Levein urges patience and insists clubs are full of talented kids
Change is not always something to be embraced, according to Hearts manager Craig Levein, who had hoped that Gordon Strachan would be given the opportunity to guide Scotland through another qualifying campaign.
But the man who preceded Strachan at the helm of the national team said that a change in mindset may help the country get over the agony of missing out on nine successive major championships and bolster the chances of ending more than two decades in exile.
“We need to take a step back and look at what’s happening, look at what the bigger picture is,” explained Levein. “Right now we have something to build on.”
In a country passionate about the beautiful game, he bemoaned the fact that there always tends to be a knee-jerk response to disappointment and an initial groundswell for chopping and changing. But, Levein said, it usually amounted to change for change’s sake and he pleaded for some patience instead as clubs work to improve the national product from the grassroots up.
“You probably don’t see it but there is a huge amount of hope. I watch the kids games every Saturday and Sunday morning. Going back to when the performance schools started, bearing in mind kids going in there are 12 years-old; Harry Cochrane played for us and was the first Performance School kid to start a game in the Premiership.”
Aged just 16, midfielder Cochrane made his debut for the Tynecastle side’s first team at Dens Park in their last league outing prior to the international break. Conceding that he is not quite ready to feature week to week and had been thrust in due to injuries, Levein added that “in two years’ time, he will be a regular starter – as will three or four other kids we’ve got. Because they are good, good players”.
Levein continued: “I’m telling you, it’s not just us, a lot of teams have lots of good players. But it’s typical Scotland; we start something and because we haven’t got the rewards we want within fives years, a lot of people say, ‘the club’s aren’t doing anything’. There is a whole load of work going on and, gradually, results are improving throughout the age groups and that’s because we have better players. I think it’s only going to get better.
“Celtic and Rangers have better players, Aberdeen have better players. Motherwell and Hamilton have better players. Everybody has better players and I see that every week and as a byproduct of what we’re trying to do, the national team will improve.
“We are on the right track, absolutely. Just be patient, although I know that’s something we don’t do very well.”
But he said the proof would be evident as the performance school graduates start to make their mark in the next two to three years, and he is looking forward to being able to say ‘I told you so!’ when that happens.
“Absolutely, there are players coming through who can play for Scotland. We have four or five in the 16, 17, 18 age group here at Hearts and I would be hugely surprised if they don’t play a hundred games for us and become international players. Listen, the proof is in the pudding. But the quality is better.”
The emergence of a fresh batch of players, blooded by Strachan in the Scotland side, has offered some tangible proof that there is some positivity on the horizon, and Levein believes that Strachan would have been the ideal man to continue their international education.
“I think Gordon did a really good job. I see progress. Kieran Tierney appears on the scene, Andy Robertson appears on the scene, maybe John Souttar will appear on the scene next – or somebody else. But before you know it, you are starting to get better quality younger players. And I think we’ve missed that.
“We haven’t had better quality younger players for a long, long time. But once that starts happening, and you get a bit of energy and enthusiasm and quality that comes with youth, that will help us.”