Alex McLeish: Hard for Rangers to stop runaway train Celtic

Alex McLeish spoke about Rangers and Celtic at a William Hill Scottish Cup media event. Picture: Alan Harvey/SNS

Former Rangers manager McLeish, who won seven major trophies in his four-and-a-half-year tenure at the Ibrox club, was speaking for the first time since missing out on a second stint in charge. The 58-year-old was one of the candidates interviewed by Rangers before they appointed Pedro Caixinha as successor to Mark Warburton last month.

McLeish insists he always had reservations about a return to the club in any case and that he formed the impression during his interview with Rangers directors that they had already firmly identified Caixinha as their number one target.

The Portuguese coach will take charge of his first Old Firm fixture when Rangers face treble-seeking Celtic in the semi-final of the Scottish Cup at Hampden on Sunday. Caixinha’s longer-term target is to try and halt Celtic’s domestic dominance, which has seen them wrap up a sixth successive title win this season.

McLeish feels Rangers, who plan to appoint a director of football to work in tandem with Caixinha this summer, will need to be remarkably resourceful to overhaul Celtic before the Parkhead men reach the landmark figure of 10-in-a-row which exercises the minds of many supporters of both Old Firm clubs.

“It might be difficult to control for Rangers,” said McLeish. “At the moment Celtic look like a runaway train. Celtic getting 10-in-a-row is not something I personally worry about every day. It wouldn’t affect my life but, certainly, I know the Rangers diehards don’t want to see it happen.

“It’s not 10-in-a-row they’ve got to be worried about, it’s next year and stopping seven in a row. That’s got to be the immediate goal. It’s not as if I’m saying I’m not bothered about 10 in a row – they’ve got to stop the next one.

“That’s what I said when I sat down with Rangers.

“I said: ‘Listen, somehow you have to win the title next year by hook or by crook’.

“Never mind trying to get closer to them. It’s just the way Rangers and Celtic are. I think the Rangers directors knew what I was talking about, that band of clubs who have to win every game they can. Somehow, they have to win it next year.

“It is a runaway train, but whatever Rangers do, they don’t just have to try and get closer, they have to try and win it.

“Working at Rangers, knowing the ins and outs and understanding the pressure of having to win every single game – I’ve had all that before.

“I’ve done that and had some really great times as well as one or two when it didn’t go the way I wanted,” added McLeish.

“A lot of that can be down to recruitment and trying to get the right players at the right time. This talk at the moment of a sporting director – he’s going to need to have loads of contacts and access to just about everybody in the world within Rangers’ financial means.

“I didn’t say I was definitely going to take the job again if I was offered it. It was more just to get a general feeling about how things were going. It was a decision I didn’t need to make anyway because they had clearly targeted Pedro. So it wasn’t there for me to accept or decline.

“Maybe it’s better for a younger, enthusiastic guy like Pedro to come in and change it without knowing about all the things that go with being the manager of Rangers. Pedro’s come in a little bit blind in that respect, although he’s been saying all the right things that the fans want to hear so he’s clearly done his homework. But it wasn’t the same this time for me. I spoke to Walter Smith and he said ‘They say never go back but, when I did in 2007 I demanded that David Murray gave me money to spend’. He ended up building a team that won three championships and reached the UEFA Cup final, with signings like Steve Davis, Steven Naismith and Nikica Jelavic. It was a great piece of team building by him but it will take time to catch up with Celtic now and I just felt, in my heart, that it wasn’t for me just now.”s