Birmingham City manager Alex McLeish has given up on bringing in any new players before the transfer deadline passes on Monday.

McLeish had been hoping to complete the signing of Celtic defender Bobo Balde before midnight but after the draw at Norwich City, McLeish said he would now be looking at loan deals to bolster his squad.

The Balde deal has been a protracted affair and Blues had reportedly offered the Guinea international a two-year deal worth close to his current wages of £30,000.

However, first Balde said the deal was delayed because he was involved in an argument with Celtic over a pay-off to leave, and then reports came out of Glasgow last week that he had decided to stay in Scotland because his family was settled.

The 32-year-old has proved to be a difficult character to prize away from Celtic, which is strange considering Hoops manager Gordon Strachan has told the French-born defender he does not feature in his plans.

He has rejected offers from Sunderland and Wolverhampton Wanderers, and appears happy with reserve team football.

With the deadline drawing close, McLeish has no other targets and Blues will only do some business if something dramatic crops up today during the usual Deadline Day frenzy.

“There will be no transfer permanently, I doubt that very much,” McLeish said. “We will look at loan deals and we will do that after the deadline.

“I am pleased with the squad I have got and I think we are capable of gaining promotion if we keep all our current players fit and avoid suspensions.”

McLeish may have missed out on Balde, but he admitted he would have also lost his home had he been a gambling man.

The Blues boss said he would have put his house on striker Kevin Phillips taking the last minute chance to snatch a winner at Norwich and maintain Birmingham’s 100 per cent start to the campaign.

Phillips has already scored late winners against Sheffield United and Southampton so when Gary McSheffrey picked him out inside the Norwich penalty area in the dying seconds, McLeish admitted he thought his side were about to celebrate another victory until Canaries keeper David Marshall denied Phillips with his legs.

Had Phillips added to his three goals already this season, Blues would still be the early leaders of the Championship but in the end McLeish had to be content with just a point.

“I would have put my house on Kevin taking that chance - and I would have duly lost it,” he said. “Kevin has proved he is human but credit to Marshall for getting down his throat, it was a good save.

“Phillips is a terrific finisher and we would have wanted that chance to have fallen for Kevin, especially with the experience he has in his locker. He was the man I definitely wanted in that position.

“We are ruing those missed chances but maybe people would have seen it as us stealing it. I think that is why you look at the quality of someone like Phillips and McFadden. They can make that wee bit of difference when you are not at your best. They can make the difference between grinding a result out, sharing the spoils or even losing the game.

“We were not at our best today, I think we have more quality to find. It would be nice to still have a 100 per cent record but we have over 20 more cup ties away from home. We know that.

“We are a scalp for teams and players should take that as a compliment but we must adjust very quickly because face a load of challenges like this.”