Alex McLeish�s departure from Rangers was overshadowed by the fanfare heralding Paul Le Guen�s arrival. The Frenchman�s failure paved the way for his predecessor�s return to football.

Alex McLeish's departure from Rangers was overshadowed by the fanfare heralding Paul Le Guen's arrival. Nine months later, the Frenchman's failure has paved the way for his predecessor's return to football.

Scotland's new national coach pondered the rich irony yesterday as he was unveiled as Walter Smith's replacement. Smith has since departed to revive Rangers' fortunes after Le Guen's unsuccessful and short-lived adventure in Scottish football.

Far from revelling in his demise, McLeish, whose haul of seven trophies in under five years have been undervalued, expressed his sympathy for Le Guen and revealed he had reservations about a supposedly brave new era.

Having achieved a surprising level of tangible success against a bleak financial backdrop, McLeish feared for his replacement despite the chairman, David Murray, infamously predicting a "moonbeam of success". McLeish experienced mixed fortunes in his trial-and-error transfer policy at the bargain end of the market and considers any investment outwith Europe's genuine elite to be a gamble in the unforgiving Old Firm environment.

Of Le Guen's 11 summer signings, only Jeremy Clement offered a modicum of success before being reunited at Paris Saint-Germain. Karl Svensson, Filip Sebo and Sasa Papac are among the most costly failures. Having made uninspiring signings such as Nuno Capucho, Emerson and Egil Ostenstad, McLeish related to Le Guen's predicament.

"People said I must have had a wry grin when Le Guen left but I knew it would be tough for Paul," said McLeish. "He had some money to spend but not a lot. I went away asking what could I have done better. The one lesson I learned is that if you cannot afford the top foreigners you can have some problems.

"When you are dealing in the Bosman market, you quickly discover that a lot of foreign players cannot handle life at the Old Firm. It is difficult to bring those A-class foreign players in and there are risks attached to every signing."

McLeish admitted he was a low-key appointment when he replaced Dick Advocaat at Ibrox in 2001. His remit then was to maintain success on a fraction of the budget enjoyed by the Dutchman. Now, he takes over a Scotland side unimaginably top of Euro 2008 qualification Group B and harbouring aspirations of participating in Austria and Switzerland.

It is a far cry from the Berti Vogts era but with talent sprouting across the Scottish football landscape, McLeish believes the Bosman ruling not only stifled youth development but rendered the German's job virtually impossible.

"The Rangers job probably came at a good time for me. I was not financially able but when I took over the job there was a lot of talent within the group. If it wasn't for that job I might not be sitting here,"

he said. "The Bosman ruling crippled Scottish football. You could bring in foreigners for no transfer fee and reasonable wages. That made things difficult for Berti because he came in during a period of experimentation. What I see now has excited me and hopefully the progress can continue."

McLeish will be reacquainted with Barry Ferguson at the next international gathering and while mindful of the difficulties encountered by the captain under Le Guen at Ibrox, he expects the midfielder to be a key component of any future success.

"We have a lot of captains in this squad but I know Barry, and we are close. Walter and I have worked hard on team spirit and togetherness and that will be a feature of my time here," he said.

The new coach is determined to start his reign with a win against Georgia on March 24 but will encounter another former player enjoying a post-Rangers renaissance. Shota Arveladze was a peripheral figure under McLeish but has returned to goalscoring form at AZ Alkmaar.

"Shota has been in terrific form since leaving Rangers," he acknowledged. "I wanted to keep him but he was made a very good offer by AZ. I know he can pick his games for Georgia but I suspect he might wish to play in this one."