Former Rangers star Andrei Kanchelskis has claimed bookies’ favourite Alex McLeish was ‘double-faced’ during his time at Ibrox, in an explosive interview with The Daily Record.
Kanchelskis, who spent four years at the club, has opened up about his time in Glasgow, and what went wrong at the club after McLeish’s appointment.
McLeish has been installed by Skybet as the new favourite to replace Pedro Caixinha as Light Blues manager, having spent five years in charge at Ibrox between 2001 and 2006.
The 36-times Russian international is best remembered for his spell at Manchester United under Alex Ferguson, going on to play over 100 games for the Old Trafford club.
A move to Everton followed before a transfer abroad to Fiorentina, before arriving at Ibrox in 1998.
Of his time in Glasgow, Kanchelskis said: “[Dick] Advocaat left and McLeish came in. He was a coach with a double face – today he speak with you okay and after an hour he was double faced and tell you a lot of rubbish.”
He went on to explain his thoughts on why the club went downhill after winning the treble in his first season.
“There were too many Dutch players in the squad and playing in the team. That can create problems in the dressing room and outside. The atmosphere in my first two years was great. In the third season there were problems as there were more Dutch players.
“They spoke always in their language, not English. There were three groups – the Dutch players, the other foreign players and the Scottish boys. It’s not good,” he said.
OPINION
The interesting point to be taken from this for Rangers fans are the parallels between Kanchelskis’ words on the Dutch contingent in his side, and the problems that the club have had with Pedro Caixinha’s imports. The Ibrox club have reportedly struggled to get their squad to bond after the arrival of nine new players over the summer, seven of whom are foreign. Caixinha was reportedly angered by his Scottish players failing to make him and the summer signings feel welcome, and it is now up to whoever replaces him to make sure that this does not become a bigger problem, as it did in Kanchelskis’ time at Ibrox.