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Betfair Big Interview: Alex McLeish

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It's international weekend, so Betfair caught up with Alex McLeish for an exclusive chat about Scotland, his memories of managing his country, and how he thinks George Burley is getting on.

Alex, does it still seem strange to watch Scotland play and not be in charge?

Maybe, but to be honest I'm delighted to be back in club football. Scotland was a great job for me, but I always really knew I wanted to come back to the day to day action. As soon as two or three days after the Italy match I knew I wanted to be back working with players every day.

But you're a proud Scot. It couldn't have been that easy to walk away.

Maybe if we'd qualified I would still have been doing it now, I don't know. I'll always maintain it was a tremendous privilege first to play for Scotland, then to captain them, then to go on and be manager. You think back to being a kid and dreaming. I took all those thoughts into games with me, especially away from home to think you were walking out as manager of Scotland, the visions went back to my childhood playing school football and I'd feel so proud.

Does that passion help or hinder. Gary Neville once said that Sven Goran Eriksson being so cool and calm helped England be more clinical at international level.

I think that comes down to the individual. If I remember rightly, Gary said that in the euphoria after that 5-1 win in Germany. There was a lot of water to go under the bridge after that. Sven's make up wasn't to be passionate, but you could just as easily have a tactically astute foreign manager who knows how to fire the boys up as well.

So what were the good things about the job for you?

My wife would tell you it was the time to have some holidays! For me I liked the way you had to think about each game in terms of how you would play it. There's no doubt that at that level it's much more about the tactics involved, and that side of the game has always intrigued me. With clubs it's sometimes more about the day to day hurly burly of it all. Everybody knows each other and much of the time it's nothing to do with tactics but about heart and passion.

And the things you didn't like?

What was a little bit disconcerting at times was working with players for a few days, and then shaking their hand and saying 'cheerio' to them knowing you would not be working with them for another month. Especially after a victory, when you just wanted to keep on improving with them every day. That could be hard.

Did George Burley pick your brain when he took over?

I think he phoned me before his interview, and I spoke to one or two other candidates. Mark McGhee was one. But once George got the job there's not a lot I could say to him anyway. He's got to experience it, and he's got to do it all his own way. The press side of things is full on when the games come round. Rangers and Celtic fill all the pages in Scotland every week but when an international match comes round it's hugely intense. I thought I understood that from managing Rangers, but the magnitude of the opinion and criticism that comes raining down is just the same or bigger if you lose a game

You didn't lose many. Does James McFadden missing that chance near the end of the Italy game still flash in front your eyes? You'd have qualified if he scored.

Maybe, who knows? I know my life flashed before me in those few seconds! To be fair to James I work with him every day at Birmingham now and he's more a scorer of great goals than a great goalscorer. Actually, I don't think it was as easy a chance as it might have looked. The ball flashed across the goal and maybe on its way over it wasn't going in a straight path. It was never an easy chance. It was ironic because in the group up until then if one guy was going to do it for us, then it was James. He brought a lot of good things to Scotland and still will do.

What do you think of Scotland's start to their World Cup group?

We've taken three points out of six in the first two games away from home, and I would say that's very positive. George got a lot of stick for the Macedonia game and it was unjust. For some reason we seem to disrespect teams from outside the top ten. People thought we should be going to Macedonia and winning, but I'll tell you more than one team will struggle there, you only have to look at past results. Macedonia played England in Sven's time, as I remember, and drew and that was very close to the same team that played Scotland. If we had gone away from home and got a draw there, and one in Iceland, he probably would have got a lot less stick but would still have had only two points. As it was he lost one and won one, and got three points.

We suppose time and patience are two things that are hard to come by.

It's funny how over the years you still get affected by it when you shouldn't. You read reports, you think: 'That's not justified, why is there no understanding?' But that's the way it is and when I spoke to George recently I said to him: 'Just let it go in one ear and out the other, and concentrate on your job.' The only thing that gets people on your side is winning. Beating Iceland started to change things and another win over Norway would change it more.

Do you feel you left George Burley a good legacy?

That's not really for me to say, but I do think he inherited a lot of players who have been blooded at international level. I was lucky enough to do that as well after Walter Smith, and in his turn he had been lucky enough to get some from Bertie Vogts. Bertie was much pilloried, but what he did do was introduce people like McFadden and Darren Fletcher and these boys are stalwarts for Scotland now. Bertie didn't do everything right, maybe, but he didn't do everything wrong either. Walter had the benefit of that experience, I did too a bit more.

What about the fresher faces coming into the squad now like Chris Iwelumo?

We brought Chris into a 'B' game in what I think was the very last game in my Scotland tenure, and there was definitely scope for him to get through to the full squad if he started the season well. He's done that and deserves to have been called up. Kris Comons was another who was on the radar. We left George Burley with a lot of names that the admin people have on file - James Morrison was another I can think of. The idea was to build up some continuity rather than just having to rely on sources from different countries to find new players. I'd love to see George succeed where I just missed out and reach a tournament finals. He's made a decent start.

Thanks for your time and we've a free £50 bet for your favourite charity.

Great, I'll put that on Scotland to beat Norway at [2.16], and hopefully the winnings can go towards diabetes research which is one of Birmingham City's nominated charities.