Barry Ferguson admits he owes his Birmingham City career to manager Alex McLeish.

Ferguson revealed that only McLeish could have tempted him to return to the Premier League and backed the under-pressure Scot to keep his job.

He told the Daily Star: "I wouldn't have signed for this club if it hadn't been for him.

"He's been great with me. We know how to get each other going. He knows how to fire me up.

"The gaffer is going to get criticised because he's the boss and we have been up and down all season. But, for me, we have a good team and it's just a case of making things click.

"Hopefully this will get us going a bit now."