Alex McLeish knows what Michael Beale is going through as he tries to engineer a win over Celtic in his fourth crack at them on Sunday.
Played three, drawn one and lost two simply isn’t good enough in Glasgow even if the current Rangers boss believes in at least two of those fixtures his team played well enough to win. McLeish, who managed Gers to a treble in his first full season at Ibrox 20 years ago next month, knows that full well. Two decades have neither erased the ecstasy at winning these games nor dulled the dismay at losing them and the 64-year-old had plenty of experience of both.
McLeish went unbeaten in his first seven Old Firm clashes – then went through hell as Martin O’Neill led Celtic to seven straight victories – the longest winning run in the history of the fixture. He said: “Honestly, it’s torture. I went through a spell later in my Rangers career when we couldn’t beat them. You go through that barren spell when you don’t get a result against your big rivals and it is absolute torture.
“There’s monstrous pressure. I guess it’s the same for any top teams in the world expected to win every single week. I certainly felt it when we were going through bad spells. I couldn’t sleep at night and when I did nod off, I’d waken up and the pressure was straight back.
“We really care that much about it – there’s no chance of just brushing it off. So, it’s vital to get a win and be either equal with your big rivals or getting above them.”
McLeish’s managerial nous took him to the Premier League and to the Hampden dugout as boss of Scotland but he insists nothing compares to the jobs currently held by Beale and Ange Postecoglou.
He said: “The pressure was to get Birmingham back to the Premier League and then to stay in it. There’s massive pressure with that as well and pressure wherever you go.
“As Dick Advocaat said when we did a dinner a couple of years ago, he was tired and it was my turn – I was the new kid on the block and I was bursting with energy and really felt I was ready for the job.
“Fast forward when things don’t go for you and you begin to see what Dick was talking about. He’s been in the game a lot longer than I have and been through all the highs and lows.
“As he said, coming to a team like Rangers, there’s that level where you have to win every week and there’s probably only 10-12 clubs in the world that are the same.”
McLeish knows that Postecoglou overcame a rocky start to propel Celtic to the Double last season. Beating Rangers on Sunday would give them one hand on the Treble this time round and admits he’d have loved the challenge of stopping him. He reckons Beale will be of a similar mind.
He said: “In the beginning with Ange you were thinking, ‘wait a minute, he is not going to last long’. Then all of a sudden it becomes clear the style of play he put into the team, the players proved different to what people thought. It would have been great to challenge him but you have to believe in yourself.
“One of the things I vowed to do was play at a higher tempo and pass it through the thirds – not long ball football but get it to the forwards as quickly as possible. Use a wee bit of imagination in and around the box.
“Watching the Aberdeen game on Sunday, they did have chances. Celtic have been more ruthless with their strikers getting those chances. Matondo and Sakala just lack a bit of confidence with the final finish.”
And what of Alfredo Morelos? McLeish doesn’t believe he’s put the tools away. He added: “I’d never, ever accuse a player – if he is going – of not putting a shift in.
“You can’t single one guy out and say he isn’t trying, I don’t believe that. Morelos isn’t quite at his best but I don’t think the team is at its best right now.”
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