New Birmingham City manager Alex McLeish insists he already knows everything about the Premier League - despite Sunday's trip to Tottenham being his first match in charge south of the border.

McLeish's management experience has so far been restricted to spells in charge of Motherwell, Hibernian, Rangers and Scotland.  But he has kept tabs on events in the Premier League and has been an avid viewer of games on television - even if it has not always gone down well in the McLeish household.

He said: "If I wasn't at a game there was nothing like settling down on a Sunday and watching three or four games in a row. Her indoors is not too happy about it but I have followed the Premiership since its inception.

"There is probably no squad that I don't know about and no players that I don't know about."

McLeish hopes he can get the Birmingham squad to fulfil their potential after a run of six defeats in seven games left them just a point above the relegation zone.  He added: "I know that Birmingham added some young players in the summer as Steve Bruce wanted to take a youthful approach.

"It is up to them to show what they can do and to show that they can be Premiership players. There are a lot of young players here who have to realise their potential.

"But myself, Roy Aitken and Andy Watson aim to use our experience to get that out of them."

While McLeish starts his reign on the road at White Hart Lane, he is well aware that it is the form at St Andrew's that could hold the key to whether Blues retain their Premier League status. He wants to turn St Andrew's into a fortress and that was one of the issues he discussed with Aitken before he took the job.

Aitken sampled a full and hostile St Andrew's when he was assistant manager at their arch rivals Aston Villa.
"Big Roy spoke about the passion of the fans and we spoke about trying to make St Andrews a fortress again," added McLeish.  "I know that a lot of players over the years have said it was a very difficult place to visit."