McLeish welcomes former Scotland players to coaching team

Former Scottish internationals, Peter Grant, James McFadden and Stevie Wood have been appointed to assistant coaching positions for the Scotland team. The coaches will join the squad before a friendly against Costa Rica on 23rd March, with the team due to be announced on Monday.

Throughout his career as a midfielder, Grant made two appearances for Scotland as an international, and played more than 350 games for Celtic. McLeish said of Grant, "Peter has enjoyed a distinguished coaching career and is already familiar with the set-up in the Scottish FA's performance department, having worked with our Under-21 team last year. I have known Peter for a long time - in fact, I played alongside him for Scotland in both his appearances for the national team - and I am thrilled that he has accepted my offer to work with the team.'' He will continue in his role as lead professional development coach at Fulham alongside Scotland duties. 

McFadden scored 15 goals for Scotland out of 48 appearances. McLeish's first term as Scotland manager saw the striker score a long-range goal to lead the Scots to triumph over France 1-0 in 2007. The 34-year-old has previously played for Everton and Birmingham. McLeish adds that "James brings a youthful enthusiasm to the coaching team, but beyond that he offers a relatable figure for the players to look up to. He bore the hopes of a nation on his shoulders for many years and was a talisman for the national team during his career. To have a former player of that ilk on the coaching staff can only be an inspiration for the current players.''

Woods has been a goalkeeping coach at Celtic since his appointment to a full-time coaching position with the club in 2007. The Scotland boss says of Woods that he ''is a highly-respected figure as a goalkeeping coach and is already well-known to many of the players. His experience of working with top-quality keepers at the highest level will be invaluable to the squad and he will have no trouble adapting to the intensity of international football.''

McLeish says he is ''relishing the prospect of working with them on the training ground'' and praises his new assistant coaches as ''a complementary blend of experience, enthusiasm and success - both as players and as coaches - and are fully aware of the responsibility that comes with being part of the national team staff.''