Alex McLeish on life after Rangers

[Gooseman 889]

http://www.leaguemanagers.com/lmatv/interview-5436.html

This interview is from 2006 apologies if it has been posted before.

I was looking for an interview with de Boer about his time with us and found this.

Sir Alex Ferguson hails him as a ‘first class’ manager, Gerard Houllier describes him as ‘totally focused.’ Having led Glasgow Rangers to the last 16 of the Champions League for the first time in their history and with a Scottish trophy haul to match Martin O’Neill, it’s no wonder his Champions League peers hold Alex McLeish in high esteem. Alex McLeish has been speaking exclusively to Sue McCann.You’ve already stated your intention to take a little bit of a break from football; what has that been governed by?“I don’t know how long I’ll take a break for but I certainly know that I need to be fair to my family. I owe for it to my wife Jill and our children because I’ve been at the cutting edge of football for 30 years non-stop. They deserve an extended holiday… but I’m sure I’ll be back sooner rather than later.It was decided and announced publicly some months ago that you would leave Rangers at the end of the season but had you ever contemplated leaving the Club before that?“It’s so easy to say when you’ve been through a lot and maybe a bit of grief ‘Oh it’s time to walk away’ but I’m not the type to do that. That’s why I said to the Chairman David Murray last December ‘There’s no way I am walking out of here. I want to see this through’, despite the turmoil that was there, and the adrenaline that was in my belly at that particular time. I said that I couldn’t live with myself if I’d walked out of it. The Chairman and I have always touched on shelf lives of managers in the modern game, for example I don’t know if the next manager of Manchester United will last as long as Sir Alex has or the next Arsenal manager as long as Arsene Wenger. We discussed it and I thought that when we won the treble a couple of seasons ago ‘Maybe it’s time to go because it’s going to be hard to top that’, especially when you consider the players that left us that season; Barry Ferguson, Arthur Numan, Lorenzo Amoruso, Caniggia, Neil McCann.Then I got to the stage the season before last and we won the Championship again and I thought again ’Is it time to go? When’s the right time to go?’ But it was niggling me that I needed to make an impact with Rangers in the Champions League and that motivated me to stay.I’m sure if we’d won the Championship again this season I probably would have felt fresh enough in my mind to say ‘Right we’ll have another crack at it.’ So it’s difficult to actually say ‘I’m only going to go if I’ve won or I’m only going to go if I’ve lost’. But as far back as the beginning of the season I said to David Murray ‘I’d love to be able to do something in Europe Chairman and if I do it might be the right time for me to go.’ Little did I think at that time that we would be languishing in the league because I fully expected us still to be competing for the Championship whilst really making a concerted effort to do this thing in Europe. We agreed back in December, when we decided I’d stay on, that we’d finally make the statement public that we would part company in the summer. I think it was a good decision….people had different slants on it and I’ve heard people say that I was hung out to dry on it, but I don’t agree with that. I feel there needed to be clarity for the Rangers fans because they were growling a little bit, which was understandable and when we announced it things calmed down. There was an acceptance of it, there was a ‘Right let’s get behind the team, the manager, the Chairman, the whole club’ and I think it brought everybody together again. The validity of that decision was reflected in our results between then and the end of the season”You class your last SPL campaign as failure; and yet you closed a 16 point gap to one point to finish behind second placed Hearts. In other leagues that wouldn’t be a failure….“Well it is in Scotland and in fact coming 2nd in Scotland is seen as failure. That’s why Ronald De Boer who played for Rangers a couple of years ago said that he found it even more demanding than his time at Barcelona because of the goldfish bowl of Glasgow. I know that press are very prevalent in the European game and there’s a sports paper out every single day at places like Barcelona, but he said he found the atmosphere here quite suffocating and I can understand where he’s coming from. Ibrox has had success and there’ve been occasions when we’ve failed… it often happens like that in cycles in Scotland. I’d like to think that the successes far outweigh the times that we failed.”An educated guess suggests that many of the signings you were making at Rangers were governed by budget, is that the case?