Alex: Me and Bruce are fine; BLUES NEWS.

Byline: By Colin Tattum

STEVE Bruce and Alex McLeish have cleared the air - and there is no problem between them.

After reports slanted to suggest Bruce felt McLeish should have done more with the team he left behind, the pair spoke on the telephone.

Bruce told McLeish his beef was with Blues' board, and he was responding primarily to David Sullivan's comments that most of the players Bruce signed in the summer were not up to scratch.

And Sullivan's assertion Blues did 'good business' in replacing Bruce with McLeish - a better manager, in the coowner's eyes - has always rankled Bruce.

Last week, McLeish claimed Blues had improved since he took over as boss from Bruce, who has guided Wigan Athletic to safety.

But he was not criticising his predecessor, he stressed.

"There is no problem between Steve and me," said McLeish, who brushed off accusations during the past few days that Blues would not be in danger of relegation had Bruce stayed in charge.

"I can't control what anybody else says. That's hypothetical stuff.

"Steve could have stayed and taken Birmingham clear of this, that's definitely a possibility.

Equally, Birmingham could have been adrift at the time I came in, on the back of six or seven defeats.

"So, the challenge for me was to improve things and hopefully by the end of the season avoid relegation.

"Steve may have done that but it's all guesswork. Nobody can say for certain that would have been the case."

"I can't tell people 'please don't say that, you'll hurt my feelings'," McLeish added.

"I have got to focus on what my outcome is going to be, what my challenges are and what my goal is."

Having just clocked up 150 days at the helm, McLeish reiterated it was wrong to cast him in the role of hero or villain just yet.

"I don't think you can judge me until I get some time in the job," he said.

"It wouldn't matter if Alex Ferguson or Jose Mourinho were in this job up to now, you couldn't say that they would have taken the club clear of relegation, you couldn't say that for sure.

"And we still have a chance of being clear of it, we're all talking negative terms here."

Inside St Andrew's with Blues reporter Colin Tattum. Visit birminghammail.net and click on 'Blogs

CAPTION(S):

GOOD TO TALK... former Blues boss Steve Bruce has cleared the air with Alex McLeish.