Alex McLeish Leaves Scotland Post

[CaaC (John)+]

Quote

 

Alex McLeish has left his position as Scotland head coach by mutual consent.

The 60-year-old took on a second spell in charge in February last year but has been under pressure because of recent poor results and performances.

The Scottish FA said in a statement: "The decision was agreed collectively by the board at its scheduled meeting today and in consultation with Alex.

"His assistant coaches, Peter Grant, James McFadden and Stevie Woods, will also leave their roles."

McLeish, who was in his second stint as Scotland boss, paid the price for a poor start to Euro 2020 qualifying.

Scotland lost 3-0 to Kazakhstan in their opening qualifier and could only beat San Marino, the world's lowest-ranked team, 2-0 last month.

McLeish replaced Gordon Strachan and oversaw 12 matches, winning five and losing seven.

That came after the SFA failed in its attempt to recruit Michael O'Neill, who instead chose to stay with Northern Ireland.

McLeish, a former Rangers, Birmingham City and Aston Villa manager, did guide Scotland to a Nations League play-off after finishing top of a group that also included Israel and Albania.

But his quest to end Scotland's 22-year wait for a major tournament finals appearance has been curtailed.

 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/47767790

[CaaC (John)+]

@Stan or any other Admin/Mod my edit facility for the post above does not seem to be working to reduce the quote to the correct size, please help, pretty please xxxx

[Smiley Culture]

It’s the board of the SFA that should be sacked, not necessarily McLeish. 

Twelve games and he’s gone seems wildly premature. In his twelve games they’ve been to South America and were beaten by Peru and Mexico, lost to two of the World Cup semi-finalists in Portugal and Belgium and lost to Israel and Kazakhstan, with the Kazakh lose not being anywhere near as bad as mad out. 

They’ve also qualified for a play-off place for the Euros next year, achieving that with some good results. 

Not really sure where Scotland go from here. It appears to me that they have delusions of grandeur that they’re a better nation than they are and they expect to be winning more games than they do and qualifying for more tournaments than they do. 

[CaaC (John)+]

1 hour ago, Smiley Culture said:

It’s the board of the SFA that should be sacked, not necessarily McLeish. 

Knowing them great sparks they will have a brainstorm and reinstate Gordan Strachan back as Scottish manager  

And then again they may try someone that is not Scottish?

[Stan]

3 hours ago, CaaC - John said:

@Stan or any other Admin/Mod my edit facility for the post above does not seem to be working to reduce the quote to the correct size, please help, pretty please xxxx

Only cos you put kisses - this has been done. 

[ScoRoss]

It's not delusions of grandeur to aspire to be better than Kazakhstan or Israel.

Scotland went from a year unbeaten to losing to Kazakhstan and unable to string a few passes together against San Marino. This was about stopping the quick regression that was happening.

[Smiley Culture]

8 minutes ago, ScoRoss said:

It's not delusions of grandeur to aspire to be better than Kazakhstan or Israel.

Scotland went from a year unbeaten to losing to Kazakhstan and unable to string a few passes together against San Marino. This was about stopping the quick regression that was happening.

Kazakhstan are a much better side than given credit for by Scots, who think they’re a better side than they are. It wasn’t a major shock losing there looking at their results, specifically at home, and Scotland’s results, specifically away. 

 

[ScoRoss]

7 minutes ago, Smiley Culture said:

Kazakhstan are a much better side than given credit for by Scots, who think they’re a better side than they are. It wasn’t a major shock losing there looking at their results, specifically at home, and Scotland’s results, specifically away. 

 

Scotland's results away from home are poor, which is definitely related to the manager. Accepting a 3-0 defeat by Kazakhstan isn't something that Scotland should just accept.

Gordon Strachan isn't a great manager, by any stretch of the imagination, but he got far better performances and results from the same group of players. 

[Guest]

Strange timing though. Not just after a game 

[Guest]

6 minutes ago, ScoRoss said:

Scotland's results away from home are poor, which is definitely related to the manager. Accepting a 3-0 defeat by Kazakhstan isn't something that Scotland should just accept.

Gordon Strachan isn't a great manager, by any stretch of the imagination, but he got far better performances and results from the same group of players. 

Who would you like? I think Scot Gemmill could be a good choice? Or the guy who got Livingston promoted. Don't know his name

[ScoRoss]

3 minutes ago, Gunnersauraus said:

Who would you like? I think Scot Gemmill could be a good choice? Or the guy who got Livingston promoted. Don't know his name

If they are going to appoint a Scot, could do a lot worse than looking at Steve Clarke or Alex Neil.

Any chance of getting Michael O'Neill is long gone. Appointing Scott Gemmill wouldn't be the worst idea, but you'd need to assemble a good group around him to make the most of it.

Scotland is still one of the places that coaches from around the world come to learn. There must be some unearthed talent that could be added to the backroom staff.

[Guest]

7 minutes ago, ScoRoss said:

If they are going to appoint a Scot, could do a lot worse than looking at Steve Clarke or Alex Neil.

Any chance of getting Michael O'Neill is long gone. Appointing Scott Gemmill wouldn't be the worst idea, but you'd need to assemble a good group around him to make the most of it.

