McLeish joined the Blues just over two years ago and is excited about the prospect of money to spend in January under new owner Carson Yeung.

The Scot will have been encouraged by recent results which have seen the Blues move up to 11th in the table, and his side again impressed in the 1-0 win at Wolverhampton Wanderers on Sunday. He has warned against unrealistic expectation levels, however.

"It was another terrific performance at Molineux and every time you do well, expectation levels grow and that is something we have to get used to," he said.

"With every good result and performance, expectation levels rise and we have done our confidence and belief no harm at all with the way we have performed in the last few games.

"The players have set standards the last few games and I am going to be demanding that all the time from them.

"There is a long way to go, we are not shouting from the roof tops, we've done nothing yet. Some of the players that are in the team are new to the Premier League and are still developing in the Premier League

"But I'm sitting in the dug-out now knowing I've got players I can trust."

He added: "Where would I hope Birmingham are in two years? I would hope we can be still in the league but maybe competing in the middle part of the league.

"But, if we are talking about us getting in Europe, I wouldn't want to be looking too far ahead."

Birmingham were drawn away to Nottingham Forest in Sunday's FA Cup third round draw.

Their next Barclays Premier League match is away to Wigan Athletic on Saturday.