Motherwell boss keen to learn lessons from Leicester

Motherwell manager Mark McGhee feels the success of his former club Leicester has given hope to smaller teams in Scotland - and taken away any excuses.

McGhee, who briefly managed the Foxes in the top flight in the mid-1990s, has been inspired by their Barclays Premier League triumph and is looking to take practical lessons from Claudio Ranieri's approach.

And he believes if Leicester can overcome 5,000-1 odds in England, then there is still hope that the Premiership title can end up outside of Glasgow.

McGhee said: "You look at what you can do that's going to help you and you look at what you're doing yourself and think 'is that what we're doing? That's good, because it works for them'.

"People have said it shows what can be achieved, and I think that's right. But what it also does, it stops everybody else having any excuse.

"None of us can now say 'well, we don't have the same budget and we've not got that'.

"Leicester City have proved what can be achieved by sheer hard work, good organisation and togetherness, with no small amount of ability.

"Don't get me wrong, they have some great players in their team.

"All of us have got to look at that and think 'right, if it's good enough for them, it's good enough for us', and I think we should all try to emulate that.

"Celtic have the same advantage over us as Man United, Man City and Chelsea have over Leicester, and Leicester have overcome that.

"It has shown the likes of Aberdeen, who went very close this year, that it actually is possible."

The role of assistant manager Steve Walsh in recruiting players has also been recognised.

"Recruitment is everything because there is only so much you can do on the training ground," McGhee said. "It's about players and their abilities.

"You can galvanise and get the right chemistry within the group and Ranieri has done that brilliantly. But Steve and his crew who have recruited those players have done a marvellous job as well.

"Any young managers who speak to me and talk about getting assistants... I always say what you need is someone who knows where there are players.

"You need to get the best players you can get for the money you have available, and certainly that's what Leicester have done."

McGhee will be in the stand when Motherwell host St Johnstone on Saturday after accepting a one-match ban for comments he made towards fourth official Nick Walsh. Assistant manager Stephen Robinson has challenged his one-match suspension.

"I didn't think my part in anything that happened last week was terribly significant, but if someone is offended then I'm quite happy to accept a one-match ban," McGhee said.

"I've not had a problem (with fourth officials), the week before it was Craig Thomson and I don't even remember speaking to Craig apart from courteous exchanges.

"Saturday was slightly different. The lad, for me, wasn't making eye contact, he was just unusual I felt, his attitude."