Alex McLeish insists Scotland’s promotion to UEFA Nations League B is one of his proudest achievements as a manager.
The Scots managed to turn their fortunes around following a 2-1 defeat to Israel back in October.
They got the fans back on side when they beat Albania 4-0 on Saturday before earning revenge over Israel on Tuesday.
A 3-2 success booked their spot in League B, with Celtic’s James Forrest becoming the first player to score a hat-trick for Scotland since Robert Snodgrass in September 2016.
McLeish was at the helm when Scotland beat France back in 2007 in Paris but he insists Tuesday’s achievement is up there on a personal level.
He has won the League Cup with Birmingham City as well as earning promotion during his first season at Hibernian.
He told reporters: “It’s up there with them. I’m extremely proud of it because we are in an era where the national team has struggled a little bit.
“We’ve obviously not qualified for a major tournament in a big while as far as the Tartan Army is concerned so we’re really proud of the guys in that respect.
“My backroom staff have worked tirelessly for this. We’ve taken a few hits. We said we probably would with the teams we’ve been playing but we managed the game well.
“You have to get a perspective on it and say I’ve only played four competitive games, three we’ve won and one we’ve lost. With the friendly games there’s a bit of a frenzy that builds up but I had to find that strength.”
Leave a comment
Link Dafabet