I would have kept Hearts in top flight, says Levein

CRAIG LEVEIN believes Hearts would have avoided the drop if he’d been left in situ as head coach.

The former manager and director of football, whose employment with the Gorgie outfit officially came to an end last week, was relieved of first-team duties with the club sitting joint-bottom of the Premiership in October.

But, pointing to the subsequent failures of interim boss Austin MacPhee and replacement gaffer Daniel Stendel to inspire upward movement, the ex-Scotland boss insists he could have pulled off an escape.

‘Some people think it’s all my fault,’ he told BBC Radio Scotland’s Scottish Football podcast. ‘

‘I can’t put my hands up and say that I’m not responsible in any way, shape or form because, at the start of the season, obviously, we struggled.

‘I could sit here and talk about the number of important players we had injured but, ultimately, you’re judged by your results.

‘I do make a genuine case that I do feel that if I’d stayed in place, then we wouldn’t have been in the league position that we were in — because we had good players coming back from injury. ‘Austin had a go at it and it didn’t work for him. You could argue Daniel’s had a go at it and it’s not particularly worked for him either. I think the same problems still existed. ‘I had enough faith in my ability and that once we got Steven Naismith, Peter Haring, John Souttar and Uche Ikpeazu, these players back on the field, we would have had a good chance of catching the teams above us. I feel desperately sorry for the Hearts supporters that we’re in the position we’re in but I know myself that I did everything I could to make the team as successful as possible.’

Levein said he didn’t try to dissuade Hearts chairman Ann Budge from removing him — and insisted his continued presence in a backroom role, including showing Stendel around when he was recruited, was no distraction to players.

‘In most situations, when managers lose their jobs, it’s about pressure on the board,’ he said. ‘It takes a lot for a chairman to go against the supporters.

‘Results weren’t good enough. I don’t make any claims that they were. But I do believe the unprecedented run of injury problems was the cause.

‘I’m not sitting here blaming Ann and the board. It’s just human nature. I could understand the decision.

‘I didn’t agree with it. But I could understand it. Ann asked me if I’d stay on. I had a lot of things I was doing as director of football that were stacking up.

‘I restricted my time at the training ground to afternoons and evenings so I wasn’t there when Daniel was coaching or the players were milling about.

‘The team weren’t winning. And players don’t like to accept responsibility. They will look for an excuse.

‘Whether it’s my fault, the new coach’s fault, there wasn’t enough character in the team to accept responsibility and dig themselves out of it.

‘I just don’t think they were capable of handling the pressure — and there’s nothing wrong with that. You cannot have 11 experienced internationals who can handle everything thrown at them.’

Levein also lent his support to the idea of Colt teams being introduced to the lower leagues.

And he believes that James Anderson’s £2million bail-out of the SPFL could become more important to teams at the bottom of the rung if richer clubs forego their share of the pot.

Addressing the Colts plan proposed by Rangers, Levein said: ‘What it does is allow more young players to play first-team football.

‘The idea of letting them play against men is a great idea.

‘It’s going to cost those two clubs (Rangers and Celtic) money, but I think they’re doing the right thing.’

Meanwhile, under league rules, the money being offered by James and Morag Anderson has to be divided between all 42 member teams — working out at a little under £50,000 per club.

Levein said he’d back the idea of wealthier institutions giving up their share of the spoils, saying: ‘Everybody has to look at their own case and work out whether an altruistic gesture like that would be the right thing. But it would be a good idea, I think.

‘My experience with James and Morag is that they’ve done a lot for Hearts, put a lot of money in, but a lot has gone to social enterprises.

‘The thing I found bizarre was that everybody assumed there were strings attached to this offer.

‘People couldn’t believe somebody could give money without asking for something. That’s all we seem to do in Scottish football. Think about ourselves.’