Mon Oct 02, 2017 8:18 pm
STEVE COTTERILL: NO HARRY ADVICE
02/10/17
Steve Cotterill insists he has not contacted Harry Redknapp for advice on Birmingham's squad after replacing him as manager.
Redknapp, with Cotterill as his assistant, led Birmingham to a dramatic escape from relegation to Sky Bet League One last season, only to be sacked following six successive defeats in the current campaign.
The 70-year-old was backed with heavy investment in the squad during the transfer window from Birmingham's Chinese owners, Trillion Trophy Asia, bringing in 14 new players, but Cotterill, who left Birmingham in the summer as he wanted to be a manager in his own right, insists he did not need to call on his predecessor to find out about the new recruits at St Andrew's.
"I think I would know them as well as Harry would know them," Cotterill said at his first press conference as Birmingham manager, after being presented by chief executive Xuandong Ren, who asked to be known as Dong.
"First and foremost this dressing room needs to breathe a little bit and find out who is where and who is doing what. The answer is not always bringing players in, bringing players in and bringing players in. Sometimes the answer is coach them.
"If they can't do what you want them to do then maybe go to the chairman, to Dong, and say can we go and purchase this player."