Italy's World Cup winning coach Marcello Lippi has
rejected the chance to replace Steve Bruce as manager of Birmingham
City.
Blues co-owner David Sullivan confirmed Blues had spoken with Lippi
who enjoyed great success at club level with Juventus before
leading Italy to football's ultimate prize in 2006.
Sullivan has been true to his word after claiming City would
attempt to bring in 'a top foreign coach' and not many have greater
credentials than Lippi who is currently taking a break from the
game.
Sullivan told the Birmingham Mail: 'We made an approach and Lippi
turned it down. This is not a stunt. It's genuine.
'He is available at the moment and we are looking at bringing in a
manager of his stature and calibre, if at all possible. He was one
of the first we went to but unfortunately nothing
materialised.
'Of course, you get knock-backs. That's football. But if you do not
try you will never know. It was the same with Martin Jol. It made
sense for us to approach him.
'We are juggling other balls in the air at the moment and we will
see which ones land. I want to stress to our supporters that we are
working very, very hard to bring in the right man.
'Until you get to meet them and speak to them, you can never be
quite sure. But it won't be for a lack of trying, believe me. We
are determined to find a manager who would create a bit of a stir
and excite people.'
Sullivan is determined to bring in a new manager within the next 10
days with Bruce's number two Eric Black acting as caretaker for
Saturday's game with Portsmouth.
And he also admitted that Black 'had a chance' of becoming Bruce's
successor.
Sullivan said: 'We will resolve the issue of a new manager within
10 days. Eric Black has taken temporary charge and that might only
be for one game.
'The agreement is that he will stay up to three weeks if necessary
as we can't have the club ripped apart by Steve taking everyone
with him.
'It is a very difficult situation for Eric. We understand he has a
massive allegiance to Steve and we also respect that he is staying
behind and will do a professional job for us.
'Has he got a chance of becoming manager? Yes, he has. We will just
have to wait and see what develops.'
sullivan dont waste time, if you pay bruce only 15k/week wages,
forget about lippi, mourinho, klinsmann, jol. i think you can
consider jewell lah. it a joke but just swop manager with wigan
lah.
