League comes first for McLeish

Rangers manager Alex McLeish insists defending the Bank of Scotland Premier League trophy is more important than making a splash in the Champions League next season.

The former Scotland international would love to do both but made it clear he placed domestic success at the top of the agenda.

He told the Press Association: “The priority is still the championship. I think that is the same in every country throughout the world. That’s the number one target.

“But we would obviously like a run in the Champions League. We would like to do well for financial reasons but more from my point for prestigious reasons.”

Rangers have enjoyed a number of previous Champions League campaigns without managing to get past the initial group stage.

But with debts now at record levels, the money generated from Europe’s flagship club competition would go a long way to stabilising the club’s finances.

McLeish made no attempt to argue otherwise but added: “It’s not only Rangers - a lot of clubs are going to have to downsize squads and live according to their means.

“But it is not all doom and gloom because I believe we will still be able to maintain the quality at the club.”

With Arthur Numan and Claudio Caniggia having left the club, along with stop-gap signings Jerome Bonnissel and Dan Eggen, and Lorenzo Amoruso about to decide whether he is to join Blackburn Rovers, McLeish knows he has a number of gaps to fill.

Plenty of players have already been linked with a move to Rangers including Jardel, Zurab Khizanishvili and Kevin Phillips but McLeish insisted no deals were yet concluded.

He said: “We have one or two irons in the fire but I don’t like to commit myself to any names because the minute you think someone is just about to join you, you then get a custard pie in your face and they go somewhere else.”

The future may be uncertain but it was still a remarkable first full season in charge for McLeish to look back on as he steered the club to their seventh treble, an achievement made all the remarkable by the strength of the challenge from Celtic, who also managed to reach the UEFA Cup final.

McLeish admitted after the final piece in the jigsaw was completed, last week’s Tennent’s Scottish Cup final victory over Dundee, that he felt too drained to celebrate.

But a week is a long time in football as well as politics and he is now busy preparing not only for next season but for the long-term future as well.

He said: “I’ve recovered and my feet are back on the ground – and I know that it goes on and on. You can’t rest on your laurels or sit back and enjoy your achievements.

“I think any successful manager or coach in the past has great longevity in the game and they do it time and time again.

“I would hope in 10 years time people could look back and say of me that he was a consistent manager.”