Mark Hughes has welcomed Alex McLeish to the 'big-money club' by warning the Birmingham boss to spend wisely.

Manchester City boss Hughes is aiming to improve on a run of just one win in five Barclays Premier League matches when he takes his mega-bucks outfit to St. Andrews on Sunday.

There he will confront a team newly taken over, and with a manager being promised vast sums to spend in the next transfer window.

That is all old hat for Hughes, who has gone through something similar at Eastlands this season as City have engaged in a spend, spend, spend policy to cut the gap between themselves and the big four. Now it is Birmingham's turn, and Hughes said: "My advice to anyone in Alex's position, is to spend the money wisely.

"We have tried to do that, to increase the quality of the squad that we have and get the right players in here. We have tried to improve the standard and the depth of the squad. It depends on how much finance the new owners will make available for McLeish.

"When Sheikh Mansour took over here, everyone thought that there was an endless amount of money, which is not quite the case. We are working to a budget, maybe a little bit bigger than most, but we are working to a budget."