Alex McLeish – Birmingham City F.C. Manager
Alex McLeish – Manager of Birmingham City F.C. – English Premier League Football Club
Alexander “Alex” McLeish (born 21 January 1959) nicknamed “Big Eck”,[2] is a Scottish former professional footballer who played as a central defender. Born in Barrhead, Renfrewshire, he played for Aberdeen during their 1980s glory years, making nearly 500 League appearances for the club, and won 77 caps for Scotland.
He started his managerial career with spells at Motherwell and Hibernian, before guiding Rangers to two championships and five cup wins in five years. McLeish spent ten months as manager of the Scotland national team which narrowly failed to qualify for the finals of the 2008 UEFA European championship. He then resigned this post in November 2007 to become manager of Birmingham City, who were in the English Premier League at the time. Birmingham were relegated at the end of the 2007–08 season, but McLeish guided the club to promotion back to the Premier League in the following season.
In recognition of his distinguished service to Scottish sport, in 2008 McLeish was awarded an honorary doctorate by the University of Aberdeen.
| Personal information | ||
|---|---|---|
| Full name | Alexander McLeish | |
| Date of birth | 21 January 1959 (1959-01-21) (age 50) | |
| Place of birth | Barrhead, Scotland | |
| Playing position | Central defender | |
| Club information | ||
| Current club | Birmingham City (manager) | |
| Youth career | ||
| Glasgow United | ||
| Senior career1 | ||
| Years | Club | App (Gls)* |
| 1978–1994 1994–1995 |
Aberdeen Motherwell Total |
493 (25) 3 (0) 496 (25) |
| National team | ||
| 1980–1993 | Scotland | 77 (0)[1] |
| Teams managed | ||
| 1994–1998 1998–2001 2001–2006 2007 2007– |
Motherwell Hibernian Rangers Scotland Birmingham City |
|
Birmingham City
Premier League Birmingham City’s approach to the SFA for permission to speak to McLeish about their managerial vacancy was refused,[33] but on his return on 27 November 2007 from attending the draw for 2010 FIFA World Cup qualification in South Africa, he resigned his post as manager of Scotland[34] and was announced as Birmingham’s new manager the following day. His assistants with Scotland, Roy Aitken and Andy Watson, were to accompany him. McLeish said he wanted to return to working with players on a daily basis and had “always harboured a desire” to manage in the Premier League.[35]
Since his arrival, McLeish has improved the club’s backroom staff and training procedures, appointed David Watson as goalkeeping coach, and overhauled the scouting setup, bringing in Paul Montgomery – the scout who recommended a relatively unknown Didier Drogba to West Ham United – to oversee player recruitment.[39]
On 3 May 2009, McLeish secured Birmingham’s return to the top flight of English football at the first attempt with a 2-1 away victory over Reading
.
Source: English Premier League Football Club, Birmingham City F.C., Birmingham City Manager, Alex McLeish information at wikipedia.org