“Of course, of course. I think if I could show you the list of first choice players that I had earmarked for Rangers over the years it would be quite a frightening list. But I would have taken the opportunity of being Rangers manager under any circumstances. David Murray and I have a fantastic relationship, I hope it’s a relationship that lasts for life…he gave me the opportunity to come to Rangers. I did realise that the opportunity came along because the club had to make sure that the books were getting balanced again. The years before that when Dick Advocaat and Walter Smith were managers we spent more than the revenue we were bringing in. The Club’s financial people, the Chairman and the Chief Executive came to the conclusion, like people throughout football, that because of the financial fall-out in world football we wouldn’t continue to be net spenders, that we were definitely going to make ends meet and balance the books. I believe that is why Rangers went for a younger, inexperienced, maybe unfashionable in some Rangers fans eyes, manager in me.”You’ve won as many trophies as Martin O’Neill in Scottish football and in a year less. Martin is being feted for many jobs in the Premiership so presumably you’d like to think that an opportunity will arise for you at some point south of the border?“Martin was a great adversary and fantastic manager in his time at Celtic. The UEFA Cup Final alone gave him fantastic credibility but I think to be fair Martin has a very good track record in England and that would obviously stand him in good stead. It’s up to me to try to meet a challenge such as that if I am lucky enough to be offered a job in England in the future. It’s up to me to meet that challenge head on and prove to the Chairman of any English club that I’m capable of emulating the feats that I’ve achieved here in Scotland.”Would you take a job abroad? Do you speak any languages or are you learning any during this break from football?“I’m not fluent in any languages but I have picked up bits of different languages mainly from our near neighbours in Europe. As yet I’ve not taken up Russian in the hope that some oligarch out there may take me to one of the Russian teams (laughs). In all seriousness it’s something that I would seriously consider and I am definitely planning on brushing up on my grasp of one or two languages.”From your former players’ point of view, what type of manager do you think they consider you be?“I like to think that I treat players as adults and I like to think that man management is a huge, huge part of the modern game. Nowadays you almost need to be a psychologist. In days gone by managers were perceived as hard, ruthless types and that worked previously. Nowadays we have the evolvement of a different generation who have different ways of being motivated. It’s important as a manager or a coach to recognise this and that’s one of the things I believe is a strength of mine.”I remember there was about a 7 day period last season where the media speculated on whether you’d be sacked or not. That’s an immense amount of pressure but you seem to handle it well and by having ambitions to manage in the Premiership you seem to thrive on it….“Absolutely. I think I’ve proved over the four and half years with Rangers, that despite maybe not having the spending power of previous Rangers managers, that I can handle the pressure. When the chips were down I came out fighting, all guns blazing. For example I won an SPL title when three weeks before we were getting hammered and I was seen to be a bad manager and the players were bad players.”What thoughts do you have for Paul Le Guen who has enjoyed great success in France but is now entering a completely different environment; I assume you wish him well?“Absolutely, let me reiterate that it’s not an easy job but it is a fantastic club. Paul obviously sees it as a challenge in his career because he’s knocked back some other jobs. It certainly is a phenomenal challenge at one of the greatest institutions in world football. “

