ALEX McLeish was chuffed to have been selected in the Greatest Premier XI ahead of the likes of Scottish football greats like Richard Gough and David Narey and impressed with the starting line-up that was assembled.

“I’d fancy that team to win something in Europe,” said McLeish as he looks over the players Herald and Times sports writers judged have been the best in their position in the 45 years since the Premier Division was formed back in 1975. “It’s a great team from back to front. It has everything.”

With Andy Goram in goals, Danny McGrain at right back, Willie Miller alongside him in the centre of the defence and Maurice Malpas at left back, McLeish certainly feels the side would have little difficulty keeping clean sheets.   

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“I played alongside Danny when Scotland beat England at Wembley in 1981 thanks to a John Robertson penalty,” he said. “He was a very experienced player when I came in to the national team and was a huge help to me. He was a terrific full-back.

“Mo Malpas was a very accomplished and experienced left back, especially The Herald:

McLeish likes the look of the players ahead of them as well – Scott Brown in defensive midfield, Paul Gascoigne in the playmaker role, Brian Laudrup wide on the right, Davie Cooper on the left and Henrik Larsson and Ally McCoist up front.

The former Rangers manager certainly knows the front two of Larsson and McCoist would have little difficulty netting with the chances supplied to them by his former Scotland team mate Cooper. “Davie was an amazing winger, absolutely amazing, just magnificent,” he said. “He is an iconic Scottish player.”

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But the former Motherwell, Hibernian and Rangers manager believes two individuals who he both played alongside and coached during were unlucky to miss out on both the shortlist and selection in their respective full-back positions – Stuart Kennedy and Arthur Numan.

“I loved Arthur,” he said of the Dutch internationalist, who was in his squad during his five years in the dugout at Ibrox. “For me, he was a world-class player. He helped the Netherlands get to the semi-final of France ’98.

“He was a superb athlete with an incredible physique. For me, he retired far too early (Numan hung up his boots aged 33 after helping Rangers to win the treble).”

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McLeish felt that Kennedy, the Aberdeen and Scotland defender who was forced to retire after suffering a career-ending injury following the Pittodrie club’s European Cup Winners’ Cup semi-final victory over Waterschei in 1983, should also have challenged McGrain for the right back berth.  

“As I mentioned, Davie Cooper was a sensational player,” he said. “But his nemesis was Stuart Kennedy. He wasn’t a fan of playing against Stuart. Stuart was so far ahead of his time. I don’t think he gets the credit he deserves.

“People talk about how Arsene Wenger introduced proper diet to the English game after he took over at Arsenal in the 1990s. But Stuart Kennedy was brining books by Ivan Lendl about food and nutrition when we were at Aberdeen years before.

“He was all about eating the right food, drinking water, taking vitamins. He was a teetotaller throughout his football career. That showed with the runs that he made up and down the wing. He would have flourished in the modern game.”

But McLeish, who spent over 25 years in the dugout at both club and international level after retiring from playing, can appreciate the difficulties the selection committee faced singling out five outstanding individuals for each position and choosing one to start from bitter experience. “It’s an absolute nightmare,” he said.