Levein and his madcap mojo are back

HE’S back. Three months after officially returning to frontline football management, it feels as if Craig Levein has genuinely rediscovered the madcap mojo that made him such a fascinating — and, yes, frustrating — character before he was so badly kicked around by his Scotland appearances. The Hearts director of football seemed almost diminished by his time in a job that leaves most men scarred in some way. Few escape a stint at Hampden completely unscathed. Yet it seems that reigniting the old fury wasn’t so hard, after all. He just needed to spend some time back in a technical area, putting his reputation on the line in a club job. Why, it’s almost like old times down at Tynecastle, with Levein (pictured) reverting to entertaining type. This is a man, remember, who once went to war with the SFA over a fine imposed as punishment for criticism of a referee, dragging the association through umpteen appeals and escalations. He’s the same guy who once sat in the press room at Ibrox and, having seen his Dundee United team lose in disputatious circumstances, delivered perhaps the most eviscerating post-match lambasting of officials in the history of Scottish football. So taking a pop at a pundit and getting sent to the stand? He’s just warming up. Hopefully. Sure, Hearts fans are entitled to ask whether all the sounding off and lashing out is a waste of energy. They’ve earned the right to fret over a team lacking so many things. But neutrals can’t help but feel a little nostalgic buzz when Levein starts going off on one, managing to get himself noticed, even amid our game’s steady white noise of dubious debates and vicious vitriol. There’s the guy we remember. That’s him. The one arguing against the criminal injustice of that throwin decision on the far side of the pitch.