Stephen Halliday: Alex McLeish has earned his return to Wembley

ALMOST 30 years since he walked out of the Wembley tunnel for the first time, Alex McLeish will do so again next month. Just as he did as a 22-year-old rookie international defender back in 1981, when he was part of the Scotland side which defeated England 1-0, he will do so with his chest bursting with pride as he leads his Birmingham City team into the Carling Cup final against Arsenal at the world's most fabled football venue.

McLeish's achievement this week in guiding Birmingham to their first major Wembley final since the FA Cup showpiece of 1956, when they lost 3-1 to Manchester City, should not be underestimated. At a club with a long, but largely unremarkable, history, he is on the verge of adding another memorable exploit to one of the most impressive CVs compiled by any footballing Scot.

His country's third most-capped international with 77 appearances, McLeish's status as one of Scotland's most accomplished players of all time is not in doubt, with the 12 major honours he collected during Aberdeen's halcyon days testament to that.

It remains a curiosity, however, that there remain those who question his credentials as a genuinely top-class manager.

Even this season, there have been mutterings of discontent from a section of the Birmingham City support towards a man who led their club to ninth place in the Premier League last year, their highest top-flight finish in more than half a century.

McLeish had to face similar scepticism at all of his previous club jobs, despite leading Motherwell to runners-up spot in the Premier Division, taking Hibernian to promotion and a Scottish Cup final, and then winning nine major trophies at the helm of Rangers, including a domestic treble in 2003, in a spell which saw the Ibrox club downsizing financially.

His spell in charge of Scotland was disappointingly brief, but an unqualified success nonetheless as he took the country to its highest-ever world ranking before falling prey to the lure of the English top flight. Winning silverware for Birmingham City may just eclipse the lot in McLeish's mind as he seeks to prove himself in the highest profile managerial environment of them all.

There will surely be few this side of the border who do not wish him well on 27 February.