NOTHING TAKEN FOR GRANTED
McLeish always found Israel to be tricky rivals as a player and boss
ALEX MCLEISH is winding the clock back four decades. Picking through the bones of the day scotland faced israel in a competitive international for the first time and the late Jock stein provoked a sharp intake of breath around the team hotel.
Capped by scotland 77 times, most of Big Eck’s triumphs in dark blue stemmed from a telepathic understanding with Aberdeen team-mate Willie Miller. Yet, by February 1981 Kenny Burns was a European Cup winner with Nottingham Forest. in his wisdom, stein decided to break up a winning partnership by handing McLeish a new partner-in-crime for a game against an israeli side expected to roll over and take their beating. Then, as so often in the last three years, things didn’t quite go to plan.
‘Jock started the game with me and Kenny Burns in central defence instead of me and Willie,’ McLeish tells Sportsmail.
‘Willie was obviously raging about that. And, in all honesty, we were all over the place in the first half.’
A rivalry between Miller and Burns fermented that day and lingered for some time. in a newspaper article three years ago, the former Forest man offered the view that the Pittodrie legend would have been nothing special in English football. McLeish, you suspect, disagrees.
‘Maybe the lack of familiarity between me and Kenny contributed to a bad first half, but israel absolutely pounded us and we were lucky to get out with the win,’ he says.
‘At half-time in that ’81 game Jock knew it wasn’t going well.
‘At half-time he brought Willie on and restored two guys to the defence who knew each other inside out.
‘he didn’t take Kenny off. he took John Wark out of midfield and pushed Kenny in there. he was a very versatile player.
‘We won it in that second half after a flick on by a guy called McLeish — i don’t know whatever happened to him — and Kenny Dalglish buried it at the back post.
‘We won in the end but it was a hell of a hard game and i don’t remember ever getting an easy game against israel.
‘Probably the closest was a 3-1 win at hampden on the way to the World Cup in 1982.
‘so is it a surprise to me that they’ve been such stubborn opponents for scotland down the years? Not in the slightest. it’s always been like that.’
One of football’s unlikely rivalries, scotland and israel eye each other these days with a weary familiarity. During his second spell as manager, games against the israelis marked both the best and the worst of times for McLeish. in October 2018, a 2-1 defeat in haifa was branded ‘shambolic’ and ‘embarrassing’ after Charlie Mulgrew’s penalty earned a half-time lead. Reduced to ten men early in the second half, a Kieran Tierney own goal sealed an inglorious defeat. ‘That was a tough one to take. i just felt at that point we were part of a growing squad, a work in progress,’ reflects McLeish. ‘if i compare the squad we had then to the one steve (Clarke) has now, then the current squad is significantly stronger and much more experienced now. ‘During that spell there was a lot of experimentation. Not only in terms of international experience with scotland, but also in terms of playing at the top level for their clubs. That is the key to where we are now.
‘Kieran scored an own goal that night and look at him now.
‘scott McTominay came in for a game against Costa Rica and in the beginning you could see he was a wee bit raw.
‘But now he is a regular firstteam pick for Manchester United. he has come on in leaps and bounds. That’s where we are with a lot of the players now.
‘They are playing at a really high level and i really like what steve has done with them.’
Progress under Clarke reached its apex when the israelis were beaten in a penalty shoot-out at an empty hampden to secure a play-off final in serbia where an impatient 23-year wait for a return to a major finals finally ended.
Often overlooked now, McLeish (left) secured the spot in the play-off semi-final in the first place with a nervy 3-2 win over israel at hampden three years ago. The stats show that’s one of only two victories in the last six meetings of the two nations.
‘i told them in the dressing room before that game: “Guys, whatever happens you’ve just got to win”,’ he says. ‘it reminded me very much of sir Alex Ferguson’s speech to me and the other Aberdeen players before we played Bayern Munich all those years ago. he said to us: “it doesn’t matter what the score is, just get one more than them”. And, fortunately, we had the best team available.
‘That was probably the only time that we had the same team two games running in my whole tenure.
‘(stuart) Armstrong was there running off the ball — supporting (Ryan) Christie and steven Fletcher. James Forrest was imperious with his finishing, scoring a terrific hat-trick.
‘Fletcher was vital in those two games and i can see steve now trying to get Lyndon Dykes doing the same kind of shift.
‘steve has also managed to attract Che Adams, who i tried to get.
‘i think at that time he was still at Birmingham and on the cusp of interest from the English Premier League and i think that was maybe uppermost in his mind.
‘steve has options now i didn’t have and i’m really glad he has. They’ve enhanced the team.’
he wastes no time thinking these days of what might have been. Four months after sealing a place in the Nations League play-offs scotland travelled to Kazakhstan and, on a night of humiliation, lost 3-0 in a Euro 2020 qualifying tie.
his fate was sealed when the Tartan Army turned on the SFA hierarchy during an uninspiring 2-0 win in san Marino. The scotland boss suffered a brain freeze in front of his players while grappling around for the word ‘resilience’.
Rumours over his health were inaccurate and unverified, but the damage was done.
‘Ach, i don’t really want to go there again,’ he says now. ‘i think it was probably right to make a change.
‘i was okay with it because the job was very frustrating for me as well in terms of picking squads every month when the international break came around.
‘There are so many things you can’t control.
‘i was at Rangers for five years and along with Celtic and Rangers i put the international team up there as one of the three that the press really scrutinise to the nth degree.
‘i felt that at Rangers. And i felt that with the scotland situation, as well.
‘i went in after Gordon (strachan) when Gordon had come so close and i immediately phoned a few players and said: “Look, we are not going to pick you for these upcoming games, i need to have a look at things”.
‘i’m not saying i was a sacrificial lamb but i definitely had to take a few hits for the sake of scotland’s improvement.
‘And now every one of those players steve has got playing at a very good level. i hope they beat israel and believe they will.’