BACK TO HIS ROUTES
Smith: Eck’s a Scotland man to core and has won fans over by getting two bites at Euros
ALEX McLEISH didn’t even complete the journey home the last time he attended a qualifying draw as Scotland manager after giving his SFA bosses the Brum’s rush at Heathrow airport.
But former Hampden chief executive Gordon Smith knows there is no chance of a repeat when McLeish jets out to Dublin today for what he hopes is the start of a road that finally ends the nation’s wait to grace the major stage.
Smith was in Durban with Big Eck 11 years ago for the 2010 World Cup draw when McLeish told him he was becoming Birmingham boss.
The £1million per year – around three times his Scotland wage – on offer at St Andrews was too good to reject and McLeish travelled straight to the Midlands after touching down in London.
His seat on the connecting flight back to Glasgow lay empty with George Burley later filling his role before failing to get Scotland out of a World Cup group that had pitched them in with Holland, Norway, Macedonia and Iceland.
Smith admitted he fancied the nation’s chances after McLeish came so close to finishing the job Walter Smith started in reaching Euro 2008 out of a group containing World Cup finalists Italy and France.
After that campaign which saw Eck mastermind the second of two wins over Les Bleus with a famous victory in Paris, Scotland sat at an all-time high of 13th since the FIFA rankings were introduced in 1993.
They were just two spots behind England but Scotland have been in decline since and go into tomorrow’s Euro 2020 draw in 38th which sees them placed in pot three.
But with a play-off place banked thanks to winning Nations League Group C1 there are now two chances of qualification and Smith sees plenty reasons to be optimistic.
It will be 22 years since Scotland last competed at a major tournament by the time Euro 2020 kicks off in Rome’s Olympic Stadium. And Smith reckons the country is united after wins over Albania and Iceland with some of the Tartan Army initially unhappy at McLeish’s appointment due to his 2007 exit.
But his former chief executive at the SFA said: “Alex still took an interest in the draw because, while he was leaving, he’s still very much a Scotland man.
“He had a great career and is one of the top cap earners in the history of our game. He is very much a Scottish man which is why he was keen to come back to the job.
“I’d love nothing more than for him to make up for the disappointment of missing out on Euro 2008 by taking us to Euro 2020. He has already opened up a second route to qualification by securing a play-off and let’s hope we can take one of them.”
Smith insists his Johannesburg experience was out of the ordinary. He said: “The World Cup draw in South Africa was a strange scenario.
“Alex was out with us and it was at that point he told me he was going to be leaving because of the Birmingham offer.
“He was on good money at the SFA but I could understand because it was an exceptional offer from Birmingham. I don’t envisage the same thing happening again ahead of the Euro 2020 draw! I’m delighted he’s back in the job and he has already proved people wrong. He was getting heavily criticised early on but has turned it around and the fact is we’ve got two roads towards Euro 2020 with Sunday’s draw and the play-off.”
All 55 UEFA nations will be in the draw which takes place at the Convention Centre Dublin tomorrow morning with the top two from 10 groups of five and six joining the four nations who emerge from the play-offs. Glasgow is one of 12 host cities for the 60th anniversary of the competition and Smith knows that makes it even more crucial for Scotland to qualify.
It will be a first for chief executive Ian Maxwell and Smith said: “These draws are exciting but nervy when you’re involved and in the 2010 World Cup ours was reasonable. We got close but it wasn’t to be.
“There are nations you want to avoid and Germany in pot two is one everyone will want to miss.
“They aren’t on a good run but you know their potential.
“The fact Euro 2020 games will take place at Hampden makes it more important to be there.”