Alex McLeish has asked not to be judged on whether Birmingham City beat the drop on Sunday as he insisted that not even José Mourinho or Sir Alex Ferguson could have been certain of keeping his team in the Barclays Premier League. Even a victory over Blackburn Rovers at St Andrew’s would leave Birmingham requiring Reading and Fulham to falter away to Derby County and Portsmouth respectively if they are to climb out of the bottom three on the final day of the season.

The pressure has been cranked up on the Birmingham manager this week after Steve Bruce, his predecessor, who left St Andrew’s in November to steer Wigan to safety, made barbed comments suggesting that his old team might not be in trouble had more of the players he signed featured more prominently. Bruce was allowed to leave after Birmingham, who were fifteenth at the time, continued their slide down the table with a sixth defeat in seven matches, at home to Aston Villa, amid a backdrop of uncertainty over the club’s ownership.

“The squad does need improving,” McLeish said. “Steve said that in the summer and said he would want to add faces in January. He knew as well that the squad lacked experience compared with other teams in the league.

“I don’t think you can judge me until I have some time in the job. I don’t think it would be fair. If Alex Ferguson or José Mourinho was in this job from when I came in to now, you couldn’t say they would have saved the club from relegation. You couldn’t say for sure. And you are talking negatively — if we win on Sunday and we stay up, then all of a sudden I’ve gone from zero to hero.”

McLeish has brought in James McFadden for £5.75 million from Everton and he has scored four goals in ten matches, made several others and looked a class apart, although recent knee surgery has robbed him of his match fitness. Mauro Zárate, who is on loan from Al Sadd, the Qatari club, has shown a rare ability to beat a player and scored four times, although his team play is erratic, while David Murphy, a £1.5 million signing from Hibernian, has displayed poor distribution from left back and defended moderately.

These players have forced out Garry O’Connor, who hardly looked a world-beater after his £2.6 million signing from Lokomotiv Moscow, Daniel de Ridder, a delicate winger who showed fleeting touches of great skill, Cameron Jerome, a robust striker who has regularly scored goals in the Coca-Cola Championship, and Franck Queudrue, the former Middlesbrough and Fulham full back.

Birmingham have looked fragile away from home, particularly in losing a relegation battle 2-0 to Fulham on Saturday, but, backed by their ferocious crowd, they have lost only to Chelsea at St Andrew’s, where they play with far more passion and conviction. At least they are at home on Sunday.

“Five months is not a chance to build a team,” McLeish said. “I hope that these lads who are going to battle on Sunday can come on the next part of the journey and we can add more players to the squad.”

McLeish worked at Rangers for nearly five years, so he is accustomed to criticism. “You can’t control what other people say,” he said, in reaction to Bruce’s comments. “Steve could have stayed and taken Birmingham clear — that’s definitely a possibility. Equally, they could have been adrift.

“I can’t tell people, ‘Please don’t say that, you’ll hurt my feelings.’ I have to focus on my outcome, my challenge and my goal. We can still stay up and I believe that — everyone has to come into the stadium with that mindset and transmit it to the players because they will get energy from it. Fulham did it last week. Imagine the same sort of fervour at St Andrew’s, transmitting goodwill.”