As the Birmingham players collected their medals and took it in turns to lift the Carling Cup, it was no surprise that the loudest cheer from their euphoric supporters was reserved for Alex McLeish. This, after all, is the manager who delivered automatic promotion in his first full season, Birmingham's highest top-flight finish in 51 years in his second campaign and now the club's first major piece of silverware since they won the League Cup in 1963.
It is a remarkable CV and one that will surely not have escaped the attention of the Premier League's leading clubs, especially as everything he has achieved has been despite such limited funds. Perhaps the Birmingham board also now appreciate the qualities of the man at the helm. "No [José] Mourinho" and "not totally tried and tested yet," said Peter Pannu, Birmingham's vice-chairman, at the start of the season, when contract negotiations with McLeish were at an impasse.
How grateful they must be that he eventually put pen to paper. McLeish joked that Carson Yeung, who flew over from Hong Kong to watch the game on his 51st birthday, could be forgiven for believing that life is always rosy at St Andrew's given the success that has coincided with his tenure. "I am pleased for Carson," the Birmingham manager said. "He must think it's easy being the owner of a football club what with ninth position last year and winning the cup."
Yet Birmingham supporters with much longer memories know that this is a club that has endured more than its share of pain over the last few decades. There were the embarrassing FA Cup defeats to non-league Altrincham and Kidderminster and the humiliation of relegation to the third tier of English football in 1989. Over the next few years Birmingham visited Wembley but it was a measure of how far the club had fallen that the Football League Trophy was the prize they were pursuing.
Trevor Francis breathed new life into the club when he replaced Barry Fry in 1996 but it was not until Steve Bruce was appointed as manager, five years later, that Birmingham discovered a formula to return to the top flight. Bruce's record at St Andrew's should not be dismissed but by breaking into the Premier League top 10 and adding a major cup to a trophy cabinet that has been gathering dust for so long McLeish stands alone.
He won two Scottish Premier League titles and five domestic cups with Rangers but it is understandable that he described Birmingham's victory over Arsenal as his "best achievement ever as a manager". After all, it is taken as a given that Rangers will compete for silverware every season, yet nobody expects to see Birmingham in major finals, let alone beating a side that was acclaimed less than a fortnight ago for turning over Barcelona.
Birmingham's success over the past couple of years has owed much to the organisation and resilience that McLeish has instilled in his players and so it proved again against Arsenal. The Birmingham manager set his team up in a 4-5-1 formation, where his players were encouraged to perform at a high tempo and press Arsenal whenever they were without the ball but, crucially, also to get forward in numbers to support the lone figure of Nikola Zigic whenever possession exchanged hands.
Lee Bowyer followed his instructions to the letter and ought to have been rewarded for the first of the countless runs from deep that he made, only for the assistant referee to judge incorrectly that he was offside after he was brought down by Wojciech Szczesny, the Arsenal keeper. It would have been easy for McLeish's players to dwell on that moment and lament the penalty they were denied as well as the fact that Szczesny remained on the pitch but instead they showed their admirable character. There were heroes everywhere. Ben Foster was outstanding in goal, while Martin Jiranek and Roger Johnson were resolute in front of him, expertly marshalled by Stephen Carr, whom McLeish coaxed out of retirement two years ago. In midfield the indefatigable Bowyer was a constant menace to Arsenal and his probing runs were complemented by Barry Ferguson's composure. And then there was Zigic, who has gone from being a laughing stock to a legend.
Trips to the continent now beckon for Birmingham who, lest it be forgotten, were the first English club to take part in European competition, when they competed in the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup in 1956. Birmingham went on to reach the semi-finals that season before losing to Barcelona. It was hardly a sign of things to come for Birmingham supporters, although with McLeish at the helm the dark days of the past are beginning to feel like a distant memory.
