Birmingham's Alex McLeish looks nailed on as manager of the month
Birmingham City's remarkable run of form is now the best at the club for over 100 years and seems sure to give Alex McLeish the manager of the month award. Arsene Wenger is the main competitor but although Arsenal have a similar league record in December (4 wins and a draw) they did lose twice in cup competitions. Given that Birmingham are now 11 games unbeaten as a newly promoted side this current run of form is surely even more praiseworthy than Arsenal getting back into the title race.
Alex McLeish's team has seemingly improved almost from the moment that the takeover was confirmed. The improvement is probably a combination of a team beginning to play together after the integration of a number of important summer recruits like Hart, Bowyer and Ferguson plus the motivation of a transfer influx funded by new money. The takeover itself may also have been of marginal importance in terms of distraction.
Of course Everton snagged a fourth place spot on the back of a barrel-load of 1-0s five years ago and Birmingham do seem to be setup in a similar fashion to David Moyes team. There is a lot of benefit in being set up with defensive strength - it makes every goal scored very valuable. Such has been Birmingham's form they can face the second half of the season considering Europe and not relegation.
Alex McLeish should be recognised for this achievement and follow Harry Redknapp (August), Sir Alex Ferguson (September), Roy Hodgson (October) and Carlo Ancelotti (November) as this season's top managers.
Birmingham City's unbeaten end to 2009:
October 2009
Birmingham 2-1 Sunderland 24-10-2009
November 2009 XXWW
Birmingham 0-0 Man City 01-11-2009
Liverpool 2-2 Birmingham 09-11-2009
Birmingham 1-0 Fulham 21-11-2009
Wolves 0-1 Birmingham 29-11-2009
December 2009 WWWXXW
Wigan 2-3 Birmingham 05-12-2009
Birmingham 1-0 West Ham 12-12-2009
Birmingham 2-1 Blackburn 15-12-2009
Everton 1-1 Birmingham 20-12-2009
Birmingham 0-0 Chelsea 26-12-2009
Stoke 0-1 Birmingham 28-12-2009
* Should Alex McLeish be manager of the month, or is Arsene Wenger or Roy Hodgson or another manager more worthy? Let us know.
