He’s gone but don’t rule out another Levein comeback

AS the Hearts director of football, Craig Levein hired the wrong head coach. He signed too many average players and failed to trouble Celtic, Rangers or Aberdeen. By the time he lost his job, he couldn’t win a game for love or money. He was harming a club he cared for deeply and he had to go. Yet to read some comments you’d think he’d shot Santa and buried Christmas. Michael Stewart thinks the former

Scotland boss wielded an unhealthy degree of power at Tynecastle and hid behind excuses to save his own skin while presiding over failure. Kris Boyd reckons his reputation is in tatters and he’s finished. The truth is that Levein’s career has

always had its down points. He’s witnessed more boom and bust than the economy of Venezuela. Cowdenbeath was plain sailing. His first spell at Hearts was a success. When failure came at Leicester, it hit him hard. ‘It’s funny,’ he said during his time as Scotland boss. ‘Because you think, “Things went well, things went well, things went well…oh f***”.’ Seven years since those comments, the ‘f bomb’ has dropped once again. Where he pops up next will be fascinating. As a manager, Levein had his moments. Yet, despite more comebacks than

Sinatra, he remains unfulfilled in terms of trophies. Fans think he’s a tactical Luddite, one or two of the players he bombed out down the years have become merciless critics and he neither courts nor covets friends in the press. Still only 55, he can’t let it end like this. There’s no peace and contentment in a legacy as the man who invented the 4-6-0.