ALEX McLeish has indicated he will not force players to go on Scotland’s summer tour of Peru and Mexico if their clubs are unhappy.

Celtic and Rangers are set to play Champions League and Europa League qualifiers respectively in early July.

Reservations have been expressed about the SFA’s decision to take on games against Peru in South America on May 29 and then Mexico in Central America on June 2.

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However, McLeish stressed that he would take into account how many games a player had been involved in this season when he named his squad for the double header.

“We’re probably going to have to wait until that moment comes but I think we have to have some kind of understanding with certain situations,” he said.

“In some cases it will be possible to do and in some cases we will have to use our jurisdiction. But we want to have a rapport with the clubs as well.

"We know certain players have been playing 60-odd games a season and we have to be aware of overload and injuries and getting players when they’re not fresh. We will look at that closely.

“We have a great performance team at the SFA now and we will work very closely with them and they will work very closely with the clubs.”

Meanwhile, McLeish stressed that he would use Oriam, the new national performance centre outside Edinburgh, as his training base in future.

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"I think it works really well for the teams under the A-squad,” he said. "We will use it when we get the chance to because the pitch out there is fantastic. We have to try and do that justice.

"We will, however, be back in Glasgow the day before we play. We won't leave ourselves in a situation where we have to travel over the M8 on the night of a game.”

McLeish added: "I remember when we beat France (in a World Cup qualifier at Hampden in 1989) and Mo Johnston scored a couple of goals on a horrible night.

"We were staying in Gleneagles Hotel and the bus was caught in traffic and the bus was late. We didn't even have time for a warm-up and went out and beat France 2-0, so where's the logic! Maybe we should stay in Gleneagles!"

McLeish, whose side will play Belgium in a friendly at Hampden on Friday, September 7, has been encouraged by ticket sales for the Costa Rica game at Hampden on Friday week.

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"I hope the fans come out in force,” he said. “And I hope they're enlightened by the squad and seeing a lot of their favourites in there. But we need to go and win games for the Tartan Army to keep them coming and get them back in their numbers."

Meanwhile, Alex McLeish has predicted that James McFadden, who played under him with Scotland and Birmingham City and has been brought in as a Scotland coach, has a bright future in the dugout ahead of him.

“James has great knowledge in the game, great common sense,” he said. “He has a great affiliation with the players, he speaks their language, and he’s got a great dynamic with the fans. In fact, how has he not got my job? There you are, he’s gunning for it!

“I don’t want to jump the gun here! But he wants to aspire to being a coach and James is in the middle of the coaching course qualifications, that’s the next step for him. This is only going to help him in his quest to be a top coach. Everybody wants to be a top coach and he’s no different.

“When players get to a certain age they either go into the TV or they do the coaching and you get a different perspective as you get older.

“When you’re younger you’re footloose and fancy free but then you get to a certain age where it’s ‘right, what am I doing, telly or coaching’. Nowadays it’s easy to be a pundit: I think James is both actually! He wears the different hats.”