Sutton United boss namechecks Man City and takes aim at Birmingham City | OneFootball

Steve Morison has aimed a thinly-veiled swipe at Birmingham City's summer spending

Sutton United manager Steve Morison has directed a thinly-veiled swipe at Birmingham City following Sunday afternoon's first round FA Cup tie, claiming that his latest opponents outspent Manchester City in the summer transfer window.

Blues managed to come away from what was a bumper home tie at Gander Green Lane with a slender 1-0 victory through Willum Willumsson, who scored his fifth goal of the season to book his side's visit to Blackpool in the second round.

Although the visitors asserted their dominance throughout, they were unable to increase their advantage and failed to wholly convince on the afternoon. National League outfit Sutton refused to let them make light work of their trip to the capital and had a couple of moments to get back into the game along with seeing a controversial penalty shout ignored at the end of the first half.

Steve Morison's transfer claim involving Birmingham City and Man City

Following the narrow defeat to League One opposition, Morison took time to laud his side's efforts in tough circumstances.

The former Cardiff City boss also dropped a somewhat dicey swipe at Blues, claiming that it's a credit to his side to have stayed in the game for as long as they did against opponents who, in his words, "outspent Manchester City" in the summer transfer window.

Birmingham's summer spending has been subjected to widespread speculation and conflicting reports in the media. Initial reports had suggested their total spending spree across the summer exceeded the £30 million mark, which, if true, would indeed usurp the transfer expenditure by the Citizens. The eight-time Premier League champions undertook a rather quiet transfer window and their only arrival for a transfer fee came in the form of Brazilian winger Savinho, who headed across from City Football Group sibling side Troyes in a reported £30.8 million deal.

However, a report from BirminghamLive claimed that although Blues yielded an unprecedented transfer warchest by League One standards, it still fell short of the £30 million+ suggestions made elsewhere.

Speaking after the match, Morison said: "It was always going to be a tough ask. We were still in the game right at the end and nearly got that moment. It was a tight game.

"It’s a credit to the players to the fact we just played Birmingham who outspent Manchester City in the transfer window and outspent their league by £20 million so to still be in the game at the end is a credit to our players.

"I am really, really, really proud of the performance, they carried out the game plan, we knew we couldn’t got toe-to-toe with them, we are gutted we lost but they are putting threes and fours past people every week.

"Was it a penalty? I don’t know, but in the middle of the pitch you can guarantee it’s a foul. Those guys have that one chance, I think our goalkeeper had one save to make in the game, not saying their goalkeeper had any saves, but there was a definite difference in the teams."

Birmingham City will be able to brush off Steve Morison comments

Birmingham have received criticism for their lavish spending. However, love it or loathe it, it's paying dividends for them.

They're currently top of League One by three points after twelve matches and have already managed to construct a squad that likely wouldn't look a touch out of place in the Championship, although their ambitions are evidently higher and plans for the ultimate promised land are well underway.

Blues are intent on returning to the Premier League as soon as possible, with Tom Wagner having set a three-year target following his purchase of the club last summer. That goal was dealt a significant blow when they were relegated from the second tier last term, but there is a growing school of thought that they're capable of securing consecutive promotions back to the big time.

That's all that Wagner and co. will be concerned about, even if doing so is set to cost a pretty penny.