James McFadden fit for new season

Birmingham striker James McFadden has insisted he will be fit for the new season despite missing Blues' pre-season trip to the Far East.

The Scotland international stayed behind to attend the birth of his son, Toby, while his team-mates travelled to Hong Kong and China.

But the27-year-old is adamant he will be ready for the new Premier League campaign after training with the club's reserves at their Wast Hills training base.

McFadden started and scored for a Blues XI in a 2-2 draw at Northampton yesterday after figuring as a substitute at Derby on Saturday.

And he said: "From what I gather, the tour was tough and not that great in terms of some of the organisation but with the games the guys played, they are probably ahead of me in that respect.

"Saturday was my first game but I trained hard here. I feel fine, I just need games."

"I went in every day and was training with a few of the young reserve players. But obviously I was not getting any match time.

"I will be ready for when the season starts. We've got a game Tuesday, then Saturday, then I have a friendly with Scotland.

"The games are coming thick and fast and hopefully I can play a few 90 minutes and get the tiredness you need to feel, because that's when you get the fitness and sharpness, from when you're absolutely knackered.

"The most important thing pre-season is fitness.

''I don't think going out there (Asia) was necessarily the best preparation, to be honest, but that's what happens when you get taken over, you've got Chinese owners and they want to tap into the Chinese market.

"That's the sacrifice you've got to make and hopefully it pays off.

"The boys looked great on Saturday. Obviously they got tired, but that's through all the travelling. It's that time of year, you like a moan up as well.

"We won every game up to Northampton and it took us about six attempts to win last year."