RETURN TO THE FRONTLINE
WITH a wry smile and a quip, Craig Levein acknowledged his second coming as Hearts manager means the buck for results now very definitely stops with him.
Where such responsibility lay was not always clear during the past three years as the Tynecastle director of football stood accused of meddling in the first-team affairs of successive head coaches in Robbie Neilson and then Ian Cathro. Especially, Levein noted archly yesterday, in the wake of a defeat for the team.
The new, clear lines of demarcation leave Levein solely accountable — win, lose or draw — but the 52-year-old insists he would not have it any other way.
‘Now I have got responsibility for all the results at Hearts — not just the defeats — and that’s a big thing for me,’ said Levein, who continues to strenuously deny dictating to either of the men who worked under him.
Now back in situ at Tynecastle after a successful first spell as Hearts boss, Levein hopes to harness the power of positivity that comes with winning football matches.
By gaining points, he plans to win over the sceptical elements of a support base who are not overly enamoured by his arrival in the hotseat on a three-year deal.
‘Do I care if I am not a popular choice? I care,’ Levein stressed. ‘We are not going to get a top manager like Jose Mourinho, so whomever got the job some people would be happy and others would be unhappy.
‘But what I can do to affect their opinion is win games. Does it annoy me that people are overlooking my first spell as Hearts manager? Look, this is a demanding club. I know that more than anybody.
‘Three years ago, we were in the Championship and we have the club on a sound financial footing again. We have finished third and have been in Europe.’
HE added: ‘Last season we finished fifth, which was disappointing, but if you look back at the history of Hearts, finishing fifth is normal for this club. ‘So this is a demanding club — but part of me likes that challenge. And my hope is to change the mind of anyone who is unhappy.
‘I want to get into a position when they are not voicing that opinion, because we are winning games.’
The appointment of Levein as manager sees Hearts rip up their coaching blueprint that saw him overseeing young head coaches.
The experienced former Dundee United, Leicester City and Scotland boss will be assisted by Cathro’s right-hand man, Austin MacPhee.
Overlooked for the post, Jon Daly will remain as first-team coach after impressing while taking the team in an interim capacity and will work alongside Liam Fox. Paul Gallacher remains goalkeeping coach.
Levein will continue as director of football but he and club owner Ann Budge believe he can comfortably fulfil all his obligations in what is a unique dual role.
‘In the last six months to a year, I’ve been making fewer and fewer big decisions as director of football,’ he said.
‘The people in place in each department have been doing fantastically well and my role had become an overseeing role.
‘I was comfortable with that but I’d started to feel I could do more.
‘Ann wanted to be certain I could do both roles. But I was director of football and manager at Dundee United for two-and-a-half years.
‘This was a far bigger job, getting this club back to where it wants to be. But the club is now in a better position than when I arrived.
‘There has been a lot of turmoil since Robbie Neilson left (last November) but the rest of the football department is as good as it has ever been. Our academy is amazing. Trust me, in three or four years’ time we will have the best young players in Scotland.
‘But as time wore on and everything began to run more smoothly, I had thoughts about (returning to management).
‘But I never said to Ann Budge: “What about giving me the job?”. I was asked to take it and it’s a job I will like even though I know it will be tough.’
Before the teams met on the opening day of the season, Celtic boss Brendan Rodgers was vocal in his criticism of the football structure at Hearts.
That earned a withering rebuke from interim boss Daly but Levein declined to continue that war of words.
‘It’s not my place to pick fights,’ he shrugged.
‘I will do now (as a manager again) but, for the last three years, I’ve done one press interview a year. That’s solely so that the head coach is the face and voice of the club. I even had Twitter for about three months until I thought: “Stuff that…”
There is irony in the fact that Levein’s first few home matches will be at Murrayfield until the delayed new stand at Tynecastle opens.
His first spell as manager in Gorgie was overshadowed by talk of the club moving to the home of Scottish rugby to prevent the onset of administration.
Budge yesterday described the job as a ‘poisoned chalice’ for a younger coach, given the first home league match of the season won’t take place until November.
‘Ah, a poisoned chalice — I’ll have one of those,’ smiled Levein.
‘I thought Ann might have said something like that and: “But Craig’s all right to take a poisoned chalice”.
‘Of course it’s going to be difficult. Playing all those matches away from home is an unusual set of circumstances.
‘Then comes the next unusual set of circumstances in that I think come November and December we’ve got nine games at home.
‘So if we can get ourselves into a place where we are hanging on to the coat-tails of teams, coming in to that period, things can change.
‘What do I want to achieve here as manager? We started out trying to get a European spot and that’s what we’ll try to do.
‘I’ve been away from the dugout a few years but I’ve been around football. I’ve actually been in the dressing room once or twice as well, believe it or not.
‘But I miss being out there on the touchline. I miss the pressure of standing out there, being 4-2 down to Hibs two minutes into injury time (and fighting back to draw 4-4 in January 2003). That’s why I want to get back into management.’
When Hearts host Aberdeen at Murrayfield on September 9, it will be Levein’s first match in sole charge of a team since losing 2-0 to Belgium in October 2012 cost him his Scotland job.
As a parting shot, he jokes that Hearts fans should not expect a repeat of his infamous strikerless 4-6-0 formation that Scotland played while losing 1-0 in the Czech Republic in October 2010.
‘My Hearts team will work hard, they will compete, and if we do that we will win,’ he said.
‘What formation will I play? I might play one striker — just in case...’
Do I care if I am not a popular choice? I care. We’re not going to get a top manager like Jose Mourinho, so whoever got the job would leave some people unhappy My Hearts team will work hard. If they do that, we’ll win. What formation will I play? I might play one striker—just in case