072002 Daily Mail

July 20, 2002
Daily Mail
Film buff McLeish keen to let business and pleasure mix
by Roddy Thompson

ALEX McLEISH rubbed shoulders with the New York film fraternity this week when his old pal from his Hibernian days, Scots actor and Mission Impossible II star Dougray Scott, took the Rangers manager out among the glamour set.

The pair met up during a series of meetings for Scott with directors, allowing McLeish to indulge in his other great love in TriBeCa, the home of Robert de Niro. The day when Big Eck takes his first cameo role cannot be too far away.

Of course, the social aspect of tours such as these was very much on the Rangers manager's mind yesterday as he looked ahead to today's final game against Brazil's Santos - and the flight home for a new season. For while his interest in the movies has heightened given the privileged access he now enjoys, others on the Rangers trip all have their own social plans and projects. But getting everyone to bond off the field is also his job.

So it was interesting to hear McLeish talk of having been in contact with former Ibrox manager Walter Smith. The Nine-ina- Row team Smith managed between 1991 and 1998 had a famous mantra: the team that drinks together wins together.

Celtic appeared to have stolen that mantle last season, but McLeish, of course, also had the incredibly tight Aberdeen squad assembled by Alex Ferguson in the 1980 s to look to for inspiration.

And while results and performances have been good to date in the States, it is the sense of team togetherness which has blossomed across the Atlantic that has given the manager the greatest amount of satisfaction.

Where the names McCoist, Gough, Gascoigne, McCall, Brown, Goram, Durrant and Ferguson once stood in Govan, or Strachan, McGhee, Kennedy and Rougvie alongside his own in the Granite City, McLeish wants to see Ferguson, Arteta, Amoruso and the rest this season.

'The tour has gone well and, while there are no guarantees as to how the season will pan out, we have trained hard in the sun, and got the right amount of relaxation in the city,' he said.

' That is a very important aspect of what we do here. It's not just about coaching - if you spend too much time on that it can create tension. It ' s important to get to know each other socially, and Manhattan is the perfect place.

'I believe in the value of the team socialising together, although there are no guarantees. Players could hate the sight of each other, and there's not a lot you can do about that.

'Sometimes you can inherit a team that has already developed a good rapport, and I spoke to Walter about this. The team he had at Rangers was stocked with boys who basically all grew up together, but he just couldn't get the same feeling at Everton.

'It's something we also had at Aberdeen when we were winning there, so all I'm trying to do with this group is pass on the experience I have and people like Walter have, because we have been there and seen it work.' Mikel Arteta, for his part, likes what he has seen of McLeish's methods off the pitch.

'It's like a big family, which is unusual for big clubs,' the Spaniard said after watching the Rangers backroom staff narrowly defeat the press team.

The manager's Hibs team also had it at a lower level and organised social bonding will continue back in Glasgow as of next week. McLeish is, of course, missing World Cup excuseniks Peter Lovenkrands, Claudio Caniggia and Jesper Christiansen. Michael Ball has also had to take time out from the tour to visit medical specialist Dr Richard Steadman in Colorado.

Physio Grant Downie was awaiting the results of the latest scan on Ball's problematic right knee yesterday.

McLeish continued: 'My main focus is not the Kilmarnock game, it is on what is happening here and now. Trying to get the right blend in the search for match fitness is hard with players missing.' Meanwhile, McLeish has yet to be told of contact from Italians Udinese over Tore Andre Flo.

However, his position on the Norwegian is clear.

He said: 'Every player at every club has his price, and I'm sure if the price is good enough the people at this club will speak to me.' Flo could raise his price a little by scoring against Santos, after a year when his value fell badly foul of his own form and football's recession. Whatever the outcome of the Serie A side's approach, McLeish would certainly drink to that.