PATIENCE BRINGS ITS OWN REWARD

McLEISH ON GORDON STRACHAN

I spoke to him in the last 24 hours. He finished strongly and I want to continue that momentum

ON SCOTT BROWN’S FUTURE

I’m writing nobody off. Scott is in great form so guys like that have got to be in your thoughts

THROUGH the doubts and gripes over his return as Scotland manager, Alex McLeish retains a sense of humour. It took time and patience to reach this point. Four months of doubt and frustration and conflicting emotions when it seemed he might be pipped at the post by Michael O’Neill, then Walter Smith.

‘One was: “Ya beauty”,’ he grinned. ‘The next one was: “Oh, Walter is getting it”. The next one was when Walter abdicated and I thought: “I’m in again”. But, honestly, I felt it was fate. It was meant to happen.

‘Michael was the first choice, let’s not make any bones about that.

‘But I have always felt I was the right guy to be the next Scotland coach.’

His cause was assisted by powerful and influential friends. Hibs chairman and SFA vice-president Rod Petrie banged the drum loudly at boardroom level. It does not do any harm, either, to have the Godfather of Scottish football on side.

‘I’m in touch with Sir Alex,’ acknowledged McLeish. ‘He is always on the end of the phone if you need him. I don’t pester him every week. Every two weeks maybe...

‘He thought it was ideal for me. I had lunch with him recently and he said: “It would be a great job for you”. Then, when Michael turned it down, he put my name in and recommended me.

‘I already had my name in the ring but he put a word in saying: “Why don’t you go for Alex?”. So you can blame him if I fail.

‘I think Alan (McRae, SFA president) wanted him as a No 1 but he would never have come back.’

McLeish wanted the job from the moment his friend Gordon Strachan was dismissed in October.

A contract until 2020 reflects a blunt reality. Most Scotland managers are granted two qualification campaigns before moving aside.

Given the indifferent reaction of supporters to his appointment, McLeish has to hit the ground running. Hampden is scheduled to host four matches at the Euro 2020 finals. If Scotland fail to get there after Petrie and McRae went out on a limb to hire him, he risks becoming a one-campaign manager.

‘Yes, and that’s brilliant,’ admitted McLeish. ‘There is pressure there, but there is always pressure when you are in a football job. It gives you a goal. It’s a good pressure.

‘The reason I turned a few jobs down over the last couple of years was because it was firefighting again. I’ve got a really good chance in a job like this and there is no greater feeling than leading your country.’

There are reasons why supporters feel the second chance is unmerited.

In football they say you should never go back. Yet McLeish saw Dick Advocaat and Louis van Gaal do it with Holland. At 59, he believes he is a better manager now than he was when he first held the job in 2007.

He managed Scotland for just ten months before quitting to force a move to Birmingham City. Through some eyes that should have disqualified him from holding the post again.

‘It’s up to me to try to get the guys onside,’ he conceded. ‘If they are a wee bit reticent at first, then I just have to get performance levels from the team which are exciting for them.

‘Listen, of course I can understand it. Not everyone is going to be happy, no matter what happens.

‘You get divided opinion. The only way to change it is by performing well and getting good results. That is the cure for dissent.’

There’s no attempt to sugar-coat what happened in November 2007.

ON PERU AND MEXICO

Back in my day we would have been delighted but I can understand the clubs’ stance

ON SIR ALEX’S INPUT

I already had my name in the ring but he put a word in for me. So you can blame him if I fail!

No crowd-pleasing soundbites to obscure a basic reality. ‘I really missed the day-today stuff,’ said McLeish. ‘There was an element of thinking I was still young enough to go and take that challenge on. To be asked to go to the Premier League is an ambition that a lot of managers would have taken, probably the majority. ‘Listen, if a team had come in for me when we had just qualified for Euro 2008 there is no way that I would have left. I would have seen us right through to the finals, ambition or not. ‘I was so gutted that we missed it by a whisker. Faddy (James McFadden) had a wee chance at 1-1 when the ball came across the box and he slid at it. Your life flashes in front of your eyes.’

That defeat to Italy was over ten years ago. He has managed Birmingham, Aston Villa, Nottingham Forest, Genk and Zamalek of Egypt since but supporters struggled to understand why the SFA made no effort to speak to Steve Clarke of Kilmarnock or Neil Lennon at Hibs before an appointment many regard as ‘old school’.

Laughing at that description, McLeish said: ‘Sometimes people say: “Will Alex know about sports science?”.

‘I put it in to some clubs. I was one of the pioneers in my younger days of introducing the analysts. Meant to be: McLeish endured four months of frustration but believes it was fate that he would return as Scotland boss

‘The guys I worked with in Belgium were absolutely at a fantastic level.

‘If you go back to Motherwell and Hibs, you will know there were things I was trying to do there. It is attention to detail, whatever you want to call it. All these little things can make a difference.’

His first game will be a friendly with Costa Rica on Friday, March 23, followed by an away game in Hungary.

The end of May brings a double-header in Peru and Mexico. Celtic have already written to the governing body to complain about the proximity of the two games to Champions League qualifiers.

‘They fall two weeks after those games or maybe three weeks — I’m not sure of the exact schedule,’ continued McLeish. ‘But I do understand that they maybe feel it wasn’t appropriate timing.

‘But it is, it’s there, we are going to go. And it may be a good opportunity for other players.

‘Some other players might be thinking: “That’s a chance for me to get on that plane and impress the manager”.

‘There is always something good out of it. You can always try to look for something good out of something perceived to be negative.’

The priority will be building relations with the clubs. The suspicion is Brendan Rodgers will be top of the list.

‘I have to be understanding and have a rapport with the clubs,’ admitted McLeish. ‘We will talk, we’ll communicate and see what kind of answers we get.’

With a home in London, he doesn’t need the money. It’s doubtful he needs the grief of the lack of appreciation currently coming his way.

‘It’s in the genes,’ he explained. ‘It’s in the DNA.

‘I watch loads of games. I live not far from Chelsea’s ground. I go to a lot of their games.

‘When you go to the games and you watch that level, you say: “Well, I’ve coached at that level”.

‘Not Chelsea, but when you consider the players I had at Rangers in terms of Arthur Numan and Co, I had that level.

‘Managing in the Premier League, watching Chelsea, keeping an eye on and analysing the games, you say: “I’ve got to get back in there”.’