Former Scotland, Rangers and Aston Villa manager Alex McLeish has returned to football, being appointed as coach of Belgian side Genk on Friday.

Genk said that McLeish, 55, had signed a two-year deal at the Cristal Arena, making his managerial comeback after a short-lived spell with English Championship side Nottingham Forest ended in February.

Genk, Belgian champions in 2011 and Cup winners in 2013 and the club where the likes of Thibaut Courtois and Kevin de Bruyne initially broke through, parted company with previous coach Emilio Ferrera after a 3-1 defeat to Mechelen on the opening day of the Pro League season.

The club from Limburg were still without a win before playing Gent in their fifth game of the campaign on Friday.

McLeish is one of Scotland's greatest players, winning 77 caps as a centre-half while also starring in a highly successful Aberdeen side throughout the 1980s.

As a manager, he enjoyed relative success in charge of Motherwell and Hibernian before winning two Scottish titles during four and a half years with Rangers.

He managed Scotland during the qualifying campaign for Euro 2008 and, while they narrowly failed to make it to the finals, he did oversee a famous win away against France.

A spell in England followed, with mixed results. McLeish won the League Cup with Birmingham City in 2010-11, but oversaw their relegation from the Premier League at the end of that campaign. He then had one underwhelming season as manager of their cross-town rivals Aston Villa.