrily to claims by former boss Alex McLeish that they interfered with his transfer negotiations. The Scot resigned from his role with Birmingham earlier this month before joining bitter rivals Aston Villa, and the Blues are involved in a legal dispute over his exit.
The statement from Birmingham read: "The club is disturbed and very concerned with the recent reporting by selective, and we believe agenda-led, reporters suggesting that the Birmingham City board had interfered with the previous manager in the transfer market. That is factually incorrect and the club did, on June 14, 2011, release a statement stating our position.
"It is reiterated very strongly that there is a robust system in place whereby only players with the written authorisation of the manager had ever arrived at the club under the previous manager and will still be the case going forward.
"Players recommended by the board, such as, Babel, Odemwingie, Pennant and a Chinese player, for commercial reasons, didn't arrive as no approval was forthcoming from the manager.
"Players such as (Fulham forward Mousa) Dembele chose not to come and (Wigan winger Charles) N'Zogbia due to his sudden demand for a last-minute increase in wages.
"In the case of (Bobby) Zamora, it was felt there had been quite a few injuries and anyway he signed a massive new contract at Fulham due to our approach.
"As the legal dispute is ongoing, it is appropriate that this myth of interference is put to rest once and for all."
