LEVEIN FIRMLY ON FRONT FOOT
Boss goes into bat on behalf of Hearts as he takes a stand against the ‘unjust’
CRAIG LEVEIN insists he isn’t going out of his way to irk, annoy or get under the skin of any foe, friend, rival or innocent bystander. Maybe it just comes naturally to him, then.
Because, as a growing number within Scottish football can testify, the old Levein is most certainly back to his belligerent best.
Barking at opponents, shutting down critics, returning even mild fire with ferocious slap-downs, the former Scotland boss sees his role as public protector of all things Hearts.
Sounding every inch the character who, in his first stint as Jambos boss, once dragged the SFA through an interminable process over a simple fine for criticising an official, Levein was back in to bat for his club yesterday.
Scott Brown was the target. Again. And the man who barely said boo during his time as Hearts director of football had definite hints of a smile playing around his lips as he delivered well-chosen barbs.
Having fun? Clearly. But making a point, in the process. ‘I do feel strongly about standing up for this club,’ he said. ‘That hasn’t changed in any way.
‘I’m not trying to annoy anybody. I’m just saying what I think is right. That’s all.
‘I felt previously that it wasn’t my role to defend the club in the media. Because my role wasn’t to speak to the media.
‘But I do feel when I’m in this role, and I did when I was here in the past, that it’s my job.
‘I’m not trying to annoy people. That’s 100 per cent not the case.
‘I just don’t like hearing and reading stuff that, for me, is not true. So that’s just the way it is.’
Asked if he would continue picking public fights with anyone deemed to have offended Hearts sensibilities, Levein couldn’t suppress a laugh as he declared: ‘Not if people don’t say things that I feel is unjust. It’s as simple as that. If people don’t say anything that I feel is unjust, I’m not interested.
‘I’m only interested if I feel that people are having a go at the club for no apparent reason.’
So, is now a good time to bring up the club’s dismal Scottish Cup record in the ten years since they last won the trophy? Levein, who welcomes St Johnstone to Tynecastle tomorrow, knows that just one run to the quarter-finals since that 2006 triumph isn’t good enough.
Offering up some defence of the drought, he pointed out: ‘We’ve lost to Hibs in the last two years. And twice to Celtic.
‘I can take some of the criticism. But not the last decade! I feel that’s unjust!’
This year marks the 20th anniversary of a special Scottish Cup memory for Hearts, of course.
That 1998 triumph, their first in 42 years, is still remembered with enormous fondness by Hearts fans — and there is a genuine excitement about the prospect of marking the milestone with a follow-up win.
‘I’m just hoping we can add to that excitement by winning this game and progressing,’ said Levein.
‘Playing against St Johnstone is always difficult and Tommy Wright’s teams are always well organised. They always punch above their weight.’
Part of the excitement in the Hearts camp is definitely a result of knocking their great rivals out in the last round, Levein bouncing back a question about Hibs having won the Scottish Cup more recently than the Jambos by pointing out: ‘Well, they are not going to win it this year! That’s the good thing.
‘From our point of view, Hibs were due to win the Cup at some point because they hadn’t won it for so long. ‘But that’s now gone, as much as if we had won it in the past couple of years, it would still be in the past.
‘It’s something we would look back on fondly but it doesn’t help us win the game this weekend.
‘Between the Hibs game and now there has been a bit of excitement and, if we can get through against St Johnstone, between that and the next round, that feeling will still be there — so that is important to us.’
On a personal level, it will strike many as odd that Levein has never won the Scottish Cup.
Of course, he laid a lot of the groundwork for Peter Houston lifting the trophy with Dundee United in 2010, having left his former assistant in charge at Tannadice to take the Scotland job just six months earlier.
Insisting he never allowed himself to feel jealous, Levein said: ‘I was thrilled to bits.
‘Would I like to have been the manager? Yeah, of course. I’ve got some gratification out of it knowing the team was put together under my watch but Housty did a brilliant job.
‘That (winning the Scottish Cup) is one thing I’d like to do. I’ve played in some big matches and been involved in some finals, and in a lot of important football matches. But that’s the one I’d like.’