Man’s man Big Eck would be perfect for Ibrox – McCulloch

AS A teenager, Lee McCulloch was ready to walk out on his hometown club. Unsettled and being wooed by the likes of Manchester City and St Johnstone, one of the brightest prospects in Scottish football’s mind was made up, he would be leaving Motherwell and continuing his footballing education elsewhere.

Enter Alex McLeish. The newly appointed manager at Fir Park requested a meeting at once with McCulloch and his parents, which they agreed to out of courtesy more than any intention of reversing the direction they had set for young Lee’s career. Within two hours, he had signed his first professional forms as a Motherwell player.

According to McCulloch, that is the effect that McLeish has on people. A terrific man-manager, McCulloch believes that his former boss has all the attributes required to once again step into the managerial hotseat at Rangers and steady what is fast threatening to become a listing ship.

Easing anxiety and bringing a sense of order and calm to chaos are attributes that McCulloch believes come as second-nature to McLeish, and when added to his powers as a motivator, his is a skillset that makes him the ideal candidate to steer Rangers out of the choppy waters they currently inhabit.

“Alex McLeish is the one who signed me as a professional,” McCulloch said. “I was meant to be signing for another club and then he met my mum and dad and he was brilliant.

“He’s such a great people person, he gets really close to the players and gets into their heads. He’s a motivational manager and obviously that’s brought him great success.

“He takes time out for all the players, and he’s brilliant for young players. He gives you confidence and belief to go out there and play and believe in yourself, which you definitely need at a club like Rangers.

“You need young players and even the experienced ones to have that faith in themselves, because it can get on top of you very quickly if you let it.

“He’s also got the experience of being a treble-winning manager at Rangers.

“He’s obviously right up there with the best managers I’ve worked with, guys like Walter Smith, Alex, Billy Davies, Coisty and Lee Clark just now, they are all real top managers that I’ve learnt from.

“But Alex specifically is definitely a player’s person and a people person. He has definitely got that trait, the ability to go in there with the right mentality to steady a ship.

“Who knows what’s been happening at Rangers this season? Mixed messages to the fans and no clarity given. But what Alex would probably need to do is to go in there and provide the players and fans with a bit of clarity if allowed to.”

While McCulloch enjoyed watching the football produced by Rangers under the charge of Mark Warburton, as a former Rangers captain he knows enough about the club and its supporters to concede that results will always come first at Ibrox.

Conceding soft goals while not making enough of their dominance of the ball have been the major failings of Rangers this term, leading McCulloch to believe that the more pragmatic approach favoured by McLeish might just be the missing ingredient.

“In my opinion Warburton was brilliant for Rangers,” he said. “He changed the club, changed the style of play and brought in a real philosophy, but I think Alex would probably play a different style of football.

“When you look at Rangers last season and this season, they have been creating chances and dominating the ball. Maybe Alex would be a bit more pragmatic though and maybe he would go a little bit more direct.

“Time will tell. I think he’s good enough, and he would be a great appointment.”

The only question in McCulloch’s mind over the appointment of McLeish is whether taking charge on a temporary basis, as chairman Dave King suggested might be the case for the next manager, would appeal to a man who brought numerous trophies to the club in his previous five-year spell.

“I would imagine it would be difficult for anyone like Alex who is a Rangers man to turn them down, even for a temporary position, but only he can answer that,” McCulloch said.

He’s obviously right up there with the best managers I’ve worked with, guys like Walter Smith, Alex, Billy Davies, Coisty and Lee Clark just now