Alex Mcleish takes charge of Scotland for a second time
Photo: Scottish FA
Scotland begin a new era at the hands of an old head
by Scotland Correspondent Roddy Speirs
Scotland start life after their doomed World Cup qualification campaign tonight in a friendly against Costa Rica. It’s all change for the men in blue as former boss Alex McLeish returns for his second spell at the helm of the oldest side in world football.
With the retirement of captain Scott Brown, McLeish is firmly looking forward and the presence of youth in his squad attests to that.
Much of the attention in the Scottish press has focused on McLeish’s successful pursuit of Scott McTominay who was also eligible to play for England. The story runs that England manager Gareth Southgate did no more than send the player a text whereas McLeish visited the Manchester United training ground at Carrington to convince the youngster to play for the land of his father Frank, who hails from the town of Helensburgh.
“McTominay’s willing defection across the border has clearly thrilled the manager who helped to make it happen after battling through blizzards to meeting with the 21-year-old at United’s Carrington training HQ a fortnight ago,” gushed the Daily Record.
Getting one over on the English will do McLeish’s popularity with the Tartan Army no harm at all and McTominay will be warmly greeted by the home crowd, expected to be well short of capacity.
But there are other reasons for the Scots to have some cautious optimism. Andrew Robertson’s breakthrough at Liverpool means the Scots will have a regular starter performing at one of England’s leading clubs at the top level for the first time since Darren Fletcher.
Scott McTominay will don his father’s navy blue tonight in Glasgow
Photo: Manchester United FC
Matt Ritchie and Matt Phillips play at Newcastle and West Brom respectively, however the perennial struggle for a Scotland coach is to assist players to bridge the gap between the SPFL and international football, something which McLeish’s predecessor Gordon Strachan did admirably well.
This was less true for those who played for Celtic than other clubs and Strachan latterly leant heavily on men who experienced Champions League football with the Parkhead club. With Brown retiring, that will be one less.
Two other Celts Kieran Tierney and keeper Craig Gordon have also withdrawn from the squad but there is still a healthy Celtic contingent in Callum McGregor, Stuart Armstrong, James Forrest and Jack Hendry.
Tonight will be less about the result for Scotland than McLeish inspiring a new sense of believe, enthusiasm and optimism among the fans, and also to maintain the improvements of the latter stages of Strachan’s reign.
Look out for live tweeting from Hampden Park on the @prostsoccer twitter account.
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