I did not want top pay for no play so I needed a new start, reveals McFadden

He could have stayed at Everton, signed a new deal and improved his salary. But he decided he simply could not take the money when he was not a regular first-team player.

'Everton wanted me to sign a new contract, but I wasn't even interested in negotiating,' said 24-year-old McFadden who is now earning £1.8million a year.

'It would have given me false hope. I could've signed for a lot more but I'd have been in the same position.

'That wouldn't have been fair on anybody. To be paid more money for doing the same, well, it's not fair.

'I have maybe swapped a fight to get into the Champions League for a relegation scrap, but I'd rather play every week in a relegation fight than be a bit-part player for Everton.

'I was training for nothing and getting paid, basically, for nothing.

'It had got to the stage where I was expecting not to play, preparing myself for being a substitute and that's no good.

'I believe the best years of my career are ahead of me. Birmingham's supporters will get to see that.'

'They will hope for something special against Arsenal today but Scotland fans have already seen the best of McFadden — so much so, that he has replaced Archie Gemmill in the nation's footballing psyche.

The striker's long-range effort that brought a famous victory in Paris last September gave a new generation of fans a moment of exquisite joy.

Ewan McGregor's character in Trainspotting claimed a romantic liaison was almost as good as Gemmill's strike against Holland in the 1978 World Cup.

In any re-make, the director is duty-bound to use McFadden's 30-yarder. It was that goal which prompted Berti Vogts to christen him the 'Scottish Wayne Rooney'.

McFadden said: 'When I was at Everton, Lee Carsley picked up on it, which is typical of him.

'It was a running joke. Berti came out with it. But Wayne's Wayne and I'm me.'

Carsley confirmed the story, but added: 'The lads were sorry to see him go. Let's face it, have you seen some of the goals he has scored?

'If Birmingham get him playing with confidence, they've got some player.'

Life has changed in the seven years since he burst on to the scene with a red streak in his hair and a golden streak in his boots at Motherwell but has done it the wrong way round.

First, at international level and now for the Barclays Premier League.

Problems domestically have perhaps held him back. His son, James, had a health scare when he was born six weeks prematurely; McFadden was then shaken by the death of Motherwell's Phil O'Donnell who was a family friend. His goal for Everton, against Middlesbrough, was dedicated to the late midfielder.

He said: 'I don't think I can put it into perspective, even now. It's a massive tragedy. I've spoken to his nephews and nieces and went to the funeral.

'It's hard because the whole thing is being played out in the public arena. They are struggling to come to terms with it.

'You play football as a kid because you love it. Then it's your job, you're doing the one thing you love. You don't expect to see people dying.

'When my little boy was ill, he had problems with his lung development, you think he'll be OK. But some of the little ones I saw had been in there for weeks or even months.

'It happened in the summer. I was at the hospital every night and day. But if it had happened during the season, I'm not sure I could have gone in.

'You know, having a laugh with the boys and yet all the while that's at the back of your mind.'

There is a reticence to show his hand, fully. His wife, Gillian, is pregnant and two weeks short of her due date.

As his first-born was six weeks early, McFadden is on red alert. And not just because of the old hair colour.

'I had a streak in my hair, because my cousin was a hairdresser,' he said. 'She was putting a white stripe in someone's hair. I just fancied it.

'I did it a couple of times afterwards. It wasn't a conscious decision to raise my profile, I just did it for a laugh.'

But raise his profile he has. Alex McLeish's face was a picture of joy when McFadden was introduced to Birmingham fans last month.

McFadden said: 'Alex made me one of his targets. There was maybe a chance of Celtic, but it never materialised.

'I'm quite happy because I wanted to play for this manager and in England.

'The manager was obviously a big factor in coming here. He gives you belief and he lets you play. Hopefully, he can get the best out of me again.'

But the final word has to be about that goal.

'It's not changed my life,' he said. 'I'm still the same person. It's changed the way people look at me.

'I've had plenty of people come up to me and say: "I was in so-and-so when that goal went in". I won't get sick of talking about it.'

If he ever does, he can always phone Archie Gemmill and swap notes.