McLeish: Injury threatened O’Connor career

ALEX MCLEISH has revealed Birmingham striker Garry O’Connor’s career could have been ended by the double hip problem which sidelined him for almost a year.

O’Connor made a successful comeback for Blues in Saturday’s 2-0 win over Blackpool at St Andrew’s – their first in seven matches.

The Scottish international linked up well with summer signing Nikola Zigic and on-loan Alexander Hleb at the weekend.

It was a different story not so long ago with O’Connor battling to overcome the injury setbacks which required two operations on both hips.

He was only given a new six-month contract in the summer as doubts continued to surround his fitness.

But O’Connor went on loan to Barnsley to gain match sharpness and, after impressing as a substitute at Arsenal last week, returned to the starting line-up against the Seasiders.

Blues manager McLeish said: “We know big Garry had had massive trouble with his hips, a real long-term injury. “He’s had a tough time. He got the winner at Hull in the early part of last season and then the problems started.

“There’s no doubt that it was career threatening. It was a terrible injury. He had two operations on both hips at the same time so that is a huge setback.

“He was looking reasonably sharp in the pre-season programme and then just took a wee dip.

“We put him out on loan at Barnsley to get match fitness, although he only played a couple of games. He came back and I said ‘show that you are better than everyone else, Garry.’ “He was brilliant when he went on at Arsenal and did well against Blackpool.

“We need mobility up front and O’Connor has got decent mobility, is two footed, good in the air, Garry, on his game, is as good a finisher as I’ve seen.”

Birmingham climbed six places to 11th position after overcoming the Tangerines thanks to Liam Ridgewell’s opener and Zigic’s second goal in two games.

McLeish said: “People told me we were five points off the Champions League spot after one win and that is why it is madness in the Premier League.

“People panic, there is fickleness, but we are still only a couple of points above 17th, 18th.’’

Blackpool manager Ian Holloway says he is on a learning curve and was outwitted tactically by McLeish.

He said: “I am learning. I am critical of myself because I think the more experienced manager (McLeish) did me a bit tactically.

“He is more experienced than me and I thought it showed. People have written us off and we are learning as quickly as we can.

“It is fantastic for us to be here in the Premier League but we are professional people and we are trying to improve all the time.’’