DETERMINED to fulfil his potential with no constraints, Alex McLeish is setting his sights on a return to the English Premier League as the curtain comes down on his Belgian adventure.

The former Rangers and Scotland manager had mixed fortunes with both Birmingham City and Aston Villa when he worked under trying circumstances, as well as a hairy spell with Nottingham Forest in the Championship. However, having enjoyed relative success at KRC Genk the 56-year-old has regained his zest for football management and would love one of England's Premiership owners to put their faith in him.

McLeish has chosen to quit Genk at the end of this season halfway through a two-year contract because he is uncomfortable working with technical director Dimitri de Conde and felt he was not given full licence to run the club his way.

He still has an outside chance of qualifying the team for the Europa League through the complicated Belgian play-off system and that would be a remarkable achievement.

McLeish had no money to spend, inherited a squad in turmoil and lost many of his top players to injury but produced a run of results in the regular season that was Championship-challenging material.

He said: "If I was going back to England I would like to get something where someone would put a bit of trust in me rather than a fire-fighting project. If you look at my time with Rangers when we were able to prepare properly we did well. I obviously inherited a good set of quality players and I got the best out of them that Dick Advocaat wasn't getting any more.

"When we had the full pre-season together we went on to win the Treble. Then in 2004/05 I was able to get Jean- Alain Boumsong and Dado Prso in and that gave us a spine to work with and with some good strengthening in January we went on to win the league again. But if you look at my time in England it was all about fire-fighting - even Villa. It was the right club but the wrong time.

"I have already been approached to work in countries outside of Europe so I need to think about what I want to do because I have a wee grandson now. There is loads of potential in the Middle East and America, for example, but maybe Europe or England would be better if I get a really good opportunity."

In Belgium the top six play each other home and away for the title and the main European places carrying forward half of their points totals from the 30-game regular season. The next eight clubs split into two groups of four where they play their opponents home and away and the winner of each group plays off for the right to face the fourth-placed team for a Europa League slot.

It is a complicated set-up and McLeish's side just missed out on Play-Off 1 and have two games left in Group A of Play-Off 2 to try to edge Mechelen, who are level on points but have a better goal difference.

He lamented: "In the regular season we shared the best defensive record with Bruges so it was a lack of goals that cost us. It's the story of my life. I haven't had a striker since Ronald de Boer.

"We probably need Mechelen to slip in one of their two remaining games because of the goal difference. Most people felt it was the weakest squad Genk have had in the last 10 years or but we got to 49 points - the same as Charleroi - but Charleroi won one game more than us.

"I inherited a group of boys who had been in a bit of turmoil and I got them calm again and got the best out of them. I never added anyone to the squad or spent any money. My points tally for matches played was better than four of the top five but I came in after five matches had been played and they were languishing at the bottom of the league.

"We got up to seventh but as I say we missed out to Charleroi for Play-Off 1 because they had won one more game than us. So I feel I have done well and I think it was a brilliant effort by the boys. We were never given a prayer by anyone and the pundits were saying how we got to that position was ridiculous."

While McLeish - with Alex Rae beside him - was ultimately frustrated that he did not have full control he has been enlivened by the experience and insists the youth system in Belgium is streets ahead of the UK.

He said: "We tried to change a few things and we felt we were getting there and then the Sporting Director came in and it was back to normal. It was a bit like the Stepford Wives. They just go back into institutional mode. The coaching was good and the academy is excellent and miles ahead of anything I have seen in England. Overall it was a great experience."