Mcleish out to prove himself all over again
Alex Mcleish admits he has to prove himself as Scotland manager all over again.
However, he believes the doubters can be silenced by leading the national team to the finals of a major tournament.
The 59- year- old is well aware that not everyone was enthusiastic about his appointment as national boss for a second time. But the man who played 77 times for his country is plotting an exciting brand of winning football that he hopes will have the Tartan Army roaring again.
His blueprint will be seen for the first time when Scotland take on Costa Rica in Friday night’s friendly at Hampden.
He said: “I get that there could be weariness amongst some of the supporters.
“Scotland haven’t qualified for 20 years, and maybe the perception is that we just won’t do it again.
“We have that air about us and that’s what we will strive to change.
“The only thing that will do that is getting a winning mentality. A mentality that Scotland should be competing in the finals.
“If we can get the players to have full belief in themselves, then I don’t see why we can’t do it. The evidence is there with what they have done at their clubs. We can empower them with that.
“We will work hard this week in training to show them evidence of what they are capable of doing.
“There are loads of things we’ll use to try to take them to the next step from where Gordon Strachan took us.
“It’s massive that we create a winning mentality. We’ll strive for that from day one.
“We want to win, but we also need to see the guys expressing themselves. We don’t want them to be apprehensive.
“We’ve talked about these exciting, young, athletic guys in the last couple of weeks.
“Now the stage is there for them to go out and show the Scottish fans, the Tartan Army, what they are capable of.
“It’s easy to talk, easy to pick the players. “The hardest part is to win football matches and that’s our aim.”
Mcleish has done it all in club football – he won every domestic honour as a player and then embarked on a trophy- laden career in management. However, he’s been on the sidelines since he left Egyptian side Zamalek two years ago.
That spell out of the game led some to wonder if he still possessed the ability to manage at the top level.
Mcleish isn’t fazed by that scepticism. He went on: “All my life I’ve believed that you have to keep proving myself. “Even as a player, I felt it every week. “You can point back and say: ‘Look what I’ve done’. But it’s now that matters and I want to prove myself again.”
Mcleish’s time out of the front line allowed him to watch a lot of football, on both sides of the border.
Some people felt Gordon Strachan didn’t always rate the quality of football in Scotland, but Mcleish views things differently.
He said: “Even though the Scottish league is much maligned, there are some emerging players that I feel can make an impact.
“This squad is half and half between Scottish and English-based players.
“I saw the recent Edinburgh derby, for example, and saw a really good Hibs team. Hearts did their best to contain them, but it didn’t feel like there was a bad Hibs player.”
Anyone who believes Mcleish’s fire for football has gone out should hear and see him talk about his excitement at returning as Scotland boss.
“I’m feeling much calmer now, but it will all intensify again when matchday comes along,” he said.
“At the end of the day, regardless of everything that has been enjoyable over the last couple of weeks (he thumps the desk) – we’ve got to win a fitba’ match.”