Football: Eck has reaped rewards of club success

Sep 16 2007 ROB MACLEAN

LAST Wednesday was a perfect day for Alex McLeish but he's only reaping as Scotland boss what he's sown at club level.

Of the 18 players stripped for action in the Parc des Princes in Paris in midweek Eck worked with 11 during management spells at Motherwell, Hibs and Rangers.

Stephen Pearson would have made it 12 had he not delayed signing at Fir Park as a talented teen before McLeish moved to Easter Road.

The early development of the others under his guidance, from promising youngsters to first team stars, has to be an unforgettable factor in the rise and rise of our national team.

And we can't climb much higher than a historic victory in France which, without sealing anything, opens the door to qualification for Euro 2008.

Ending a 10-year wait to make our Scottish presence felt at a major tournament is a tantalising prospect.

I was BBC TV commentator at the 1998 World Cup Finals, a fan with a microphone.

But I would never have said our stint in the international wilderness would last so long.

I'm not quite ready yet to admit Scotland's exile is over because the three matches that stand in our way are fraught with difficulties.

I've said all along that third place in the toughest group of all would be success for the national team.

That means finishing above Ukraine, quarter-finalists at the last World Cup.

And there would certainly be no disgrace about being edged out of qualification by Italy and France.

But the problem with that prediction is Scotland have laid the foundations for a summer sojourn to Austria and Switzerland.

And we'll all be massively disappointed if our travel plans have to be cancelled.

Coming next it's a home game against the Ukrainians who,despite struggling to make it themselves, have the ability to do some Hampden damage to our chances.

Four days after that we'll have Georgia on our minds and the trip to Tbilisi doesn't promise to be plain sailing when you remember it took a late winner to beat them here.

The grand finale is at home to Italy in November and, just as we've celebrated a hugely unlikely double defeat of France, the world champions are going for two out of two after beating us in Bari.

I'm not being negative about our chances of finishing in the top two in Group B.

Just realistic about the job still to be done and the growing expectation level that has been know to rain on our parade in the past.

But hey, let's enjoy the moment, appreciate what it means to have the chance of qualifying after a decade of despair.

We have to remind ourselves McLeish has been at the Scottish helm for less than eight months and his succession to Walter Smith as gaffer has been seamless.

Alex has continued the post-Berti Vogts rehabilitation process and has crucially maintained the momentum.

I loved his line in the build-up to the Paris match about putting the days of glorious failure, a phrase I've always hated, behind us.

And his aptitude for getting that message through to the players is no doubt helped by his previous working relationship with the bulk of the squad.

McLeish was the man who persuaded Lee McCulloch (below) as a 15-year-old to continue his football education at Motherwell.

And there he also oversaw the early development of whizzkid James McFadden.

At Hibs, two other gallus youngsters, Scott Brown and Garry O'Connor, were coming through the ranks while Eck was in charge.

He signed Paul Hartley from Raith Rovers and stopper Gary Caldwell from Newcastle.

A certain Darren Fletcher was also in the Hibs youth team at the age of 13.

But even the wine-and-dine techniques of McLeish and star-spotter John Park failed to prevent his parents sending him to Old Trafford.

The Scotland boss has recent experience at Murray Park and Ibrox of working with Rangers foursome Allan McGregor, Alan Hutton, Barry Ferguson and Kris Boyd. The transformation in 22-year-old Hutton's displays since Walter retook the reins at Rangers has been little short of remarkable.

He replaced apprehension against Lithuania with great assertiveness in France.

His main rival for man of the match in Paris, for me, was Hartley.

Not always a first pick for Celtic he patrolled that dangerous area in front of the Scotland defence with total discipline and his reading of the game was excellent.

It was the general team performance, of course, rather than any individuals that upset the odds.

And it's a massive boost for the maligned Scottish youth football system that, barring a few exceptions, has reclaimed respect with our homegrown stars.

And Big Eck should be proud he was involved every step of the way.