THE hearty punch of the desk during Alex McLeish’s blether with the press illustrated his general mood of eagerness. It is only a friendly with Costa Rica – didn’t we say “ach it’s only Costa Rica” prior to that sobering 1990 World Cup calamity? – but McLeish is approaching his first match in charge with zeal and patriotic gusto. That aforementioned clenched fist clatter of the table simply underlined the Scotland manager’s keenness to get cracking. “We’ve got to win a fitba’ match,” he declared with purpose.
Well aware that he still needs to win over certain sections of a weary, battle-fatigued Tartan Army who have grown accustomed to international failure and wretched qualifying futility, McLeish wants his opening salvo in his second stint at the helm to be a rousing, inspiring affair.
“It’s massive that we create a winning mentality and we’ll strive to do that from day one,” he said.
“We don’t want the players to be apprehensive. We want them to put on a show but be disciplined. It would be good to see some of our midfielders and forwards express themselves. I know that Scotland haven’t qualified for [a major championship] for 20 years. Maybe the perception is that we just won’t do it again. We have that air about us and that’s what we will strive to change. The only thing that will do that is getting a winning mentality.”
McLeish certainly had that winning mentality during his playing days and his successful stints in club management. He didn’t do too badly during his first spell with Scotland too even if it all, inevitably, ended in the kind of glorious failure that used to accompany some of Evel Knievel’s more reckless pursuits.
It was in March, 38 years ago that McLeish made his playing debut for Jock Stein’s Scotland against Portugal in 1980. For the new faces in his own squad this week, and some of the hardy perennials, McLeish still wants them to adopt the approach that was instilled into him by the great man that was Big Jock. “Jock saw me fidgeting in the dressing room before my debut,” recalled McLeish. “I was playing in midfield at the time and played in midfield with wee Archie Gemmill that night against Portugal. I’d been playing in midfield with Aberdeen and Jock had liked my performances. Jock said to me, ‘you know why I’ve picked you?’ And I’m sitting on my bench thinking ‘why?’ and that I’d need to do something special in the game like a Cruyff turn or something like that. But he said to me, ‘just do what you’ve been doing for your club. That’s why I picked you’. And I thought, ‘oh, that sounds dead easy’. You just kind of slot in, make sure you are doing everything right, get the ball and give it to good players and keep it simple. And it was a great bit of advice, it was common sense.”
McLeish has some 13 midfielders at his disposal – “six of them are forwards,” he quipped – and one in particular, Scott McTominay, will attract sizeable attention. The Scotland manager is eager to temper the expectation that has been heaped on the Manchester United youngster. “People thought Darren Fletcher was going to be George Best and McTominay is very similar,” said McLeish of a similar scenario a few years ago. “He’s 21, he doesn’t have all the answers and it would be harsh to expect him to be a controller of midfield at this tender age. We have to introduce him to the squad. He’ll have gained a lot of confidence in being instrumental in Jose Mourinho’s teams in the past few weeks. He never played in the Champions League [last week], maybe due to fatigue or tactics, but he looked as if he was missed, and that’s a great compliment to him, considering he’s a rookie.”
Scotland’s youthful exuberance is bolstered by the highly talented duo of Kieran Tierney of Celtic and Liverpool’s Andy Robertson. Trying to accommodate both these left-backs in the same team has led to Stan Laurel-levels of head scratching but McLeish wants to come up with an answer. His reasoning is obvious and simple.
“They are two of Scotland’s best players,” he said. “Without giving anything away at the moment I would like to fit those guys into the same team.”
McLeish’s second coming is nearly upon us. It is 11 years since his first spell in charge ended. At 59, Big Eck is ready for another go at it. “I’m feeling much calmer now but it will all intensify again when matchday comes,” he said. “I’ve had a lot of experience since my last game with Scotland, an automatic promotion, I’ve won a cup, posted a ninth place in the Premier League. I’m maybe not as mad as I was in the younger days, when you react to absolutely everything. We will see next week.”
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