Iain Morrison: Lion King's last stand

IAN McGEECHAN is an enigmatic character, a mass of contradictions, a difficult man to know and a near impossible one to understand. For a start he is a proud Scotsman who sports a broad Yorkshire accent. He is revered abroad, especially in England, but his reputation took a fearful battering in Scotland the last time he held sway at Murrayfield; a prophet with little enough honour at home.

He is widely considered the obvious man to lead the British and Irish Lions and for the fourth time – no-on else has coached the squad more than once - but he is not good enough for Wasps, with whom he has recently parted company.

This trip looks like his swansong on the world stage. At the age of 62 McGeechan has admitted that his next role will likely be on a consultancy basis or perhaps as a coach of coaches. He has been linked with a part-time position at London Scottish and the club confirmed recently that they'd had preliminary discussions with McGeechan, who promptly denied any such thing. "Twelve months ago I advised them on restructuring because they're very ambitious – but there've been no talks since then."

It has become part of the folklore surrounding the man that he does his best work only when he works with the best and there may be some truth in that. He won success the first time around with Scotland when they had a grand slam side and several world class players; his second stint as head coach was largely forgettable. McGeechan arguably under-performed at Northampton, who won the European Cup one year after he left, but the coach has been outstanding at Wasps, as the Londoners lifted a trophy in each of his first three seasons: the EDF Cup in 2006, the Heineken Cup in 2007 and the Guinness Premiership last year. The Lions have won just four series in the modern era (1971, 1974, 1989 and 1997); McGeechan played in one of them and coached another two.

It's an enviable record but it was 12 long years ago, so close to the amateur era it almost falls into that category, that the Scot last had his hand on the Lions tiller. He travelled with Sir Clive Woodward's crew last time round but he dodged much of the flak that was aimed at that unmitigated disaster since the mid-week team that he coached remained unbeaten throughout. Chairman of the Lions committee Andy Irvine explains why he turned back the clock and turned to his old playing partner once again.

"Geech has unrivalled experience in the position and the players that we canvassed showed a clear preference for him as the natural man for the job."

Those who have played under him place McGeechan on a pedestal of variable heights. Gregor Townsend, who worked for the coach at Northampton, Scotland and the Lions, knows him better than most.

"Geech's strength is suited to a team that comes together at short notice. He is good on strategy, he sees the big picture, he understands the need for the squad to gel. He is also a very intense man.

"The Lions job is the toughest one out there, there is nothing quite like it in top level sport. Geech has to take four teams and get them playing as one. I'd like to think he's up to the task, he certainly has the experience."

He has started well, promising to reverse some of the mistakes made last time round. The players had a hotel room to themselves in New Zealand but they will go back to sharing in South Africa to facilitate that all-important team bonding without which any Lions tour is doomed. After all, this will be the shortest tour in the Lions' long history; just six weeks when the first tour lasted over six months.

"The social bit is important," McGeechan said last week. "When 90 per cent of the tour is off the field that will impact on where we can get to as a group of people."

Another man who knows the coach well is former Lions winger Alan Tait, who scored a try in the first Test back in 1997. The one-time Scotland defence coach, now working at Newcastle with Steve Bates, pinpoints McGeechan's character as the key to his success.

"He's a very emotional man," says Tait, "and that comes across when he talks. When he gives his team talk you could see his eyes welling up with emotion and his chin beginning to go. I think that all adds to his ability to motivate the players; I think he's a very difficult man to dislike. He's very much a player's coach."

Intriguingly Tait points to another trait within McGeechan which may have led to his success over a lifetime of coaching at the very highest level: his flexibility.

"I was listening to Shaun Edwards the other day say that Ian McGeechan was the sole selector of the Lions and I was pretty surprised to hear that. I've sat in a good few selection meetings with Geech and he's always been easily swayed. He is good at listening to what other coaches have to say. I am sure that Edwards and Warren Gatland will have their say in the Test team when it's picked."

The only real dissent comes from Doddie Weir, who looked like a shoo-in for a Test spot in 1997 before he damaged his knee against Mpumalanga thanks to a dreadful piece of thuggery by his opposite number Marius Bosman. The long lock places the praise for that 1997 victory on another's shoulders.

"The success of that tour had a lot more to do with Jim Telfer than it did Ian McGeechan," states the Melrose man. "They are a great combination who work well together but most of the credit should go to Jim and it will be interesting to see just how McGeechan gets on without his sidekick there this time round."

It will indeed be interesting and already McGeechan is exercising some canny expectation management. He has called the current Springbok squad better than the 1997 version and he has declared this summer's tour, "a much, much tougher ask than it was in 1997". He may be right.

"Historically the Lions don't win," McGeechan continued. "In 130 years we have had just four wins." The coach is stretching the truth to suit himself here but the gist of his point is well made. The Lions rarely win and the last two tours both fared badly; whitewashed by the All Blacks and losing to Australia four years earlier in a series that should have been won.

Doom-mongers have been writing off the Lions ever since the dawn of the professional era but instead the team seems to grow in strength almost regardless of results. The Lions' future does not depend upon winning this South African series – put bluntly the "brand" generates too much money to be abandoned – but victory this summer would certainly complete the canonisation of their Scottish coach.