[JamieG54 812]

Good man Big Eck I would take him back tomorrow.

[Gooseman 889]

I think that there are many that would. To be honest I think he would jump at the chance to come back if it was offered to him.

[285miles 502]

I don't think Ally should go yet but if he did McLeish is the only viable alternative at the present time. All the other names being banded about wouldn't come or are not good enough for Rangers.

[Jelavic191 4,448]

He was in charge of two of my favourite days ever as a Rangers fan!

and how he made the Last-16 of the Champions League with he had was beyond me

[Big Al 55 9,252]

Another we didn't appreciate until after we had chased him.

Fantastic man manager but not the best a building a team.

[Blue corn flakes 1,282]

He was in charge of two of my favourite days ever as a Rangers fan!

and how he made the Last-16 of the Champions League with he had was beyond me

We were unlucky not to get to the last 8, out on away goals but i remember one of Villarreals goals was dodgy at Ibrox.

[Brian Fantana 28,894]

Another we didn't appreciate until after we had chased him.

Fantastic man manager but not the best a building a team.

was hard to appreciate him given our owner didn't appreciate him enough to give him money to spend. I had so much pity for him in his final season, half the team was crocked, he had no real backing from Murray and was still expected to go ut there and do a job.

Cracking manager, always held himself well but he was clearly on crack when he signed Franny "the fox in the box" Jeffers.

[tartansmokie 36]

McLeish was a good manager and a decent man. Would have him back anytime.

[Big Al 55 9,252]

was hard to appreciate him given our owner didn't appreciate him enough to give him money to spend. I had so much pity for him in his final season, half the team was crocked, he had no real backing from Murray and was still expected to go ut there and do a job.

Cracking manager, always held himself well but he was clearly on crack when he signed Franny "the fox in the box" Jeffers.

We were downsizing at the time so that's hardly surprising is it! He did fantastically well considering the reduction in budget and being up against their strongest team in a generation.

Still pish at building teams though.

[Dutchy 1,200]

Alex McLeish was treated harshly by Rangers and the fans. He's the only manager in the modern age that never had the fans chant his name. Strange how many support him now that he's not here?

[Brian Fantana 28,894]

We were downsizing at the time so that's hardly surprising is it! He did fantastically well considering the reduction in budget and being up against their strongest team in a generation.

Still pish at building teams though.

downsizing until Walter Smith returned then we went XXL on wages and transfers.

[Jimfanciesthedude 24,547]

I always backed him, fantastic manager and chased out for less than mccoist has done

[quinty 1,445]

Dumpling

[Bears r us 30,798]

Not only did Eck bring bring us success during his time with us, working on a down sizing budget, he was a pefect gentleman as well.

[Big Al 55 9,252]

downsizing until Walter Smith returned then we went XXL on wages and transfers.

That's all relative though, yes Smith got more money but it was still far far less than what Advocaat had received. McLeish was asked to downsize from the Advocaat era. Smith was given money to invest to improve the embarrassment of a team left by PLG.

[Mor3los_1 3,672]

We finished 3rd which was unacceptable.

[r13 47]

And if I remember rightly, Ross McCormack missed a sitter in the second leg.

[BlueSuedeSambas 53,789]

We finished 3rd which was unacceptable.

Did a good job over the piece but he moved on at the right time.

Went 10 games without a win at one point in 05-06.

[Creampuff 22,628]

Done an excellent job under impossible circumstances, but just ran out of ideas by the end. The Hearts side that finished above us should have won the league, though.

[mabawsa 888]

And if I remember rightly, Ross McCormack missed a sitter in the second leg.

It was Boyd!

[TheBluebells 6,898]

Making the last 16 and matching oneils trophy haul a year quicker and on a small budget are pretty good achievements. Feel like when I remember back not too many were keen on him, shame.

[BlueSuedeSambas 53,789]

Making the last 16 and matching oneils trophy haul a year quicker and on a small budget are pretty good achievements. Feel like when I remember back not too many were keen on him, shame.

Both are amazing achievements, right up there with the best things I've seen supporting rangers, but by the same token you had things like finishing 3rd, going ten league games without a win & going seven old firm games without a win which were some of the worst on field experiences I've had as a rangers fan.

[TheBluebells 6,898]

Both are amazing achievements, right up there with the best things I've seen supporting rangers, but by the same token you had things like finishing 3rd, going ten league games without a win & going seven old firm games without a win which were some of the worst on field experiences I've had as a rangers fan.

It's a pretty crazy contrast looking back upon it. Some of the worst signings i remember also.

[JamieG54 812]

I actually can't remember going 10 league games without a win. Doesn't seem possible