'Selfish' Cahill did not play the game with us, rages Birmingham chief Gold

Birmingham chairman David Gold has accused defender Gary Cahill of being "selfish" in leaving it until the final 48 hours of the January transfer window before rejecting the chance to join the midlands club.

Gold claimed Cahill's actions gave Blues no chance to find another centre-back before the window closed on January 31.

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Cahill instead opted to make a £5million switch from Aston Villa to Bolton and could make his UEFA Cup debut for the Trotters against Atletico Madrid at the Reebok Stadium tonight.

Gold fumed: "I would have put a substantial bet on the fact the Gary Cahill deal would have been done and dusted seven days before the window closed.

"I know we came up with the best package for this player, better than that of Bolton.

"Yet things went on and on and on and, at the last minute, Cahill went to Bolton. I could use the word 'selfish' after he did that to us.

"All he was concerned about was himself and didn't give us a fair opportunity to find someone else by saying 'this isn't a done deal'.

"He didn't give us a chance to do anything else before the window closed. In the end he didn't show us any respect and we were messed about. I was very disappointed."

Gold is confident City have sufficient quality in their squad to stay out of the bottom three especially after the signing of James McFadden, David Murphy and Mauro Zarate.

He said: "The window has been closed for a couple of weeks now and I don't overly mind about that in the sense we've now got to get the best out of our players - and I do believe we've got the players who can keep us in the Premier League.

"I believe the manager has brought in some quality players who we hope can help make the difference for us."