Craig’s blueprint Levein the team lagging behind
WHEN Craig Levein outlined his vision for Hearts almost three years ago he spoke of continuity being key.
As the club’s new director of football, the former Scotland boss would have a crucial role in making sure turmoil wouldn’t follow change.
The idea was any dugout transition would be smooth because the structure at the club would allow a new manager to come in and carry on the good work of his predecessor.
It would be a similar model to the famous Anfield Boot Room that produced Liverpool gaffers from Bill Shankly in the 1960s to Bob Paisley, Joe Fagan, Kenny Dalglish and Roy Evans.
Despite the ruthless way in which Gary Locke was axed to make way for the new era, there could be few complaints about the new set-up with Levein in the background to offer advice to rookie boss Robbie Neilson who took to management like a duck to water.
They made shrewd acquisitions without overspending after the pain of administration and romped the Championship by 21 points in front of sell-out crowds ahead of red-hot favourites Rangers to return to the top flight.
It continued to be a successful model last season with a third-place finish in their first season back in the Premiership to qualify for Europe.
But the true test was always going to come when Neilson departed for MK Dons last December. The overhaul at Tynecastle under Ian Cathro has been drastic.
Nine new signings in January isn’t exactly continuity and goes against owner Ann Budge’s 2014 plan for Levein to implement “a youth-driven playing policy within the club”.
She added: “Levein will assume total responsibility for everything to do with the playing side of the business.
On the new set-up Levein said: “Almost every club in Scotland does it the same way – they pick a manager, see how he does, he tells you it’s not his team and then you’re into a cycle of paying players off.
“This does away with all that because the next coach is in the system. He understands the players and what the team are trying to achieve.”
But the first managerial change has resulted in a period of turbulence. Even allowing for the time needed for a new boss, particularly one in his first-ever top job, it has been a sharp decline.
The pressure is now building on Cathro ahead of today’s visit of Dundee with many fans having run out of patience with the former Valencia and Newcastle United coach.
The statistics are damning. Two points above Aberdeen when Cathro took over and now 23 behind the Dons. Five wins in 19. Nine league defeats out of 15. Five points behind fourthplaced St Johnstone.
But while Cathro is
Cathro is feeling the heat but the spotlight turns on the whole structure
feeling the heat the spotlight turns on the whole structure under Budge and Levein.
Outside of Brendan Rodgers at Celtic, Tommy Wright and Alan Archibald are the two gaffers who have consistently been the best in the top flight yet neither would be considered under the current Hearts model.
But they know how to get results – something Hearts aren’t getting just now. Before Neilson left for England Budge said: “We finished third last season, so my view is that anything less than third is not very good.”
Makes you wonder what she thinks of the current position. Levein’s strategy was meticulously pieced together and a decade in the making but just three years in, his blueprint and Cathro’s appointment are now being questioned.