Alexander McLeish (born 21 January 1959) is a Scottish professional football manager and former player. He played as a defender for Aberdeen during their 1980s glory years, making nearly 500 League appearances for the club, and won 77 caps for Scotland.
McLeish 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 Premier League at the time. Though Birmingham were relegated at the end of the season, McLeish guided them back to the Premier League in 2009. Birmingham then won the 2011 Football League Cup Final, but were relegated again from the Premier League at the end of the 2010–11 season.
Following this relegation, he resigned his post at Birmingham to become the manager of their city rivals, Aston Villa. This made him the first manager to move directly from Birmingham City to Aston Villa, and only the second manager after Ron Saunders to manage both clubs. Having only narrowly avoided relegation in the 2011–12 Premier League season, his contract was terminated by Villa at the end of his first season. McLeish was appointed manager of Championship club Nottingham Forest in December 2012, but left after 40 days by mutual consent. He managed Belgian Pro League club Genk in the 2014–15 season, and Zamalek of the Egyptian Premier League in 2016. He then had a second stint as Scotland national team manager.
In recognition of his distinguished service to Scottish sport, in 2008, McLeish was awarded an honorary doctorate by the University of Aberdeen.
McLeish was born in Duke Street Hospital, Glasgow to parents Alex, a shipyard worker, and Jean. He has younger siblings Angela and Ian. After living in the Parkhead and Kinning Park districts of the city, the family moved to Barrhead, Renfrewshire soon after McLeish had reached school age. He attended Springhill Primary, Barrhead High School – where he was one year below future Aberdeen and Scotland teammate Peter Weir – and John Neilson High School in Paisley.
As a juvenile, he played for Barrhead Youth Club, alongside Weir, and Glasgow United as well as training for a short period with Hamilton Accies. After a local cup final with Glasgow United in 1976, which was watched by a delegation from Aberdeen, including then manager Ally MacLeod, McLeish signed for the Pittodrie club the following day.
McLeish spent the majority of his first two seasons at Aberdeen in the reserves and also had a loan spell at local Junior side Lewis United. McLeish won the Scottish 2nd XI Cup with the Dons in 1978. He made his competitive debut under Billy McNeill in a New Year fixture against Dundee United on 2 January 1978. His first major final appearance was under the management of Alex Ferguson as a substitute in a 2–1 defeat to Rangers in the 1978–79 League Cup and most of his appearances during the 1970s were as a midfielder, with Willie Garner and Doug Rougvie preferred in defence. However, McLeish eventually made the centre-back position his own, and over the next seven seasons he enjoyed great success, winning eight domestic and two European trophies. Highlights included scoring in a 4–1 victory over Rangers in the 1982 Scottish Cup Final on his 200th Dons appearance, and a vital goal against Bayern Munich during the campaign leading to the European Cup Winners' Cup win over Real Madrid in 1983.
During this period, McLeish formed a formidable defensive triumvirate with Willie Miller and Jim Leighton for both club and country. Even after he had won his first Scotland cap, McLeish's father asked then Aberdeen boss Alex Ferguson to persuade him to continue training as an accountant. When Ferguson left in 1986 to go to Manchester United, he tried to get McLeish to sign, but it did not work out; he also had talks with Tottenham Hotspur. A testimonial match was arranged for McLeish in December 1988, with the club's 'Gothenburg' (Cup Winners' Cup) squad taking on an 'International legends' team. He won the Scottish player of the year in 1990, after a season in which Aberdeen won both domestic cups.
He became captain of Aberdeen after the retirement of Willie Miller. His 692 competitive appearances for the club ranks as the second-most in its history (100 behind Miller, but almost 100 more than Bobby Clark).
McLeish is Scotland's seventh most capped player, having gained 77 international caps between 1980 and 1993. He was first capped for the Scotland under-21 team while still a reserve player at Aberdeen by his former club manager Ally MacLeod, eventually gaining six caps at that level. His full international debut came on 26 March 1980 against Portugal, manager Jock Stein playing him in midfield alongside Archie Gemmill and Graeme Souness. He played in three World Cups with Scotland, in 1982, 1986 and 1990. He is a member of the Scottish Football Hall of Fame, the Scotland national football team roll of honour and Scottish Television's fan poll Scotland's Greatest Team. On the occasion of his 50th cap, against Luxembourg in 1987, McLeish was appointed team captain for the game. His final cap came on 17 February 1993 in a 3–0 win over Malta at Hampden Park during the 1994 World Cup qualifiers.
After his successful playing career, he quickly went into football management with Motherwell in 1994, one year before he retired as a player. His first season at Motherwell saw him take the Lanarkshire club to second in the Premier Division behind Walter Smith's Rangers. However, he failed to build on this success and the next two seasons were spent in relegation battles. He resigned as manager to take over at Hibernian in 1998.
McLeish took over a struggling Hibernian side, which was relegated from the Scottish Premier Division in 1998 despite a slight upturn in fortunes under McLeish. He then guided the Edinburgh team back to the Scottish Premier League at the first attempt by winning the First Division championship.
Hibernian consolidated in their first season back in the top division, finishing mid-table and reaching the Scottish Cup semi-final. In the 2000–01 season, Hibs started very strongly. Eventually, they had to settle for third place and a Scottish Cup final appearance. This performance attracted the attention of bigger clubs, including West Ham United and Rangers.
McLeish attracted players such as Russell Latapy and former French international Franck Sauzée to Hibs. He also helped develop young striker Kenny Miller, who would later go on to play 69 games for Scotland.
During this period, McLeish worked towards and was awarded a UEFA Pro Licence.
His work at Hibs was noticed, and he was linked with several moves to England, before he was appointed as Rangers manager in December 2001 after outgoing Rangers manager Dick Advocaat recommended McLeish to chairman David Murray.
McLeish was an instant success at Rangers, winning both the Scottish Cup and Scottish League Cup in his first season, but the big prize of the league title was essentially lost before his arrival. His second season saw him go one better when he won the domestic treble, with the help of players such as Ronald de Boer and Barry Ferguson.
Rangers' worsening financial state saw many of his top players leave in the summer of 2003. Celtic won the league comfortably in 2003–04 season, and Rangers failed to win any trophies. McLeish was consequently put under pressure from fans after his poor signings and a record run of seven consecutive Old Firm derby losses to Celtic.