RETURN TICKET COST TOO MUCH

McLeish insists Ibrox job lacked appeal due to finance required to end Celtic’s dominance

FOR Rangers directors, selecting a successor to Mark Warburton presented a choice between a safe pair of hands with a well-scarred face and the hide of a rhino, or a mildly risky overseas appointment with a limited idea of what he was walking into.

Already having managed the Ibrox club between 2001 and 2006, Alex McLeish held discussions in London over a return.

There were no legal battles, financial strife or off-field turmoil when he led Rangers to a domestic Treble in 2003.

Aware the job — and the budget — had changed hugely in the intervening years, Big Eck now claims he was never fully sold on the idea of a return.

Now 58, the former Scotland manager wants a job but doesn’t necessarily need one. Least of all the challenge of halting a runaway Celtic side with one hand tied behind his back.

‘I didn’t say I was definitely going to take the job if I was offered it,’ said McLeish yesterday. ‘It was more just to get a general feeling about how things were going. It was a decision I didn’t need to make anyway because they had clearly targeted Pedro (Caixinha).

‘So it wasn’t there for me to accept or decline.’

One of four candidates spoken to by a three-man selection committee led by director Graham Park, McLeish (right) drew a lukewarm reaction from fans.

There were obvious arguments for Rangers making a cautious, nuts-and-bolts appointment. Warburton’s failure to lay a glove on Celtic made a compelling case for an old head with a few miles on the clock. But fans yearned for something different and imaginative and directors felt the same.

Settling on a new manager and sporting director structure, McLeish could have done either job. His tone yesterday suggested he can live with doing neither.

‘Obviously, working at Rangers and knowing the ins and outs and understanding the pressure of having to win every single game, I’ve had all that before,’ he said.

‘I’ve done that and had some really great times — as well as one or two when it didn’t go the way I wanted.

‘Maybe it’s better for a young, enthusiastic guy to come in and change it without knowing about all the things that go with being the manager of Rangers.

‘Pedro’s come in a little bit blind in that respect, although he’s been saying all the right things, that the fans want to hear, and he’s even got them to play Simply The Best over the Tannoy at Ibrox again — so he’s clearly done his homework.

‘But it wasn’t the same [this time]. I spoke to Walter Smith and he said: “They say never go back but, when I did [in 2007] I demanded that David Murray gave me money”.

‘He ended up building a team that won three championships and reached the UEFA Cup Final, with signings like Steven Davis, Steven Naismith and Nikica Jelavic.

‘It was a great piece of team building by him — but it will take time to catch up with Celtic now and I just felt, in my heart, that it wasn’t for me just now.’

His mind was never closed to the idea. Had there been a will on the other side he would have spoken to directors a second time and asked some pertinent questions. Yet his gut instinct told him he didn’t need the grief a return to Rangers might bring.

‘I still get texts and emails from my pals — Rangers fans — urging me to read this blog or that one and I thought: “Do I really

need that at this stage of my life?” The political aspect.’ His honesty won’t endear him to everyone connected to Rangers. The Ibrox club still hope to appoint a sporting director in the summer and it’s clear that man won’t be McLeish. ‘I would never rule anything out,’ he added. ‘But at the moment, I still want to be in the technical area. The masochist in me tells me that I still want to do that.’ By the end of his time at Ibrox masochism was the right word. Grey and haunted, the job took its toll in the end. Winning a remarkable Treble the season Martin O’Neill’s fine Celtic team made it to the UEFA Cup Final in Seville, however, there were outstanding triumphs along the way. ‘That was a bit of a whirlwind,’ McLeish recalled. ‘We got turfed out of Europe in Prague. I can remember winning the Treble and that one got thrown at me. Someone said: “It was disappointing in Europe” and I thought: “Okay, we have just won a Treble against one of the best Celtic teams since Jock Stein”.

‘We had a bit of momentum, but so did Celtic, with the run to the UEFA Cup Final. We lost to them at Ibrox after they came back from Seville but they lost to Hibs at Celtic Park.

‘We had to go up to Aberdeen and win — which we did.

‘Every weekend we had to look for their result and then make sure we got a result.’

The pressure took its toll in the end. McLeish went on to manage Scotland before leading Birmingham City and Aston Villa. There were also spells at Nottingham Forest, Genk in Belgium and a brief stay at Zamalek in Egypt.

Yet nothing compared to the grinding, relentless pressure of life in Glasgow. It was never enough to win. The team on the other side of the city also had to be seen to fail.

‘Rangers and Celtic are two teams that need to win every single week,’ added McLeish. ‘They are in a unique band of maybe six to ten clubs in the world that are like that.

‘That’s why Mark Warburton was shellshocked after the 5-1 defeat at Parkhead. That’s when he realised how important it is to win against Celtic.’

Just as the current Rangers team bear no comparison with his Treble winners, neither does McLeish think the Brendan Rodgers side hold a candle to the Celtic class which reached Seville.

‘Martin O’Neill had a team full of experienced men,’ said McLeish. ‘I don’t believe this current Celtic team would beat Martin’s.

‘And would they beat my Treblewinning team?’ he added with a mischievous grin. ‘Of course not…’

Alex McLeish was speaking at a William Hill media event. William Hill is the proud sponsor of the Scottish Cup.

I didn’t say I was definitely going to take the post if I was offered it