YES, Archie Graham concedes at one point, the security arrangements put in place for the Commonwealth Games could be seen as slightly excessive.

Like everyone else, the depute leader of Glasgow City Council, and executive member for the Games, is familiar with news stories relating city residents' grumbles about barriers, or parking restrictions, or what have you.

"To a lay person," he says, "it might well seem that the security measures are over-the-top. It does look, on the surface of it, as being really over-the-top.

"But, you know, when you get MI5 and others in the security service coming to you and saying, 'This is what's required to keep people safe', well, you listen to that advice, don't you? Who am I to argue with them?

"That causes inconvenience for people," he continues, "so we have to explain that. That in itself is a challenge, because people get annoyed at being advised that they're going to have a fence at the bottom of their street and not be able to get in and out for a fortnight, and so on."

And with this, you get a glimpse into some of the many challenges that Graham has faced these past seven years, ever since he was handed the responsibility within the council to deliver the Games.

It has helped that Graham, who is 57, is sports mad, has lots of connections across Scottish sport, and that, as a councillor since 1995, he knows his way around meetings and officialdom. But it is still with some feeling that he describes the work as "phenomenal. Absolutely phenomenal".

"The general public have no idea of the logistical challenge that there is in putting on an event of this scale. It's absolutely monumental.

"I certainly didn't appreciate how tough it was going to be when we were awarded the Games in 2007. It's probably only in the past year or so that it has really sunk into me, as a politician, the amount of work that is required to deliver something of this scale."

He gives examples. The new venues, of course, had to be ready on time. Crucial venue-use agreements, between the organising committee and external bodies such as Glasgow Life, Rangers and Celtic, Hampden Park Ltd, and a couple of local authorities, all had to be negotiated.

There was security. There was transport: "The logistical challenge of moving around the city double the number of people who are normally here on a day-to-day basis, is monumental. We'd be here all day if I tried to explain to you some of the challenges we have had."

Graham also chaired regular meetings of the 2014 Team of officers from across the council "family", and ensured they talked to each other and to external stakeholders.

When Glasgow first bid for the the Games, Labour ran both the city council and Holyrood. When the Nationalists took over in the Parliament in 2007, he recalls: "There's a thought at the back of your mind, this is going to be a real challenge. But actually we have worked very well together. I'm one hundred per cent convinced the Scottish Government would say the same thing. The challenge hasn't been of that nature at all, really," he adds. "It's been between different priorities of different agencies."

Graham is married to Johann Lamont, the leader of the Scottish Labour Party - they met at a fundraising disco when Archie was working in the building trade and Johann was a teacher. They have two teenage children - Fay, 19, and Colin, 17. They "had a family holiday in the Algarve last year and that was wonderful, but I'm not going to get a summer holiday this year, obviously".

Graham has run five marathons - Glasgow, London, New York, and Edinburgh twice, as well as "countless half-marathons and 10k races for charities and so on. I still do some running. although not as much as I used to do, but I still play seven-a-side football every Thursday night." He swims, too.

He talks with pride about their children. Fay plays netball for Bellahouston and for Strathclyde University and is an accomplished umpire. Colin is "a very good swimmer; he's in the Glasgow swim team, training at one level below the elite swimmers.

"He's 17, and doesn't drive," Graham adds, "so we've to get up at quarter to five in the morning and take him to his swimming training before school. It's a huge commitment for him but it's also a bit of a commitment for us, and we share the load between us. I'll maybe do two mornings a week and Johann will do the other two."

When Graham turns to the legacy of the Games, he says it's much more than the fact that the new venues were built not for elite Commonwealth athletes, but for the people of Glasgow.

There's the 4,500 people in jobs apprenticeship training places, the £200 million worth of work awarded to Glasgow companies; the 700 family homes being built at Dalmarnock, the increased numbers using the Glasgow Club sports centres.

"We've already got people living healthier lifestyles, we're building new housing estates, we're getting people jobs, we're giving work to Glasgow businesses. There's a huge amount of legacy already."

Graham plans to get to most of the 17 sports if at all possible. He hopes to talk to people from sports governing bodies: "I'll ask them how good their experience has been in the city, and then to consider Glasgow for future events. That's what I'll be working at."

I ask whether Wednesday's opening ceremony at Celtic Park might be an emotional occasion for him.

"I'll be quite emotional, actually. I'm quite an emotional person. I probably don't give that impression to many people when I'm involved in political debate and all that kind of stuff, because I can give as good as I get, but I am quite an emotional person, so I'll have to be on my best behaviour not to shed a tear at the opening ceremony.

"It has been a wonderful journey," he adds. "There have been challenges, there has been debate, there have been times when you think, My God Almighty, is it worth it, you know? as we went along the journey.

"But as we get nearer it, I can actually sense the excitement in the city. You can almost feel the atmosphere building towards the day when the Queen comes to read her message from the baton ... and reads it out to the one-and-a-half billion people who'll be watching us on the telly. I'm just so looking forward to it."

Will he be sorry when it's all over?

"I think there will be part of me that says, 'Thank God for that, I can get a wee rest." He laughs. "Of course, we have the referendum in September, so I won't be able to rest until after that, I don't suppose.

"One bit of me will be glad that the challenge will have been met, with great success I'm sure, but there will be another bit of me that says, well, what next?"