Maybe Big Eck Is Rubbish - But His Competitive Record Says Different

WE ARE always being telt - “Fita is a results-driven business son.” OK, on that basis, the measure of a manager ought to be: how good is he at winning games which matter? Does he win leagues, and cups and qualify us for international competitions?

In international football – your leagues are your qualifying groups for the finals of the World Cup and the European Championships. Do well in these leagues, and you have a chance of winning these cups.

 Alex McLeish - has a very good competitive record

I appreciate that the FIFA rankings – wrongly in my opinion – take into account results in “friendlies” or “international challenge matches”, whatever you want to call them. My argument is, such games should not be counted, because, in most such games, the managers are trying things out: discovering if Tom, Dick and Harry can form an adequate back three partnership, or if Pugh, Pugh, Barney McGrew and Cuthbert, can form the midfield quartet capable of providing goal-scoring chances for front two Dibble and Grubb.

For these reasons, I discount results in friendlies – only competitive games count, and a league table of Scottish team managers/head coaches, based only on competitive results, makes interesting reading.

What I have included as “competitive games” are the old Home Internationals, World Cup and European Championship qualifiers, and games in the finals of these two competitions.

This table reads:

Manager	Games	Won	Drawn	Lost	Wins %	Points %	Tourneys	Qualified
Tommy Docherty	7	6	0	1	85.7	85.7	2	1
Ian McCall	20	14	1	5	70	71.7	1	0
Alex McLeish 2	6	4	0	2	66.7	66.7	1	In progress
Alex McLeish 1	7	4	0	3	57.1	57.1	1	0
Ally MacLeod	9	5	2	2	55.5	62.9	2	1
Craig Brown	47	26	12	9	55.3	63.8	4	2
Matt Busby	2	1	1	0	50	66.7	0	0
Malky McDonald	2	1	1	0	50	66.7	0	0
Walter Smith	10	5	2	3	50	56.7	2	0
Willie Ormond	25	12	6	7	48	56	3	2
Gordon Strachan	26	12	6	8	46.2	53.8	3	0
Jock Stein 1	7	3	1	3	42.9	47.6	1	0
Andy Roxburgh	35	14	10	11	40	49.5	4	2
Jock Stein 2	44	17	10	17	38.6	46.2	4	2
Berti Vogts	13	5	4	4	38.5	48.7	2	0
George Burley	8	3	1	4	37.5	41.7	1	0
Bobby Brown	23	8	6	9	34.8	43.5	3	0
Craig Levein	12	3	4	5	25	36.1	2	0
Andy Beattie 2	5	1	2	2	20	33.3	0	0
Alex Ferguson	6	1	2	3	16.7	27.8	1	1
Andy Beattie 1	2	0	0	2	0	0	0	0

Where we changed managers in the middle of a qualifying group, I credit both managers with the final outcome. For instance, Tommy Docherty got us started in the 1974 World Cup qualifying campaign, before he left for Manchester United and Willie Ormond got us over the line. Similarly, Jock Stein got us to the verge of qualifying for the 1986 World Cup finals, but, Fergie had to negotiate the two-legged play-off with Australia to get us there.

For all I know, these football writers and fans calling for the head of Alex McLeish, on account of losing to Kazakhstan, could be right. However, his record as Scotland boss – and the high place he holds in the above table, would seem to indicate, they are wrong.

I reckon calling for Big Eck's head after the game in Nursultan was a typical and all-too-familiar case of Scottish over-reaction to a set-back. It's kind of like writing-off Andy Murray after he loses the first game of the first set of a match; a game in which his opponent served.

THE FACT the body which runs English football has always called itself “The Football Association” has never troubled me greatly. That name was a reflection of the fact, back then, football being mainly a middle-class sport, largely practiced in the public schools of the UK, and the products of these seats of learning have never been able to differentiate between “England” and “Great Britain” or “the United Kingdom.”

Look at the other major sporting organisations set up in the Victorian era: The Amateur Athletics Association, the Lawn Tennis Association, the Rugby Union and so on. The founders of these bodies saw themselves ruling their game across the whole country – they never imagined the Jocks would get a bit uppity and want to run themselves.

Of course, as the SNP has come to recognise, that sort of thinking, that England knows best and ought to be allowed to run things, is still on-going.

So, as I say, I have nothing against the FA, but, I am happy at the news they are considering a name change, to the English Football Association. About time too, since it demonstrates how English Exceptionalism is well past its sell-by date.

MANCHESTER UNITED has finally confirmed, Ole Gunnar Solsjkaer has got the Manager's job on a permanent basis. A rare outbreak of good sense in the English Premiership.

Given the way he has turned the club's fortunes around since taking over, it would have been strange had he not been given a longer spell in-charge. He has put a smile back on the face of everyone connected with the club, it is now uplifting invigorating football, rather than tragedy, which is being produced at the Theatre of Dreams.

The demand on United is not just that they win; they need to win with style, elan, by entertaining, and, the Norwegian has brought these days back. Of course, there is no guarantee the happy days will continue. I dare say there will be low points to come, but, for the moment, he has brought back the real Manchester United. Well done Sir.