Levein admits the footballing juices are now flowing again

SPORT@SUNDAYPOST.COm Football was a school of hard knocks when Craig Lev ei n ser ved his apprenticeship.

These days it is more Open University than open warfare.

Thankfully for the Hearts boss, who is gradually settling back into life in the dugout after five years in the boardroom, the game’s shift in emphasis has matched his own.

“I’m getting older and my energy levels are coming down,” concedes the 52-yearold, as thoughtfully as his reputation would suggest.

“It’s fitting in quite nicely with not getting too uptight.

“I wouldn’t say relaxed because you get really uptight going into match day.

“It took a little bit of time for the juices to get flowing again, but . . .”

The old juices are starting to simmer, right enough.

Anyone who heard the roughness around the edges of Levein’s voice postmatch at Ross County last weekend was left in no doubt.

“I could hardly speak. But that’s because I haven’t been doing it ( shouting) for so long, but it is coming back – slowly!” is his light-hearted assessment.

Yet with the first Edinburgh derby of the season looming, his players won’t be laughing.

Levein has so far played a part in 52 all- Auld Reekie clashes as a player and a manager. He has only ever lost six. The Jam Tarts gaffer built up his formidable record over three decades – the ’80s, ’90s, and 2000s. Each was less physical than the last. However, compared to the current era, they were all brutal

Today’s players – his players – prize gathering information over sending opponents to the infirmary.

Even so, Levein insists that in the whitehot heat of Easter Road on Tuesday, there is only one way to play.

“We haven’t had the better of the derbies in recent years. So, for me, it’s all guns blazing to turn that round,” says the Hearts boss.

“At this moment in time that’s what’s required to win this match. We need to play with our foot to the floor.”

The Jam Tarts gaffer knows that’s an approach many of his younger players, raised on a diet of sport science and video analysis, won’t be used to.

But he knows qualities such as aggression and physical toughness have their place – even if their importance has diminished since he was last in the dugout.

“Things are different. I’m probably a bit different as well,” he says.

“Players are not as tough as they used to be, but that’s been gradually taken out of the game going away back to Michel Platini’s influence on football.

“I just mean the physicality of the game has changed enormously and, because of that, the mental side is going to follow.

By Sean Hamilton