A TALK ON WILD SIDE
TRAINSPOTTER Mark Mcghee could have been riding the Moscow underground at the World Cup with Scotland next summer.
Thanks, ultimately, to England striker Harry Kane, he will have to settle for the Jubilee Line trains which rattle past The Hive, Barnet’s shiny new ground.
Kane’s stoppage-time equaliser at Hampden Park in June denied Scotland a famous win against the Auld Enemy.
Inevitably, after missing out on a play-off for a place at Russia 2018 by a whisker, boss Gordon Strachan and his assistant fell on their swords.
Instead of postcards from Red Square, Mcghee has settled for being a tartan Red Adair – trying to preserve Barnet’s League status.
At face value, it might look like a shipwreck survivor clutching at the nearest piece of driftwood – but the former Reading, Leicester and Wolves manager will be the Bees’ knees if Barnet make it safely back to shore.
Mcghee, 60, said: “The opportunity to lead Scotland into a World Cup is a once-ina-lifetime opportunity for a manager and there’s no denying how much it hurt to fall just short.
“We had gone on an unbeaten run, had some great results along the way, came within seconds of beating England and, in a parallel universe, we would have been going to the World Cup. But when the final whistle went in Slovenia, there’s no denying the overwhelming emotion was a sense of failure.
“We can take a huge amount of satisfaction from some of our results but, ultimately, we didn’t qualify, and that’s the bottom line.
“We failed, and that will never change. I will die with that on my conscience.
“Gordon and I have beaten ourselves up relentlessly, asking whether we could have done something differently, like preventing England’s second goal at Hampden after Leigh Griffiths had put us ahead late in the game.
“For eternity and beyond, we’ll keep asking those questions. But had we beaten England, who’s to say we would have finished the campaign with the same resolve, or gone on to lose another game we should have won?
“It’s sliding doors, just like the ones on those trains going past here, and you have to accept it for what it was.”
Mcghee’s pedigree as a player was top-notch, not least as a member of Aberdeen’s Cup Winners’ Cup side of 35 seasons ago, beating Real Madrid in a final where rival managers were Alex Ferguson and Alfredo Di Stefano.
“After leaving the Scotland international set-up, I was twiddling my fingers and toes at home,” said Mcghee. “The one thing I wanted more than anything was to get back to work in football because it’s all
I’ve ever known.
“It wasn’t a case of jumping at the first thing that came up –
I’m not sad enough to do that – and I’d been looking at possibly mentoring a young manager. Initially, that was the plan when I came here, but Rossi
Eames wanted to step away and I ended up taking the reins. As much as I was happy with that, it wasn’t what I intended.”
Last weekend, in a duel for the league’s wooden spoon, an injury-time winner for Chesterfield sent Barnet to the bottom of the pile.
But today’s home game gives
Mcghee a chance to reel Morecambe into the relegation undercurrent.
He said: “In our position, chances are there will be more disappointing nights than good ones. The important thing is to make sure we have enough good nights and we can have a big party next summer.” CHRIS WILDER is refusing to abandon his side’s ‘cavalier’ style despite slipping off the top of the Championship.
Just one point from 12 has seen his Sheffield United outfit tumble to sixth place after leaking 11 goals.
But Wilder (above) has no plans to dump his gung-ho approach as the Blades look to halt their slump at Preston today.
“We’re positive because we always want to win,” said the United boss. “Things aren’t going for us at the moment, but we’ll keep doing the right things to get back on track.”
United are without influential Paul Coutts, whose season is over after breaking a leg, and John Fleck – banned for three games after being sent off in last week’s 2-1 defeat by Bristol City.
But Wilder remains upbeat. “Our players respond to any negativity. We go for it because that’s what we do,” he added.