‘Social media snipers will target McLeish’

PAUL Hartley knows the social media snipers will have their sights trained on Alex McLeish if Scotland fail to clinch a Euro 2020 play-off spot in their final Nations League games.

And the former Alloa, Dundee and Falkirk manager has revealed he may not return to the dugout in future due to the unbearable pressure online critics are now putting on managers.

Hartley is hoping that McLeish, who he played under at both Hibs and Scotland, can lead the national team to wins in their Group C1 matches against Albania away on Saturday and Israel at home a week today.

He knows that the knives will be out for the 59-year-old, who took charge of his country for a second time back in February, if they come up short.

“I looked at the Albania game and people were saying, ‘This is a must-win game for Alex McLeish’,” said Hartley. “It was his first competitive game and the manager was under pressure. I thought that was harsh.

“When you are the manager of Scotland there is some amount of pressure on you. But you’ve got to give him a chance. I think he knows the pressure on him, he’ll have known that when he took the job.

“I enjoyed working under Alex with Scotland. I worked under him at Hibs too. He bought me and sold me so he knows his stuff! Seriously, though, I always liked him and got on well with him. He was good and he was fair. It’s a tough job he has, but the next two games can change that.

“Both Albania and Israel are must-win games. If we lose then the amount of pressure on Alex will be great. But he will have known that when he took the job.”