Alex McLeish
Statistics
Biography
Alexander McLeish was born in Glasgow on 21 January 1959. His professional career began at Aberdeen in January 1978 and throughout the 1980s he would partner Willie Miller in the heart of their defence, winning numerous trophies on both the domestic and European stage. He appeared 692 times for the Dons, and although he became player manager of Motherwell in 1994, only played three games for the Fir Park club.
McLeish made his Scotland debut in 1980 in a European Championship qualifier in Portugal. He went on to represent Scotland 77 times including appearances at three World Cups in 1982, 1986 and 1990. In 2007, he returned to the international fold as Scotland manager following a successful spell as Rangers boss. He would only remain in the job for 10 months with the lure of club management proving too strong but he oversaw a dramatic qualifying campaign for Euro 2008 which saw famous victories over France and Ukraine before missing out on the finals with a defeat to Italy.
Alex returned to lead the national team for a second spell in charge in 2018, successfully winning Scotland’s group in the inaugural UEFA Nations League.