Now only Dundee can stop that from happening by winning today’s Tennent’s Scottish Cup final.

McLeish was handed an initial two-and-a-half-year deal as there were reservations whether his time at Motherwell and Hibernian amounted to sufficient experience to be able to handle such a high-profile job.

But those fears have long since disappeared and chairman John McClelland revealed a new deal was in the pipeline.

He told the Scottish Sun: “We will now look at Alex’s situation when it all calms down.

“There were doubts about Alex from some at the start but he has shown the validity of our choice.

“He has done very well and we will look at everything closely again in the near future.

“The last two months and the last three weeks have not been the time for anyone to assess that – it has been frantic.

“We haven’t been able to focus on it but when the season finishes we can.”