LEVEIN: WE’LL NEVER FORGET
It’s just typical of Scottish football. Everybody just looks after themselves, doesn’t give a toss about anybody else... that’s why our game isn’t flourishing
CRAIG LEVEIN believes Hearts will bounce back from relegation at the first attempt – and return with a vengeance.
The Jambos’ drop into the Championship was sealed yesterday after owner Ann Budge’s reconstruction proposal was booted out before the resolution stage.
The Tynecastle club have already begun the process of legal action but as things stand they will start the new season in the second tier.
Levein has tipped them to be back in the Premiership by this time next year.
But Hearts’ former boss warned that the Premiership will be a less than friendly environment when they’re back at the top table.
He said: “I believe they’ll come right back up and things will be back to normal – other than the relationship between Hearts and the other clubs.
“For me, it’s just typical of Scottish football.
“Everybody just looks after themselves, doesn’t give a toss about anybody else and that’s why the game in Scotland isn’t flourishing.” It is not just Premiership clubs that Hearts will be aggrieved with as Levein outlined how some lower-league outfits could eventually reap what they’ve sown.
He said: “People won’t forget this.
“Next time Cowdenbeath are looking for a player on loan from Hearts, what do you think their chances are?”
The Jambos have confirmed the ball is already rolling on a legal challenge but would not go into detail on what it will entail.
Suggestions have already surfaced they could seek an interdict to stop the top flight starting on time, with August 1 pencilled in for a return.
Levein believes it would be a massive move albeit would not surprise him in a saga that has rumbled on since Dundee changed their mind in April over finishing the lower-league seasons early.
Speaking on the BBC Scotland podcast, he said: “It’s quite a huge step in my eyes.
“But Ann is a very strongwilled person and if she feels it’s the right thing to do for her club then it could happen.
“It’s really, really unfair what’s happened to the three clubs [Hearts, Partick Thistle and Stranraer] and the whole thing still stinks. The Dundee vote stinks. There is a reason that this might happen and the reason is the unfairness of what the SPFL have done.
“I’m not sitting in the middle of it and don’t have all the ins and outs, all the facts or where the Foundation of Hearts are in all of this.
“But what I do know is the decision that Ann makes will be the one she feels is right for the club. She’s done that on every single occasion I can remember in the past five years.”
Some fans are calling for a boycott of every away game in the Championship apart from those at Inverness Caley
Thistle, who voted against the original resolution that led to relegation.
Steve Kilgour, secretary of the Federation of Hearts Supporters’ Clubs, is in no doubt part of the blame rests on SPFL chief Neil Doncaster.
He said: “I’m not surprised by this decision but deeply disappointed and angry.
“It is a blatant display of self-interest, a complete lack of integrity from most, and a complete lack of leadership from Doncaster and his board of puppets.
“I hope Hearts take every avenue available to seek compensation and even possibly to delay the start of next season.
“I have also had several calls for a boycott of all away games next season, with the exception of Inverness. Some are asking that Hearts refuse to accept tickets for these games. “It is a complete and utter mess – and one that was totally avoidable if clubs had just looked beyond their own interests and considered Hearts, Thistle and Stranraer.”