All is forgiven as McLeish wins Scots job again

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 (above) succeeds Gordon Strachan on a contract until 2020 and his appointment will be announced 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 group-stage 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, his case pushed heavily by SFA vicepresident Rod Petrie.

McLeish, the fourth most capped player in Scotland history, helped win over the dissenters by accepting an invitation to make a personal appeal to the governing body on Wednesday.