Birmingham City last night showed their teeth in the transfer market with the exciting signing of Celtic's African international defender Olivier Tebily.
And boss Steve Bruce was keen to give due praise to the St Andrew's board for backing his bid to bring in the Ivory Coast star - and show the rest of the First Division promotion challengers that they mean business.
Knowing that Blues were to be without the suspended Darren Purse for the next three games, and with still no positive news about his injured skipper Steve Vickers, Bruce was insistent that they needed to act now.
And the Blues board have allowed him to effectively double his spending for his four months in charge by bringing in 26-year-old Tebily for a fee Bruce described as "around the million mark".
Most importantly, in the short term, Tebily's transfer went through by yesterday's noon deadline to allow him to take part in tomorrow's local derby at Highfield Road against a Coventry City side who will have two new defensive signings of their own on show in Horacio Carbonari and Paul Trollope.
But, knowing that contract rebel Purse may have to be replaced next season, Bruce was most insistent to give credit where it was due to his directors, admitting: "I'm grateful that they saw fit to sanction the signing of someone of Olivier's quality.
"I've not even considered what will happen in the long term, but, with the situation regarding Steve and Darren, I felt it was important that we had to do something. After all the hard work that's gone into this, I'm just relieved we've got him signed up."
Bruce knew more than most what Blues were getting, though, this being the second time he has signed the imposing six foot-plus stopper.
Bruce first introduced Tebily into British football three seasons ago when he was manager of Sheffield United, acting on a tip-off to risk £200,000 in bringing him over from French side Chapeauroux.
It took Tebily just seven matches at the end of that summer to make an impact before catching the eye of Kenny Dalglish and being whisked off to Celtic for £1.25 million.
Although conceding a spectacular own goal on his debut in a pre-season friendly, he then made a happier name for himself in Celtic's next game by scoring at the right end in a 2-0 win over Newcastle and marking Alan Shearer out of the game.
But the subsequent departure of Dalglish and John Barnes from Parkhead proved the death knell for Tebily's career in green and white hoops, and, following Martin O'Neill's coming to power two summers ago, the African has rarely had a look-in.
The big-money arrival of Joss Vangaeren from Holland squeezed him out, and he has been subsequently kept out by the form of Johan Mjallby and Bodo Balde.
Tebily has been used sparingly this season, not having added to his 32 appearances in Celtic colours since heading back home to play for the Ivory Coast in this year's African Nations Cup in January.
But, having raised eyebrows north of the border by recently being nominated as African Footballer of the Year, he has the chance to get his career back on course at St Andrew's.
"He's big, robust, strong and quick," said Bruce. "We needed a new body, and we've got a quality body.
"And it is a tribute to the stature of this club that we could attract a player like Olivier from a club the size of Celtic."
