Borrower Clark gets reward
CARSON Yeung resigned from the Birmingham board last week, leaving the club’s finances even more up in the air, but, at the moment, manager Lee Clark is happy to rely on his loanee conveyer belt.
Earlier in the season Manchester United loanee Jesse Lingard was firing in Blues’ goals, and his replacement Federico Macheda is now filling his boots.
He netted a double, one in each half at the Valley, as Birmingham moved nine points clear of the drop zone.
And after sealing their first league win since December 29, Clark admitted that he has no desire to get involved in off-the-field finances.
“I have said all along that the football side is hard enough,” said the Birmingham boss. “As a manger I have never bothered with financial sides I identify players and then leave it to the financial people at the club.
“I understand what has come across from Hong Kong but for me it is just getting on a normal and I know my remit in terms of trying to bring people in.
“I know where we stand I know which market I’m in and hopefully one day that will change in terms of being able to buy play- ers. I don’t think we’re that far away if we can sort it.
“We have got Jonathan Spector and he is my only outfield player between 25 and 30.
“They’re usually players in their prime in their prime and they cost money, if not in a transfer fee then in salary.
“But this was a big, and import, win for us considering the position that both club’s find themselves in.”
On 22 minutes Macheda broke the deadlock when he got the faintest of touches to Emyr Huws’s left-footed delivery to guide the ball beyond Yohann Thuram-Ulien.
Charlton should have levelled when ten minutes later Astrit Ajdarevic released Jordan Cousins, but the young midfielder saw him low effort saved by Darren Randolph.
And the keeper had to be alert soon afterwards to keep out Ajdarevic acrobatic volley, and then Johnnie Jackson’s bobbling drive.
On 79 minutes Birmingham made the points safe when Tom Adeyemi ran half the length of the field, and then teed up Macheda to slot home his second.
Two minutes later it was almost three, but Chris Burke’s low cross narrowly eluded the in-form striker.
The defeat was Charlton’s fourth successive league loss, and under-pressure manager Chris Powell conceded that he needs to start getting some positive results if he’s to keep his job at the club for much longer.
He said: “Being a football manager you are always under pressure unless you are top of your league.
“I spoke to the owner in the week, and I’m sure I’ll speak to him again over the weekend.
“But I know I need results, the team and the club do, and we’re not getting them.
“Our pitch isn’t conducive to good football, we had some decent passages of play but we’re just going to have to be brave and fight our way out of this situation.
“We do need to push ourselves away from where we are at. We have been getting results in the cup, but I would rather swap them for Championship results.”