Alex McLeish is confident he can achieve the number one priority of helping Birmingham avoid relegation after admitting "the lure of the Premier League" tempted him to quit as Scotland manager,
And the former Rangers boss is "satisfied" with the assurances given him about the club's future by chairman David Gold and co-owner David Sullivan as the chances of a takeover by Carson Yeung appear to be fading fast.
McLeish has signed a three-and-a-half-year contract and is only the fourth manager appointed by Gold and Sullivan during their 15-year reign.
The 48-year-old will meet the players for the first time on Thursday and then start work in earnest in preparing for Sunday's Barclays Premier League clash with Tottenham at White Hart Lane.
McLeish came close to becoming a national hero with Scotland, who fell agonisingly short of qualifying for the Euro 2008 finals in Austria and Switzerland.
But the day to day involvement with players in domestic football and the challenge presented by Blues was difficult for McLeish to resist.
He said: "It is with regret that I leave such a good job, such good people.
"We had a great rapport within the Scottish FA. But the lure of the day to day stuff and working in the Premier League was hard to turn down.
"The end of the Euro campaign and realising it was nine months before Scotland played another competitive game played on my mind a little bit.
"Would I have stayed if Scotland had qualified? I couldn't answer that one. I never really mapped out my future and planned what I was going to do. It has all evolved like this rather than being totally planned."
McLeish, who enjoyed spells in charge of Motherwell, Hibernian and Rangers before taking the Scotland job, added: "Birmingham is a real football club in every sense of the word, with passionate fans. It is a great challenge for me.
"Staying up is the priority. We have to make sure we stay in the Premier League. That is the challenge, first and foremost, and then we will look at other things.
"I've never attempted to set too high a target at the beginning of every job. Let's get the next game won, let's get some points on the board and then we take it from there and try and build things slowly.
"We've got a good chance of staying up. We believe we've got the skills to keep the guys up but we need the players to have the skills as well and we will be pushing them to give the very best they can.
"People say why not wait for what they call a 'bigger' club but sometimes the opportunity is not there and you can wait forever for a chance. That is as good a reason as any.
"There is a lot of talk of takeovers but I was satisfied with what was said. I am satisfied with what I heard from the chairman and David Sullivan.
"In terms of money to spend in January, I know the parameters and I am comfortable with that."
McLeish, who spoke with Sir Alex Ferguson and Walter Smith amongst other managers before taking the job, is confident Scotland have the platform to go forward.
He said: "There are many young Scottish coaches in Scotland - and in other countries - who can certainly take Scotland forward.
"We've left a lot of good players there after inheriting a good squad from Walter Smith. We've added a few ourselves and the national team can definitely go forward.
"I didn't know it was going to be my goodbye after the Italy game because I then went to Durban for the World Cup draw and was very enthusiastic about the draw itself.
"It was wonderful to be amongst all the top nations and coaches in the world. Birmingham was something that came right out of the blue."
ALEX McLEISH FACTFILE
1959: Born January 21, Glasgow.
1976: Joins Aberdeen to begin his professional career.
1980: Helps the Pittodrie club win Scottish championship under manager Alex Ferguson and wins first Scotland cap against Portugal.
1982: Aberdeen win the Scottish Cup beating Rangers 4-1 and McLeish plays as a second-half substitute in 4-1 defeat by Brazil in the World Cup finals.
1983: Aberdeen retain Scottish Cup, this time beating Rangers 1-0, and defeat Real Madrid 2-1 in Gothenburg to lift European Cup Winners' Cup.
1984: Aberdeen win the Scottish league and cup double - their third successive cup triumph - for the first time.
1985: Aberdeen retain the championship and win the League Cup.
1986: Aberdeen win the Scottish Cup against Hearts before Ferguson departs for Manchester United. McLeish plays under Ferguson in the defeat by Denmark in the 1986 World Cup finals in Mexico.
1989: Aberdeen win the League Cup after extra-time against Rangers.
