inside Park Gardens", which was the SFA's headquarters, would "breath a sigh of relief" at MacLeod's departure. The Scottish Football Association's annual report, issued in May 1979, stated that, "regardless of the depressing aspects of Mr MacLeod's latter days in the Association's employ, it would be quite unfair not to comment that he was largely responsible for kindling an enthusiasm for the Scottish team that far exceeded anything which had gone before. The Association benefited considerably from that enthusiasm and should not forget it". In his autobiography, The Ally MacLeod Story (1979), he wondered whether he had "generated just too much excitement. Had I raised the level of national optimism just too high?" But he was able to console himself: "Would the Scottish fans have tolerated anything less from me than whole-hearted conviction?" MacLeod also reassured the reader that he, for one, never thought that Scotland were invincible, and claimed to be perfectly at peace with himself. "I am a very good manager who just happened to have a few disastrous days, once upon a time, in Argentina." Later career His subsequent managerial career included spells at Motherwell (1979–1981), Airdrie (1984–1985) and a third spell at Ayr (1986–1989) when he won a Second Division (third tier) title in 1988. His last job in football was with Dumfries club Queen of the South. In 1992, he played in a game for Queens' reserve team, scoring a goal from a penalty at the age of 61. Death and tributes Increasingly again treated with affection by the Scottish footballing public, in July 2003, at Hampden Park, he was presented with a crystal decanter in appreciation of his services to the national team and to Scottish football. He died in 2004, aged 72, after a long battle with Alzheimer's disease. MacLeod was posthumously inducted to the Scottish Football Hall of Fame in 2015. Honours Player Blackburn Rovers Football League Second Division promotion, 1957–58 Manager Ayr United Scottish Division Two (second tier) champions: 1965–66 Scottish Division Two (second tier) promotion: 1968–69 Scottish Second Division (third tier) champions: 1987–88 Ayrshire Cup winners: 1969; 1970; 1971; 1975; 1988 Aberdeen Scottish League Cup winners: 1975–76 Scotland British Home Championship winners: 1977 Motherwell Lanarkshire Cup winners: 1981 Airdrieonians Lanarkshire Cup winners: 1984 Managerial statistics References Further reading Ronnie McDevitt and Andy MacLeod. More Than Argentina: The Biography of Ally MacLeod (2014) Ronnie McDevitt. Scotland in the 60s: The Definitive