McLeish gets second stint as Scots supremo

ALEX McLEISH is the manager of Scotland again — just over 10 years after he left them in the lurch to manage Birmingham City. The former Rangers manager (right) succeeds Gordon Strachan on a contract until 2020 and will be unveiled officially this morning. McLeish’s previous reign as Scotland manager lasted about 11 months. He took over in January 2007 and almost got them to the Euro 2008 finals after a shock groupstage win over France. The SFA then refused to give Birmingham permission to approach him for their manager’s job but in November 2007, when he returned from the draw for the 2010 World Cup qualifiers in South Africa, he resigned and was made Birmingham boss the next day. Despite a reluctance by some SFA board members to give McLeish a second chance, he was voted in unanimously. McLeish, the fourth most capped player in Scotland history, helped win over dissenters by accepting an invitation to make a personal appeal to the governing body. ÷SUNDERLAND and Hibernian will pay tribute to former midfielder Liam Miller before their games this weekend. The 36-year-old Irishman died last week following a battle with cancer and two of his former clubs will hold a minute’s applause before their games against Brentford and Aberdeen, respectively. Miller played 60 times for Sunderland and 72 times for Hibs. ÷THE Republic of Ireland have risen one place to 31st in the updated world rankings.