Scotland is still one of the places that coaches from around the world come to learn. There must be some unearthed talent that could be added to the backroom staff.

What about Moyes?

[ScoRoss]

5 minutes ago, Gunnersauraus said:

What about Moyes?

He is basically the same guy as McLeish.

[Guest]

1 minute ago, ScoRoss said:

He is basically the same guy as McLeish.

Well it's hard to see many Scottish managers with a better record with the greatest of respect. 

[Guest]

5 hours ago, Smiley Culture said:

It’s the board of the SFA that should be sacked, not necessarily McLeish. 

Twelve games and he’s gone seems wildly premature. In his twelve games they’ve been to South America and were beaten by Peru and Mexico, lost to two of the World Cup semi-finalists in Portugal and Belgium and lost to Israel and Kazakhstan, with the Kazakh lose not being anywhere near as bad as mad out. 

They’ve also qualified for a play-off place for the Euros next year, achieving that with some good results. 

Not really sure where Scotland go from here. It appears to me that they have delusions of grandeur that they’re a better nation than they are and they expect to be winning more games than they do and qualifying for more tournaments than they do. 

When you look at it in terms of competitive games his record isn't as bad as some make out. Loosing 3.0 to Kazakhstan was a terrible result but not sure if he deserved to be sacked personally. 

[Smiley Culture]

33 minutes ago, ScoRoss said:

Scotland's results away from home are poor, which is definitely related to the manager. Accepting a 3-0 defeat by Kazakhstan isn't something that Scotland should just accept.

Gordon Strachan isn't a great manager, by any stretch of the imagination, but he got far better performances and results from the same group of players. 

Said this at the time;

Is that much of a shocking result? Scotland’s Away form is abysmally bad. Since 2014 they’ve won at Gibraltar, Czech Republic, Malta, Lithuania, Hungary and Albania. Two of those wins, Czech Republic and Hungary, were friendlies, so four competitive wins in five years.

 Kazakhstan’s home record isn’t bad either. Since 2014, they’ve lost at home to Czech Republic, Iceland, Turkey, Holland, Denmark, Montenegro and Romania and being honest, none of those are games you’d have expected them to get much in anyway.

———————

I stick by it. Scotland are delusional. A defeat at Kazakhstan is no disgrace for a nation like Scotland. Should it have been a 3-0 drubbing? Probably not (wasn’t there a fair few names injured though?) but to sack a bloke after losing one game is knee-jerk behaviour from a country and FA that views itself above it’s rank. 

[ScoRoss]

16 minutes ago, Gunnersauraus said:

What about Moyes?

He is basically the same guy as McLeish. 

[ScoRoss]

Scotland's bad away record is a reason to keep the manager? 

[CaaC (John)+]

[Guest]

17 minutes ago, CaaC - John said:

It's pretty bad no doubt but they have only lost two out of six competitive and are in the play offs. I don't think there is a justification on results alone. However i think there is a  justification if the board think he is the wrong man and want to stop it now. 

[CaaC (John)+]

8 minutes ago, Gunnersauraus said:

It's pretty bad no doubt but they have only lost two out of six competitive and are in the play offs. I don't think there is a justification on results alone. However i think there is a  justification if the board think he is the wrong man and want to stop it now. 

I am fucked why they gave him the job back in the first place as he left as the Scotland manager the first time as the lure of money from league clubs made his mouth water, then since the jobs dried up and no one wanted him he took the Scotland job again, if, and I say if they asked Strachan back then I think he would do a little bit better than McLeish, Moyes would be a big no from me.

[Guest]

10 minutes ago, CaaC - John said:

I am fucked why they gave him the job back in the first place as he left as the Scotland manager the first time as the lure of money from league clubs made his mouth water, then since the jobs dried up and no one wanted him he took the Scotland job again, if, and I say if they asked Strachan back then I think he would do a little bit better than McLeish, Moyes would be a big no from me.

I get Scotland fans not wanting Moyes. But at the same time he has a better record than all the other Scottish managers I think.

[Smiley Culture]

1 hour ago, ScoRoss said:

Scotland's bad away record is a reason to keep the manager? 

One defeat is not enough to sack a bloke. Especially given a few months previous he got Scotland to a guaranteed play-off for the Euros, which may be their first tournament in a generation. 

Whilst Scotland’s Away record may be historically poor, sacking a bloke because the fans think they’re better than they are, is simply daft. There was signs of improvement under McLeish, specifically Away (three of his five wins were on the road). 

[ScoRoss]

13 minutes ago, Gunnersauraus said:

I get Scotland fans not wanting Moyes. But at the same time he has a better record than all the other Scottish managers I think.

How are you measuring this 'record'?

[ScoRoss]

1 minute ago, Smiley Culture said:

One defeat is not enough to sack a bloke. Especially given a few months previous he got Scotland to a guaranteed play-off for the Euros, which may be their first tournament in a generation. 

Whilst Scotland’s Away record may be historically poor, sacking a bloke because the fans think they’re better than they are, is simply daft. There was signs of improvement under McLeish, specifically Away (three of his five wins were on the road). 

The woeful performances throughout his entire tenure are the reason that the vast majority of people wanted him replaced.

The difference in the team from the end of the Strachan era to McLeish's era are vast and in no way did the team improve.