Alex McLeish getting Scotland job stems from blind panic and lack of foresight | Ewan Murray

Scottish FA’s failings are exposed by decision to bring in McLeish from the cold to manage the team for a second time

Any search for ill will towards Alex McLeish within Scottish football would be a tough one. Although unanimous sentiment towards football managers is an impossibility, those who have dealt professionally with the 59-year-old will generally report on a thoroughly decent, charismatic, clued-up individual. McLeish’s knowledge of global football is understated and an exception to the notion that detail is the domain of younger coaches.

McLeish has 77 Scotland caps. When faced with downsizing at Rangers he returned seven trophies – including a domestic treble – and progress to the last 16 of the Champions League. Success with Birmingham preceded as bizarre a managerial move in 2011 as it looks today: to Aston Villa. Since then, McLeish’s career has never really returned to its previous heights, meaning his level of motivation in this, a second stint in charge of Scotland, will not be in short supply. It seems reasonable to infer this may be McLeish’s last managerial hurrah, with the fact he has been handed a contract for a single campaign perhaps significant.

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