Seconds out, round two. Alex McLeish, in the time-honoured tradition of successful national team coaches with nothing to do for a year or so, has admitted missing club football and waited for the nation's chairmen to reconsider the 'full backing of the board' statement they issued the day before. And Birmingham City, in the wake of Steve Bruce's homecoming at Wigan, have pounced.
McLeish comes to St Andrews from Hampden, by way of Ibrox, leaving Scotland’s second city for England’s – and has brought himself back into the firing line of an old adversary: the Aston Villa manager Martin O'Neill.
The 48-year-old succeeds Steve Bruce at St Andrews. “I absolutely loved my time as coach of the national team,” he said, “but it rekindled my passion of being able to work with players every day.”
“I have always harboured a desire to manage in the Premier League and I am really excited about the challenge.”
For the man himself, the move makes sense. There will be those that question McLeish’s decision to join a club away from the higher reaches of a league given his previous experience at Hibernian and Rangers, but as former Scotland great Pat Nevin said, “I think it's the league rather than the club that has attracted Alex.”
But in some senses, McLeish is entering a rather familiar situation. When he took the Rangers job in 2003, he inherited a team living in the shadow of their cross-city rivals, Martin O’Neill’s Celtic. O’Neill had completed a clean sweep of the domestic honours in 2001, and guided the Bhoys to the UEFA Cup final in 2003. But while Celtic went to Seville, Rangers concerned themselves with completing their own domestic treble.
In his 4-½-year tenure, McLeish won more trophies than O’Neill, a fact that is often overlooked. And this at a time when the purse-strings of the Scottish giants were at their very tightest.
Now, nobody in their right mind expects Birmingham to conquer England this season or next, but a climb up the Premier League pecking order – and parity with their second-city rivals – would help get the long-suffering Blues supporters onside. And with a successful history of managing top-flight club teams north of the border, and squeezing the very best from limited resources and talent available with the national side, for Birmingham chairman David Gold the decision made itself.
Ever the diplomat, O’Neill was full of praise for the incoming Scot. “I think he's an excellent manager,” he told Sky Sports News. “I can't pretend to know what he does in his training sessions or how he motivates his players, but he is able to do that.”
“He would be terrific for the Premiership, he really would be.”
With Bruce departing amid speculation about a potential takeover, McLeish sought advice from the Birmingham board on the speculation surrounding Carson Yeung’s yo-yoing bid for the club. As it stands, David Gold is reportedly ready to throw out the bid and buy back Yeung’s shares as a definitive move fails to materialise.
The uncertainty has hung over the club for too long now, but McLeish was ensured his job would be safe – something that bemused Gold.
“It was a bizarre situation in the sense that a takeover board won't allow you to enhance an existing contract - in this instance Steve's - but you can offer a brand new contract to a brand new person.”
“It surprised us and was the reason we had to ensure we got proper legal advice and clearance.”
But ultimately, McLeish has been installed to continue the good work Bruce was doing before him. And at a club who have had only four managers in the past 16 years, he can feel safe that time will be on his side.
There is one sure-fire way to cement his position in the hearts and minds of the Blues faithful. Win the game on April 20th.
Aston Villa, away.
ENDS
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