Peter Grant ready for 'hands-on' Scotland role

Peter Grant says he is happy to do the dirty work for Scotland to allow Alex McLeish to focus on his "unbelievable leadership'' skills.

Grant was named by McLeish as part of his backroom staff on Sunday along with James McFadden and Celtic goalkeeping coach Stevie Woods.

The former Celtic and Scotland midfielder has worked with McLeish at the likes of Birmingham, Aston Villa and Nottingham Forest, and feels the 59-year-old is ideally placed to bring a new-look squad together.

Grant, who will continue his club role with Fulham's development set-up, said: "I love being on the coaching field with the players. Any young manager coming through, you always want to do everything. I think Alex has gained his experience over the time and now knows: 'Listen, you get on with doing that and let me manage the group, talk to the players'.

"He has had an unbelievable leader in Sir Alex Ferguson showing him the ropes and how to manage, and I think he does that exceptionally well.

"He is a fantastic man-to-man manager. He has a great way with people and a great knowledge and understanding of the game.

"He was a top international player, he has been successful at all the clubs he was at - taking Birmingham and beating Arsenal in a cup final, getting promotions all these sort of things. We have had negative sides as well. With all those experiences, you can only get better.''

Grant was at Hampden on Monday as McLeish named nine uncapped players in his squad for friendlies against Costa Rica and Hungary.

"We really enjoy working together,'' Grant said. "He knows I'm opinionated, I'll never change that, he knows that. But I think he is a bit calmer than I am, and that's through experience.

"He knows what he can trust me with and I think that's the biggest thing. That's the biggest thing, you have a trust in how to deal with players and what to expect from players.'

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