STEVE TOLD TO BUY HIS WAY OUT OF TROUBLE
Rickie calls it a day Pep’s Catalonia plea
BIRMINGHAM have told new boss Steve Cotterill to carry on spending – despite Harry Redknapp’s transfer splurge.
Blues’ Chinese owners have promised Cotterill a January transfer war chest after backing former boss Redknapp to the tune of £16m this summer.
And CEO Xuandong Ren claims that Birmingham can still finish above local rivals Aston Villa this season.
The club also hiked their wage bill and splashed out on loan fees to bring in 14 new players in the summer but are third from bottom, 15 places and 11 points below Villa. “We invested heavily in the FORMER Southampton, West Brom and Liverpool striker Rickie Lambert has retired from football.
Lambert, without a club since leaving Cardiff in the summer, said: “I have had some ups and downs in my career, but to have represented Southampton and Liverpool, and playing for my country in a World Cup, were beyond my wildest dreams.’’
The 35-year-old, who scored three goals in 11 appearances for England, added: “Playing and scoring for England is probably my proudest professional moment and I will look back at every aspect of how I got there ® summer and in the future we will back Steve Cotterill in the coming window in January and next summer,” said Ren.
“If it takes more investment for us to get to the Premier League, we will do it
“If it takes a longer period of time for us to get back in there, we will.”
Ren says casino firm Trillion Trophy Asia, who bought the club a year ago, will not fall foul of financial fair play rules despite their big spending.
He added: “Certainly we need to follow the rules of football in this country in every respect.
“The rules are the rules. Everything we ® with fond memories.” In total, Lambert scored 241 goals in 701 games for nine different clubs in all four top divisions.
He finally made it to the Premier League at the age of 30 and said: “I would like to thank the fans of all of the clubs I played for but especially at Southampton, where I enjoyed my best years as a footballer and had a special relationship with everyone connected to the club.
“Thank you to all the players I have played with and all the managers that I have played for throughout my career.’’ do here, we follow the rules. We are not going to risk any interest of this club under any circumstances. We follow the rules.”
Cotterill is the club’s fourth manager in less than a year under TTA after the sacking of Redknapp just 10 games into the season.
The veteran former Spurs boss told an after-dinner audience last week that a fully-fit Blues squad would finish above Villa and Ren said: “Harry was saying the other day that five of our good players are not fit at the moment and not playing.
“That is one thing I couldn’t agree more with. When all of our players are fit and back in the squad, we will finish above Villa this season.”
Ex-Burnley boss Cotterill took charge officially yesterday two days after watching his new side thrashed 6-1 at Hull to stay rooted in the relegation zone.
He said: “When you don’t have a very good start and you’re down the bottom of the Championship, it is hard to get out of it because you’ve got to make winning a habit again.
“It looks like they didn’t have that in the tank at the beginning of the season – or in the tank for the majority of last season.
“So something’s got to snap quickly into shape for us to go on a good run.” ®