McLeish remains defiant despite dropping points

Alex McLeish refused to concede he has taken charge of his final Bank of Scotland Premier League game as manager of Rangers as the club slipped further into crisis.

The Scottish champions were held to a 2-2 draw at Ibrox by Falkirk, despite leading the game by two goals, and the result means they have slipped to fifth place in the SPL.

Rangers chairman David Murray told McLeish he would review his position this month and the beleaguered Ibrox chief’s rein is now expected to come to an end following Tuesday’s Champions League game against Inter Milan.

Speculation is rife that even taking Rangers into the knockout stages of the Champions League for the first time will not be enough to save his job now.

He is one of the names on Portsmouth’s wanted list, with Pompey still keen to hold talks, even though Ibrox chiefs refused the Barclays Premiership club permission to approach their manager earlier in the week.

But if McLeish has indeed presided over his last league game as Rangers boss, he was determined to keep everyone guessing, saying only: “I’m not conceding anything.”

Rangers should have had all three points in the bag thanks to an own goal from Craig Ireland and a Peter Lovenkrands penalty but a blistering two-minute spell saw Falkirk back on level terms through Alan Gow and Pedro Moutinho.

McLeish was reluctant to accuse his players of lacking mental toughness but he admits there are problems with the team.

“I think it’s a confidence thing,” he said. “They have shown mental strength in many, many games this season, not least in the game against Porto a couple of weeks ago.

“There is a little bit of nervousness in some areas of the field and that showed, standing off for the first goal and all over the place at the second goal.

“These are things the players can definitely improve on but confidence can have something to do with that as well.”

The final whistle was met by a chorus of boos and jeers from the Rangers supporters who had not already left the stadium and McLeish believes they have every right to vent their anger.

He said: “It’s understandable. I totally understand their frustration.

“Domestically, in the last month, we haven’t had the upturn that we were looking for but we have a Champions League game on Tuesday night and we have to look forward to that.”

Falkirk manager John Hughes was a player under McLeish during their time together at Hibernian and the Bairns boss has urged Rangers to give the man he still regards as his mentor the opportunity to drag the club out of their current crisis.

“Why not back him and let him sort it out and give him until next year?” he said. “That’s what I would do.

“He’s one of the top boys in the game and I’ve got so much respect for him. I wish him all the best.

“As a guy, as a coach, he’s my mentor. I still call him gaffer.

“At the time, I was so tuned into the things that he was saying and what he was all about.

“His will to win just rubbed off on you and I bet he wishes he had a Rangers strip on out there.”

Hughes admits his players were fortunate to escape from Ibrox with a share of the points but he believes they deserve praise for battling for the draw when the game looked beyond them.

He added: “I felt that we carried a lot of luck and you have to when you come to Ibrox.

“At 2-0 the game should have been over but credit to my boys, they are never beaten and it’s not the first time we have shown that character and resilience to come back into a game.

“But to come to Ibrox and do it here, they have just raised the bar again.”