Soccer:Alex McLeish has distanced himself from the vacant Scotland job and has backed Gordon Strachan for the position instead.

Former Rangers, Birmingham and Aston Villa boss McLeish has been linked with a return to the national team after Craig Levein was sacked yesterday.

However, McLeish, who had a spell as Scotland manager in 2007, believes he would be seen as a hypocrite if he were to take on the role again.

“I left the national team to take up club football, I felt I was missing the day-to-day stuff,” said McLeish.

“I’m still of that mind. I wouldn’t like to be unfair to the Scotland fans in terms of coming back to the job. A lot of people would maybe think I was a hypocrite.”

McLeish left the Scotland job to take over as manager at Birmingham and has been out of work since leaving Aston Villa in May.

He added: “I don’t want to come out and say I don’t want the Scotland job, I would never want to say that.

“I do still feel that I’ve got time in club football and I want to focus on that and be totally fair to everybody. I may not even get offered the job.”

Levein was “relieved of his duties” by the Scottish Football Association following a dismal start to the World Cup qualifying campaign.

The Scots sit bottom of the group with just two points from four games and Strachan has quickly emerged as the bookmakers’ favourite to succeed Levein.

McLeish said: “Gordon Strachan is a pretty good candidate to me. He’s had success at club level with Celtic.

“Whether he wants to come away from the television role he’s got, because he’s very good on TV, would be a big decision for him to make.”