Alex McLeish, the Birmingham City manager, was given the go-ahead yesterday to start planning for his first transfer window as a Barclays Premier League manager after David Gold labelled Carson Yeung’s takeover as “dead in the water” and pledged to oversee a “period of stability” at St Andrew’s. The chairman insists that the club will not entertain any more takeover bids until next summer at the earliest.

Yeung, the Hong Kong-based businessman, technically has until midnight on Friday to provide proof that he can finance the additional £35 million required to complete the takeover that he set in motion last summer with his £15 million purchase of 29.9 per cent of the club’s shares. But Gold has drawn a line under the saga and says that he would not welcome a repeat scenario with any other potential new owners this season.

“We now need a period of stability,” Gold said. “We will do nothing now. We can’t stop people making inquiries. We will concentrate 100 per cent from now until the end of the season on Birmingham staying in the Premier League. We won’t entertain anything until the summer.

“Our fans have been to hell and back and so have the staff. The board has also gone through a difficult time over this. Now is the time to focus on staying in the Premier League that everyone worked so hard to get back into last season.

“It is still technically plausible that Mr Yeung could walk into the football club and put a cheque on the table, but . . . the process would have had to have started by now. As far as I am concerned, the deal is dead in the water.”

This was the situation envisaged by McLeish when he decided to step down from managing Scotland to succeed Steve Bruce last month but, as he assesses his players after three games in charge, the confirmation will accelerate his planning. McLeish is being linked with moves for his former international stars, such as James McFadden, of Everton, Kenny Miller, the Derby County striker who played under him at Hibernian, and Alan Hutton, the Rangers defender.

Without being given a specific transfer kitty, the new Birmingham manager will be backed by Gold and the Birmingham board next month. “Sometimes when you didn’t have so much money to spend at a club, you’d be buying people at the last minute, 24 hours before deadline,” the former Motherwell, Hibernian and Rangers manager said. “I’d like to avoid that here. It’s hardly a secret – it’s very rare people can unearth a good player no one else has heard about.

“You’ve got to aim for the stars but be realistic as well. Everyone [in the bottom half of the Premier League] is trading at the same kind of financial level, all going for the same players and so it’s up to every individual manager to get the best out of the players that he can have at his disposal.

“It would obviously be tough on the nerves if we were floating around 17th, but staying up is the target and anything else a bonus. If we can start preparing [for next season] in advance, that’ll make it better. It’s between now and July that the seeds are sown.” Damien Johnson, the club captain, believes that McLeish will look to bring in experienced players to bolster the team’s youthfulness. “I’m sure he will want to bring his own players in and make a mark,” the midfield player said. “It’s all right having young lads, the legs and a bit of energy, but you still need a bit of experience just to close out games. It’s a tight league.

There is a bit more energy about us but we still need some older heads in there.”

Gold has also moved to play down reports that Vagit Alekperov, a Russian billionaire, is preparing to bid for the club. “I would suggest it is hard for anything to go ahead without a major shareholder, as I am, approving the deal,” he said.