By TheLongside.co.uk
December 28 2004

Leading striker Robbie Blake looks set to join Steve Bruce's Birmingham City in the new year.

Following our 1-0 win over rivals Wigan, Steve Cotterill told the press that he is disappointed to see Blake leave the club as Barry Kilby and Birmingham negotiate a deal to take him to the Premiership club in the new year.

Birmingham, who play at St Andrews, were reported to have had a 1.25 Million bid turned down over the weekend but it looks likely now that we will negotiate a better deal with them likely to be 1.5 Million up front.

Update: Steve Bruce told press this evening that a 1.3Million bid had been offered to Burnley and that they were waiting for a response.

Blake was left on the bench this afternoon and Graham Branch scored the only goal of the game securing three points for the Clarets.

Steve told the press this evening:

"I'm disappointed as a manager because there's only one loser in this, which is me because I can't pick him."

"I don't think there is anything more I can do to keep him here. Any player that gets the opportunity to play in the Premiership, we can't hold back."

"I have a lot of time for Robbie, I think everyone knows that, but how can you deny a player in the Championship the chance to move to the Premiership I think he deserves to play there and I think that will materialise."

"The two Chairmen are now talking about it and we'll see what happens in the next few days."

"It's a big disappointment, but we have to move on."

"We have a small squad and it was a tough decision to make, but we had him there in case we had any injuries today,"

"It's down to the two Chairmen now, they're the money men and me and Steve Bruce will let them get on with it."

Our opponents today, Wigan Athletic, have also been after Blake. Paul Jewell's conduct over the matter in the past month hasn't impressed the Burnley faithful. He was given a fierce reception by some fans who blame him for unsettling Blake.

On the Blake saga, he told the press:

"Even if I offered £3 million for him, they'd probably have turned me down,"

"We have made a series of offers, but Burnley are determined not to sell the player to us. I can understand that they don't want to sell to a team in the same league though."

We will have a full match report on today's game within the next few days.