McLeish Won't Forgive Keegan For Putting Scotland To The Sword!
Last updated : 17 March 2008 By Footy Mad - Editor
Alex McLeish: "Keegan is a perfect example of a player who improved and reached the top by virtue of his tremendous attitude and application.
"I never played against him, but I remember him putting the hammer on Scotland [in a 3-1 England victory] when I went to Wembley with the Tartan Army in 1979.
"He put us to the sword. Now he's desperate to beat me and I'm desperate to beat him, but if we win this game, we'll go above Newcastle and that's our objective.
"The importance of winning has always been there; when you're fighting with your sister over a game of snakes and ladders at the age of three, you know that you want to win.
"It's difficult to compare jobs, chasing titles at Rangers and chasing Sunderland, Newcastle and other teams just above us in the Premier League, but I do know that I feel very equipped to do this job.
"I started my managerial career in 1994 and even at Hibs [where he was manager between 1998 and 2001] I saw my future being in England, somewhere in the lower divisions, and I'd have to work my way up and prove myself.
"When Rangers came for me, I was surprised. I also knew that if they had been on a more sound financial footing, as they were two or three years before that, they'd have gone for a bigger name.
"So I was going there during a time of turmoil, but it was one of those irresistible challenges. I thought, 'Right, I could be going in here and I could be the only Rangers manager in recent times not to win a trophy'. That was my first thought, but I knew I'd always be able to say that I managed Rangers.
"Sir Alex Ferguson is a guy who hardly ever loses a game, but, boy, was he gutted when Portsmouth beat them. You could see it in his body language, in his demeanour, and you know that he's a guy who will be passionate until the very last kick that he's got.
"It doesn't matter if it's Aberdeen, Manchester United, Rangers or Birmingham, defeat hurts just the same and it's all about dealing with the setbacks."
"But maybe we've not punched too high above our weight either. The goals that we conceded at Portsmouth were typical of the way we can be and this is where our younger players will learn.
"When Rio Ferdinand was younger, he made some mistakes at West Ham, but he learnt from them. That's what I need our boys to do. We've conceded a lot of soft goals and at other times teams have found us very difficult to beat.
"Our organisation has been tremendous in open play. We had a wee aberration the other night at Portsmouth, as we made one or two individual mistakes, but the boys are learning.
"Keegan is a perfect example of a player who improved and reached the top by virtue of his tremendous attitude and application. I never played against him, but I remember him putting the hammer on Scotland [in a 3-1 England victory] when I went to Wembley with the Tartan Army in 1979.
"He put us to the sword. Now he's desperate to beat me and I'm desperate to beat him, but if we win this game, we'll go above Newcastle and that's our objective."