Birmingham City: Blues chairman 'supportive', says manager Steve Cotterill

Blues boss Steve Cotterill did not make a signing in the January transfer window

Birmingham City boss Steve Cotterill believes this week's visit of the club's Hong Kong-based chairman to the West Midlands was "supportive" in their quest to avoid Championship relegation.

Cotterill was on the receiving end from fans last weekend, both on social media and in physical terms, after being struck by a plastic pop bottle.

"I'm hurt, for sure," he told BBC WM. "There's no point saying you're not.

"But the conversation I had with the chairman was very positive."

The 53-year-old's meeting with Zhao Wenqing, chairman of the club's parent company, Birmingham Sports Holding Ltd, occurred on Monday evening.

It gave the Blues boss the platform to put across his point of view that their untimely run of four straight defeats, following an improvement in fortunes in January, is a direct result of not being able to strengthen his squad in the window.

Chairman has 'clearer picture'

"Being the distance he is away from the football club, and the time zones, he now has more of an idea of what's gone on," said Cotterill.

"He now has a clearer picture of an important two months and, more importantly, what went on in January, because February is a result of what didn't perhaps happen in January.

"He's incredibly supportive. He also came in the following day and spoke to the players collectively and a few individually.

"Under normal circumstances, as manager, you're not sure you'd want that but I was quite happy as I had a pretty good idea what would come out of the players' mouths."

The board's perceived reluctance to spend money in January followed costly support they gave to Cotterill's two predecessors, Gianfranco Zola and Harry Redknapp.

In figures released on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange on Wednesday, Birmingham's parent company announced a six-month loss of £17.8m up to December 2017 - more than the £16.7m lost in the year from July 1 2016 to June 30 2017.

And worried supporters that after near misses in 2014 and again last season, this time they might drop into English football's third tier for the first time since 1995.

'We've enough in our locker'

Cotterill insists the club have a "good set" of fans despite the missile directed at him.

"Things get hyped up by the media about something being thrown at me," he said.

"I'm sorry for our performances over the last month. But, whether they think I didn't want to get in anyone in January, that is wide of the mark.

"There have been mitigating circumstances to why we didn't continue that flow from January.

"That window was a bugbear then Jonathan Grounds got injured and that was the start of our problematic February.

"We've also had disruptions in midfield. We've not been able to get the dynamics right. And we can't afford too many disruptions

"But, had we taken our chances against both Barnsley and Millwall, we'd have gone on to win both games. And I do think we've got enough in our locker to stay up."

The harsh facts

• Birmingham are 22nd in the Championship, two points adrift of safety, with 12 games left.

• They are still the lowest scorers in this season's EFL - with just 22 goals from 34 games. Southampton loan signing Sam Gallagher is top league scorer with six.

• Only Bolton have a worse away record this season in the Championship.

• After 12 goals in 21 Championship appearances for Brentford last season, record signing Jota has scored in just one of his 23 games for Blues - a double in a 3-1 win at Sheffield Wednesday.

Steve Cotterill was talking to BBC WM's Richard Wilford