ECKSCAPE TO VICTORY
Almost 40 years on from missing his chance to be a film star and smarting from a false start to his second spell in charge of the national team, McLeish is back in Budapest and ready to write the script of his very own...
ALEX McLEISH holds precious few regrets from a 40-year career as player and manager. Few beyond his first visit to Hungary when he blew the opportunity to create some celluloid gold-dust alongside Pele and Sylvester Stallone.
‘In 1980, the year Aberdeen won the league, we embarked on an Iron Curtain trip to Poland and Hungary with the national team. Jock (Stein) was the boss and I recall going on the bus and sitting with Danny McGrain up the back.
‘That was the year Escape to Victory was made. We were in the hotel and I met Warky (John Wark) and a few of the Ipswich boys that were in it,’ he reflected.
MTK Hungaria’s stadium in Budapest — now demolished — was the scene for the fateful game against Nazi Germany and Pele’s iconic overhead kick.
‘Big Jock had said to us: “If anyone wants to stay on and be extras...”,’ McLeish recalled ruefully. ‘I always regret that film never had a ginger-headed Scotsman in it...’
One regret from Hungary is more than most men will ever acquire.
And Big Eck has no desire to add a second by becoming the first Scotland boss since Berti Vogts to lose his opening two games in charge of the national team.
The criticism which followed Friday’s uninspiring, experimental defeat to Costa Rica has been prolonged and sometimes fierce.
Failure to beat a Hungary team 50th in the FIFA rankings after a 3-2 home defeat to Kazakhstan on Friday would be unlikely to improve the negativity and indifference surrounding Scotland’s national team.
‘I have to get a result,’ McLeish admitted. ‘We have to change the culture and get a winning mentality. The evidence has to be there for the players but it will only be there if they win.
‘It can start with one big performance and result. We’ve got to believe that. This game takes on more importance after the defeat to Costa Rica. I guess if we don’t get the right result then I’m a bigger dud than I was on Friday.
‘I’m going to have to have rhinoceros skin but I’m pleased with the players and the way they’ve adjusted. The second half was better on Friday and they were happy with what we showed them on Sunday. Now it’s about taking it to the next stage.’
By his own admission, McLeish found himself in no-win territory against Costa Rica.
Sticking with a Gordon Strachan team offered no guarantees of victory would have brought criticism from those who think the national team desperately needs new blood. Yet, by fielding five new caps, McLeish always risked a performance lacking fluency.
‘I’ve not read all the critiques,’ he insisted. ‘I’ve only seen one or two things. But I tend not to get my knickers in a twist over something like that. I’m on a kind of pathway here where I feel I am doing the right thing and, at the end of it, I believe it was the right thing to do. I am sticking to that.
‘It’s not good to lose your first home game, especially at Hampden.
‘We made enough chances in the second half to at least get something from it.’
The concern is obvious. Scotland’s next three friendlies are away from home in Budapest, Peru and Mexico before a Nations League warm-up against Belgium in September. None can be considered a gimme.’
Lose tonight and the pressure for a win will only increase.
‘A win gets some of the negativity away,’ he conceded. ‘But I’m not focused on the negativity.
‘I am thinking about the team and what they can do and the performance level they bring.
‘We are going to try to be more of a goal threat. We had some chances the other night and didn’t take them. There is a wee bit of streetwise nous required, so, again, all these little things I will be reminding the guys of.’
Changes will be necessary after Scott McTominay, Grant Hanley and Matt Ritchie returned to their clubs injured.
Celtic’s Jack Hendry is likely to start in defence. The midfield three is also likely to feature Stuart Armstrong, Callum McGregor and John McGinn of Hibs. It’s the one area of the pitch where Scotland’s manager has options.
‘John is in there with guys like Kenny McLean, who I have seen in really good form as an aggressive midfielder over the last few weeks,’ the Scotland manager continued.
‘There are similarities between them and with the cut and thrust of Stuart Armstrong.’
The withdrawal of Hanley — and Russell Martin from the original squad — leaves central defence and right-back desperately short.
Ruling out a call to Alan Hutton after the former Rangers player retired from international duty, Hendry has played on the right side for Celtic in recent weeks. Yet McLeish admitted: ‘He is not really a right-back. He is a young centre half who is a great prospect.’
Attacking options are also thin on the ground. McLeish believes Oli McBurnie had a ‘smashing’ debut, yet the lack of strikers in the squad shows how little he has to work with. Stick with Strachan’s old guard and he’s damned if he does. Fail to try out new players and he’s damned if he doesn’t.
‘If I continue with things and we get a reverse it’s even worse,’ he said. ‘You have got to take a punch on the chin to go forward. You have to take a step back to go two forward.
‘Under Gordon they had a defeat free season and it would have been nice to continue the unbeaten run. But I felt it in my bones to do what I did and I don’t regret it.’
Eck-scape to Victory would have looked good on a poster.
Having forged one regret in Hungary 38 years ago, Scotland’s manager doesn’t intend to create another by wasting the chance to try new players.