Alex McLeish: New Scotland boss hopes to get Tartan Army ‘onside’

“Even when I went to Belgium and Egypt for a couple of years, I worked with teams with half a chance. That was why I went and I had pretty good success rates with them – 50-odd% rate in Belgium and 60-odd in Egypt.

“I really enjoyed the stints there and I said when I came back that that’s the kind of challenge I want domestically and when nothing of that ilk came in England and then all of a sudden Gordon left the Scotland job, I thought, ‘that’s a challenge that I would absolutely love’.”

McLeish’s first games in charge will be against Costa Rica and Hungary next month, followed by further friendly matches in Peru in May and Mexico in June.

His debut competitive games will be the Uefa Nations League encounters against Albania at home on 10 September, then in Israel on 11 October.

McLeish’s former Aberdeen and Scotland team-mate Strachan was unable to end Scotland’s long wait to get back to a major tournament, which now stretches back almost 20 years.

However, the Scots have not lost a competitive match since November 2016 and have won four of their past eight games.

“I think we missed [World Cup qualification] by a whisker there and Gordon Strachan had a great 2017,” McLeish explained.

“There are a lot of exciting youngsters coming through with pace and energy. I’m not saying they’ll be going straight into the team but it gives me a lot of hope.

“He was very close to it. If I can carry that momentum on, then I’ve got these guys a year older and getting more experience and they’re surely going to be at a better level and that’s why I feel it gives us a better chance, mixed of course with the experienced guys and the tactical nous that these guys have.”