McLeish confirmed as new Scotland manager

LONDON: Alex McLeish has been appointed as the new manager of Scotland, the Scottish Football Association said on Friday.McLeish’s return for a second spell as Scotland boss ends the SFA’s four-month search for a successor to Gordon Strachan, his former Aberdeen and Scotland team-mate.

The 59-year-old McLeish won seven of 10 games in charge during his previous spell in 2007, including a famous 1-0 win away to France, as Scotland narrowly missed out to Italy for Euro 2008 qualification.

Scotland’s wait to reach a major tournament has stretched to 20 years in the decade since.McLeish’s first games in charge will come in friendlies against Costa Rica and Hungary next month, with his return to the hot seat widely forecast by British media reports on Thursday.

Costa Rica will visit Hampden Park on March 23 and four days later Scotland will travel to Hungary.

However, McLeish will have to wait until September for the first competitive game of his second spell in charge of Scotland, when qualifying for Euro 2020 begins with the inaugural Nations League at home to Albania.

“It is a tremendous honour to be named Scotland national team head coach,” said McLeish in an SFA statement.“There is much to be positive about in Scottish football, with players playing at the highest level and promising talent breaking through.”

He added: “With Hampden Park as one of the host venues for Euro 2020 we have an amazing opportunity to showcase our talents to the world from our own back yard.“I am relishing the challenge of leading us to a major tournament and I cannot wait to get started.”

McLeish feared he might not get a second chance with Scotland after the SFA made it clear Michael O’Neill was their first-choice target.But a failure to bring the Northern Ireland manager on board — which contributed to Stewart Regan losing his job as SFA chief executive — gave McLeish renewed hope.

“I always see it as a bit of fate,” McLeish told reporters. “I see that as it was meant to happen and I have got to make the most of that.“Michael turned it down and you think: ‘Oh wait a minute, it is not over yet’.”