1990: Wins Scottish Cup again with the Dons in penalty shoot-out with Celtic and is voted player of the year. Plays for Scotland in all three World Cup final group games - against Costa Rica, Sweden and Brazil.
1993: Makes 77th and final international appearance against Malta.
1994: Takes over from Tommy McLean as manager of Motherwell after 17 years at Pittodrie.
1995: Guides the Fir Park club to second place behind Rangers in the top flight in his first season.
1998: Appointed manager of Hibernian but cannot prevent the club being relegated to Division One.
1999: Wins First Division title at first attempt.
2000: Guides Hibs to the Scottish Cup semi-final.
2001: Leads Hibs into the Scottish Cup final against Celtic and to UEFA Cup after finishing a creditable third in the SPL.
2001: September - Hibernian eliminated from UEFA Cup at first-round stage by AEK Athens.
December - Replaces Dick Advocaat as manager of Rangers.
2002: February - Defeats Celtic in first Old Firm meeting as Ibrox manager with 2-1 win in the CIS Insurance Cup semi-final.
March: Clinches first trophy as Rangers boss with 3-0 CIS Cup final win over Ayr United.
May: Celebrates cup double when Peter Lovenkrands' last-minute winner secures 3-2 Scottish Cup win over Celtic.
2003: May - Rangers pip their Old Firm rivals to the SPL championship on goal difference on the final day of the season before Scottish Cup win over Dundee gives McLeish a clean sweep of all three domestic honours.
August - Guides Rangers into the Champions League group stage after a two-leg win over FC Copenhagen.
September - Signs new four-year deal with Rangers.
2004: February - Rangers defeated in penalty shoot-out by Hibernian in CIS Cup semi-final.
March - Knocked out of the Scottish Cup by Celtic at the quarter-final stage.
April - Celtic clinch SPL title with six games to spare.
August - Rangers knocked out of the Champions League by CSKA Moscow in final qualifying round.
December - Rangers crash out of UEFA Cup at group stage following home defeat by Auxerre.
2005: February - Becomes first Rangers boss to win at Celtic Park for five years when goals from Gregory Vignal and Nacho Novo earn 2-0 win.
March - Claims sixth trophy in three years with the Light Blues as Motherwell are defeated 5-1 in CIS Cup final.
May - Guides Rangers to second SPL title in three years with 1-0win at Hibernian after Celtic are beaten at Motherwell.
August - Rangers qualify for Champions League group stages with win over Anorthosis Famagusta.
November - Back-to-back defeats against Celtic are damaging to McLeish, and they come in the course of a 10-match winless run.
December - Becomes first manager to guide an SPL club to the last 16 of the Champions League.
2006: February 4 - Beaten 3-0 at home by Hibernian in Tennent's Scottish Cup fourth round.
February 9 - With Rangers 18 points behind SPL leaders Celtic and eight behind second-placed Hearts, Rangers announce McLeish will leave at end of season.
March - Rangers defeated by Villarreal on away goals rule in the Champions League.
May - Last game in charge of Rangers ends in a 2-0 win over Hearts at Ibrox.
2007: January 29 - Scottish Football Association confirm McLeish as the new Scotland manager, replacing Walter Smith who resigns to return to Rangers.
McLeish is handed a contract until the end of the 2010 World Cup qualifying campaign.
March - Starts with a 2-1 Hampden victory over Georgia, but four days later Scotland lose 2-0 in Italy.
September 12 - Scotland stretch their winning run, which began after the Georgia game, to five matches with a famous 1-0 victory over France in Paris.
October - Another win, 3-1 against Ukraine, is followed by a disappointing 2-0 away defeat to Georgia.
November 17 - McLeish's Scotland lose 2-1 to Italy at Hampden and fail to qualify for Euro 2008. Victory would have taken Scotland through but Christian Panucci heads a last-minute winner to carry the Italians to the finals.
November 27 - McLeish resigns as Scotland manager, after the SFA turn down an official approach from a club - thought to be Birmingham - to hold talks with him.
November 28 - Unveiled as new manager of Birmingham on a three-and-a-half-year deal.
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