Alex McLeish has opened up on his discussions with Rangers over a return to Ibrox.
Alex McLeish
Former Rangers boss Alex McLeish has been quoted by The Scottish Sun as saying that he felt ‘a lot of politics’ were a major reason why he didn’t fancy a return to Ibrox.
Rangers saw manager Mark Warburton resign in February, and the Gers moved to appoint Portuguese boss Pedro Caixinha as his replacement last month.
However, the former Al-Gharafa boss was far from the only man to be linked with the job, as former Gers manager Alex McLeish was mentioned as a possible target for the club.
The 58-year-old managed Rangers for four-and-a-half years having joined from Hibernian in late 2001, and he won two Scottish Premiership titles as well as two Scottish Cups and three Scottish League Cups.
Since then, McLeish has gone on to manage Scotland, Birmingham City, Aston Villa, Nottingham Forest, Genk and Zamalek, with his career faltering in recent years.
Regardless, McLeish was touted as a short-term solution for Rangers, with many believing that he should have been given the job until the end of the season, giving the club more time to make an appointment before the start of pre-season.
The job went to Caixinha, and McLeish has now been quoted by The Scottish Sun as saying that he was unsure about a return to Rangers due to the politics involved at the club, stating they the Gers are ‘totally different’ to when he first arrived at Ibrox over 15 years ago.
Alex McLeish
McLeish admitted that he did speak to the club about replacing Warburton, but he never felt 100% sure that he wanted to return to Ibrox, and ultimately believed that Caixinha was Rangers’ first choice for some time.
“There is a lot of politics and I don’t know if I needed that at this stage of my life,” said McLeish. “It was totally different to when I first went. It just wasn’t for me at this time of my career. I felt that there is a lot that goes with it as well, in terms of the other side of the actual football and training. I wasn’t close. I had doubts about it. I did speak to them and I said that if they were to come back and offer me it, I would like to speak further.”
“It was a very casual chat. It wasn’t what I would call an interview, it was meeting old friends again and seeing where they were going with the club. They say don’t go back and that was in my mind but they asked to speak to me and it was worth listening to what they had to say. But I believe Pedro Caixinha was probably uppermost in their minds even at that time. I was never 100 per cent, ‘yes, I am going back to Rangers’. I wouldn’t have just walked straight back in without some further talks,” he added.
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