Alex McLeish - 20 Years On

[BlueSuedeSambas 53,853]

20 years ago today that Alex McLeish was announced as the 11th manager of Rangers.

Scottish Premier League Winner:

2002-03, 2004-05

Scottish Cup Winner: 

2001-02, 2002-03

Scottish League Cup Winner:

2001-02, 2002-03, 2004-05

First manager to take a Scottish club out of the group stages of the Champions League.

Represented the club with class and dignity, which is a reflection of the man himself 

Legend.

 

[The Specky Forum Organiser 64,993]

Think he's very underrated amongst the support

Rangers legend

[plymouthranger 3,886]

1 minute ago, The Specky Liar said:

Think he's very underrated amongst the support

Rangers legend

Achieved more in Europe and domestically than Advocaat, despite massively downsizing. But Advocaat seems to be held in much higher regard…
 

He was let badly down by Murray in 03/04 and 05/06 on signings. The 02/03 side I’d argue was our best ever domestic side, we were beating teams by 3-4 goals every week. 

[gmcf 34,303]

Fantastic achievements when you consider we were starting to downsize when he came in . 

[VERITAS VOS LIBREBETS 3,323]

My nephew landscaped his garden and McLeish was trying to barter with the bill until his missus came out and said 'pay the boy ya miserable bastard' 

[ForeverAndEver 71,558]

Guy’s an absolute hero

[Sunglasses Ron 2,498]

Gentleman and legend.

[RS4_wul 4,121]

Absolute class act and a gentleman.

Gave us a treble and 2 last day titles including helicopter Sunday against big spending mon sides.

20 years ago, FFS I feel old 

[Straight-Edge-Loyal 6,696]

He should be remembered as one of our best ever managers but for some reason he's held a level or two below. 

[BlueSuedeSambas 53,853]

I was only 13 when he took over. Can any of the older fans give some insight on how the appointment was received? On the one hand it must have felt like a massive step down from Advocaat in terms of name value, but at the same time he was one of the best young managers in the country at the time.

[the goal machine 7,803]

O’Neill’s Celtic teams absolutely ragdolled us and he came in and immediately turned it around and by actually playing football too.

There were ups and downs but he presided over an era of downsizing and kept us competitive for the most part.

Above all, he was a fantastic representative of the club. Seemed like a good guy who took no shit - in the same mould as Smith that way.

He left at the right time but for the most part, he did a cracking job.

[murzo 7,447]

Came in at a time of downsizing but still did an outstanding job. He loved Hamed Namouchi tho which was baffling. I can’t remember how he left , was he told to go because PLG was coming in?

[BridgeIsBlue 66,608]

Definitely under appreciated because of the way it ended for him, fantastic servant for us though and he gave us some of the best days ever following Rangers. 

Played Saint Martins team off the park numerous times as well. 

[the goal machine 7,803]

11 minutes ago, murzo said:

Came in at a time of downsizing but still did an outstanding job. He loved Hamed Namouchi tho which was baffling. I can’t remember how he left , was he told to go because PLG was coming in?

 Nah it’s because we were third and fans were protesting out the ground. 

[northern bear 2,883]

16 minutes ago, murzo said:

Came in at a time of downsizing but still did an outstanding job. He loved Hamed Namouchi tho which was baffling. I can’t remember how he left , was he told to go because PLG was coming in?

Namouchi was one of the things I remembered as well. I thought he was awful. 

[Bears 794]

Won the same number of Scottish trophies as O'Neill's lot did but McLeish is not generally reckoned to have been a success by many. Did a great job considering the downsizing.

[Junior Soprano 22,428]

The best days of my life came from big Alex.

[Junior Soprano 22,428]

1 hour ago, DBBTB said:

I was only 13 when he took over. Can any of the older fans give some insight on how the appointment was received? On the one hand it must have felt like a massive step down from Advocaat in terms of name value, but at the same time he was one of the best young managers in the country at the time.

I think we needed a change back then. He came in and treated the players like men. Giving them Xmas day off ect and it worked big time

[BlueKnight87 17,302]

He gave us some amazing memories. Those two league wins were incredible days. 

Class act 👏 

[Junior Soprano 22,428]

Cannot believe that was 20 years ago

[MurrayWilson 3,432]

1 hour ago, the goal machine said:

O’Neill’s celtic teams absolutely ragdolled us and he came in and immediately turned it around and by actually playing football too.

There were ups and downs but he presided over an era of downsizing and kept us competitive for the most part.

Above all, he was a fantastic representative of the club. Seemed like a good guy who took no shit - in the same mould as Smith that way.

He left at the right time but for the most part, he did a cracking job.

He did have us playing good football. I mind after the last minute cup final victory even Gerry Mcnee said that football was the winner. 

[SwallowsHisOwnSpunk 7,805]

McLeish tends to start excellently as a new manager probably due to excellent man management skills but he then tends to fail once he gets his own signings in the door, part of the reason for that was the downsizing required at the time but the money he did spend was massively wasted.

Despite downsizing there was zero excuse for finishing third in the league as our budget still dwarfed Hearts.

It was however his Rangers sides that I have my earliest proper memories of (2002/03 ish) the Scottish Cup final that season was the first Old Firm match I attended😍) I vaguely recall Advocatt’s side but not that much, so I will always remember McLeish very fondly overall.

[ZZed 4,510]

This thread is making me feel old.

[G.E.C. 18,800]

43 minutes ago, northern bear said:

Namouchi was one of the things I remembered as well. I thought he was awful. 

Always got the nod in the big games. Remember he started ahead of Buffel against Villarreal at home.

[G.E.C. 18,800]

31 minutes ago, MurrayWilson said:

He did have us playing good football. I mind after the last minute cup final victory even Gerry Mcnee said that football was the winner. 

I started going in the treble season. Played great football, always went 4-3-3.

I think we had about 6-7 players that all scored more than 10 goals that season too.