We all feel guilt. The only thing I have done for Craig is get him tickets to see Snow Patrol
SAYS AUSTIN MacPHEE
FOR Hearts staff and players, a farewell to Craig Levein yesterday morning triggered a range of emotions. Accompanying the regret and embarrassment at the fate of a decent man, interim manager Austin MacPhee looked Levein in the eye and felt something else. Guilt.
The sense that he could have done more to help was natural. More unusual was the pressing need to offer a full-and-frank apology.
‘I said to Craig I didn’t think I’d been much good to him for anything other than getting him Snow Patrol tickets,’ said MacPhee.
‘Funnily enough, I did this morning offer him another two, because they are playing in Dunfermline on Saturday night and Craig is wanting to go.
‘The players obviously feel guilty and every one of us looks at how we could have better supported him. And, of course, I have to share that responsibility.’
In a statement confirming his departure, Hearts revealed Levein will continue to ‘develop and improve the structure of the backroom and youth operations’ until his contract lapses in the summer.
Despite expressions of dismay and mocking in some quarters, there is no secret as to what this means. Wary of the perception that he’s still holding the wheel and driving the bus, the former director of football will not attend tomorrow’s Betfred Cup semi-final against Rangers and is unlikely to be seen around Tynecastle for quite some time.
To all intents and purposes, Levein is on gardening leave, yesterday’s farewells coming with an air of finality.
‘I’ve had a very frank relationship with Craig the last two years,’ said MacPhee. ‘And we had some dialogue yesterday.
‘Craig’s attitude made it very easy for me. He was hugely supportive towards me and I felt like I was speaking to a Hearts supporter.
‘He explained that he wouldn’t be coming to the game because people would write that he was picking the team and that he wouldn’t be coming to training, because people would write that he was in charge of training.
‘If Craig came to my house, they’d say that he was cooking the tea. He’s got quite a good sense of humour, Craig…’
A degree of gallows humour helps in these situations. Nevertheless, there is little funny about the situation Hearts find themselves in.
From challenging for the title at the start of last season, the collapse of the current campaign — and the end of the last — has been alarming. While injuries have been crippling, a solitary goal is all that separates the Gorgie side from St Mirren at the foot of the Premiership table.
After Rangers tomorrow comes a crucial league game against St Mirren. By the end of next week, interim boss MacPhee hopes to have learned more about his own abilities and managerial ambitions.
In the meantime, he accepts this working relationship with Levein and Ian Cathro makes him culpable in the eyes of supporters.
With Motherwell’s Stephen Robinson topping a shortlist assembled by the Hearts board yesterday, it would need something remarkable to make MacPhee a candidate for the job in the next two games.
‘The only time I’ve been interim manager, I was consulting the manager, who was in hospital (after a heart scare) and I was delivering his ideas to the players,’ said MacPhee.
‘But now, in the meantime, I have total accountability and responsibility. And I’ve got my own ideas now, about who we have available and what is the best way to go about this.
‘I got clarity on that aspect quite quickly, once I got the call from Ann (Budge). I thought that was the most important thing for me — to be clear. Only if I am clear can I then deliver to the players and make them feel confident.
‘I’ve got one training session and 48 hours but, hopefully, the team will be prepared for what I want them to do.’
Veteran coach Donald Park will step up from the academy to first-team level for a Hampden baptism of fire. Other personnel questions are less transparent.
Austrian midfielder Peter Haring is back training on grass, while Steven Naismith and Jamie Walker are getting there. The most realistic hope for any of the three might be a substitute appearance.
Asked how much he can do to change things, freed from the towering influence of Levein, MacPhee offered no rash promises. ‘There are not many different players available right now,’ he said. ‘You will need to be the judge of how the team plays. ‘Rangers have enough good players and talented coaches to have a chance of winning without me helping them. ‘In an ideal world, anybody wants to see fast, attacking football to make supporters excited. ‘Whether we can achieve that against Rangers in 48 hours, I have my doubts. But I think we can do some things that help the players have confidence with the ball. My main priority is to try to take away some of the anxieties they have clearly shown.’
Levein cast a long shadow over Hearts and Scottish football. Where he reappears in management — assuming he does — remains to be seen.
Yet MacPhee remains dismissive of suggestions from the likes of former Scotland striker Kris Boyd that Levein’s reputation is now shredded beyond repair. Or that his career is pretty much done.
‘He is only 55 and the retirement age is going up every year,’ he said. ‘He is very bright and pragmatic, too. I saw that this morning.
‘He probably knew how awkward that was for me. And in all his experience and care and love for the club, he made that one of the easiest conversations I have had.
‘I feel motivated by what he said to me to try to give Hearts the best possible chance of success on Sunday.’