Birmingham co-owner David Sullivan admits he has "never worked so hard" to try to bring in new players, with 20 possible deals on the boil.Blues boss Alex McLeish has so far signed James McFadden from Everton and Hibernian's David Murphy, while Mauro Zarate has joined on loan from Al Sadd for the rest of the season.

But he is determined to add more new faces before the transfer window closes in a week, with a central defender and midfielder now his priority.

Sullivan has given McLeish his full backing and said: "In the past couple of weeks I have never worked so hard to bring players into Birmingham City.

"Along with Alex McLeish, Karren Brady (managing director) and Julia Shelton (football secretary) we have been working seven days a week and about 18 hours a day.

"We have been working on 20 or so deals and have delivered two or three players so far, but it has never been harder.

"The fees we have been quoted in many cases have been unrealistic. In other cases we have agreed deals with the clubs and the players have declined to come. And it's not about money - they simply do not want to play for us.

"Rest assured, the new faces that come in are players who want to come to Birmingham and want to wear our colours."

Sullivan admits Birmingham are locked in a relegation battle and is urging the City fans to play their full part in the fight for survival.

He said: "If you look at the table, Derby look sunk and it seems like two clubs from seven will join them. We are amongst those seven clubs but with the help and support of the fans we will survive.

"It does hurt us a bit as a board to see Derby and Sunderland, the clubs promoted along with us last season, getting 32,000 and 40,000 week in and week out.

"But the support from our hardcore fans of around 25,000 is second to none. We need as many fans as we can until the end of the season. Every game from now on is absolutely vital."

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