POWERLESS AND FRUSTRATED
McLeish rues impact of the medical men making his job more difficult
ALEX McLEISH admits he has less autonomy over his Scotland players than he enjoyed during his first stint in charge of the country.
Beleaguered after a harrowing defeat to Kazakhstan on Thursday, McLeish is finding life as national coach far more exacting at the second time of asking. One game into the Euro 2020 qualifiers, his position is under grave threat.
McLeish, 60, represented his country 77 times and admits there were occasions when he might not have been operating at full power.
More dramatically, he recalls the state he put his back into on the eve of the greatest single moment of his career with Aberdeen.
As Alex Ferguson’s team prepared to contest the 1983 Cup Winners’ Cup final against Real Madrid in Gothenburg, McLeish decided to limber up with a spot of hard labour.
He said: ‘A couple of weeks before the final, we were having work done in the back garden in Aberdeen and I bought some paving stones. I carried them around and felt my back go. The guy who dropped them off was like: “You’re meant to roll them, ya mug”.
‘For the next 10 days, I needed intense treatment. I had to tell Fergie what I’d done and of course the response wasn’t favourable. But I worked really hard to get fit — there was no way I was going to miss the final.
‘For the two nights before the game, I actually slept on a mattress on the floor.
‘Had we had a sports scientist, I wouldn’t have played, I would not have been allowed to play and I wouldn’t have got that medal.’
We’re talking a different era, of course, where even an autocrat like Ferguson encouraged his players to develop their own forceful personalities.
Nowadays, players are herded like sheep and have their diets, sleep patterns and exercise regimes controlled to the smallest detail.
The national coach deferred to his backroom team, specifically the SFA’s head of high performance Graeme Jones, in keeping the players on UK time in Kazakhstan last week.
Having crossed six time zones, the decision was supposed to protect the team against jetlag but the 3-0 defeat suggests they would have been as well hauling themselves out the night before and saving on the hotel bill.
And then there was the eye-watering list of call-offs. Even before he announced his squad, Rangers goalkeeper Allan McGregor suddenly retired in order to look after his body, while Steven Fletcher and Robert Snodgrass were left off the list as they ‘manage injuries’ under the supervision of the medics at Sheffield Wednesday and West Ham respectively.
McLeish will have Ryan Fraser and Callum Paterson available for tonight’s second qualifier in San Marino but only after their employers prevented them from stepping on to the artificial surface in the Astana Arena.
This can only be a source of frustration for a man whose job is on the line.
‘The medical side of things is a huge factor,’ said McLeish. ‘There’s no doubt, if Graeme Jones and the doc come to me and say we can’t take a player for a certain reason, that’s the way it is.
‘I spoke to Fletcher and then I asked James McFadden to give him a ring, but Fletch was adamant that he needed to get a bit of recuperation in the break.
‘Of course that’s frustrating. You saw what he contributed when he came in for the November fixtures, with his experience. We wanted him in because he strengthens us.’
So, has the whole sports-science revolution gone too far?
‘It’s definitely something that’s worth debating,’ added McLeish. ‘But we are guided by the medical people. If they say to us a player is out, I can’t ask to talk to him to try and persuade him.
‘He’s out and that’s it. It’s a firm decision and not one that’s up for debate where I can phone a player and bring him in by hook or by crook.
‘I’ve got to abide by what they say. They have become more powerful, in terms of the clubs and the medical rules they would give to international teams. That has changed since my last spell in charge. ‘It’s not made my job easier.’ Intriguingly, McLeish admits that he has considered invoking FIFA’s five-day rule during his current spell in charge.
The ruling forbids a player turning out for his club within a certain timeframe following an international call-off but is rarely used.
Northern Ireland manager Michael O’Neill did invoke it to punish Rangers forward Kyle Lafferty earlier this season but McLeish will not reveal which player caused similar concern with Scotland.
He added: ‘We will do it if we feel we have a good case. We did speak about it
‘HAD WE HAD SPORTS SCIENTISTS BACK IN 1983, I WOULD NOT HAVE BEEN ALLOWED TO PLAY AGAINST REAL MADRID AND I WOULD NOT HAVE WON A CUP WINNERS’ CUP MEDAL’
recently but decided it wasn’t the right situation to do it.’
Nevertheless, McLeish admits the balance of power is unlikely to ever swing back in favour of national associations.
And he will not be taking a hardline stance with even those players he might suspect are working the system.
‘If I can make Scotland better with these guys, I’m not going to cut my nose off to spite my face,’ said McLeish.
‘I’m not in this for Alex McLeish. I’ve been through a lot of highs and lows, had a fair bit of success but been knocked down a few times as well, with the resilience to get back up.
‘And that’s where we are again, so there’s no way I’d do something that I thought didn’t help the national team.’
With Andy Robertson, Fraser and Paterson available, there will be a few obvious changes to the team for this evening’s crucial match.
Striker Marc McNulty, in impressive goalscoring form for Hibernian this season, may get a chance in attack, while Manchester United midfielder Scott McTominay is also in contention.
‘I am not going to throw any players under a bus, but I was always going to make changes for the second game,’ said McLeish. ‘I have to play a team I believe can win. It’s not just a case of: “Here’s a wee experiment here”. We have to win this game.’
Defeat to Kazakhstan — pegged at 117th in the world — was supposedly unthinkable.
Word has it that the SFA hierarchy are not minded to make a decision on the manager’s future until after the next set of qualifiers against Cyprus and Belgium at the end of the season.
Anything other than a comprehensive victory against a San Marino team placed at the very bottom of FIFA’s ranking system would surely change things.
‘I have been in the game for 40 years and you deal with it,’ concluded McLeish. ‘If you have a reverse, you have to come back very quickly.
‘I was the same as a player, always very conscientious, I just wanted to make it right the next time and focus on that, not dwell on what just happened.’