Budge rues Levein error

HEARTS owner Ann Budge last night admitted she should have sacked Craig Levein last May. The Tynecastle boss was finally relieved of his duties on Halloween and has since been replaced by former Barnsley manager Daniel Stendel. But Budge, whose club are joint bottom of the Premiership, has faced criticism for allowing Levein

to stay on until the summer to help out with the academy and restructuring the medical department. Yesterday, she told the Hearts AGM that the axed former boss now stays away from the club in the mornings while his assistant Austin MacPhee, who helps with video analysis and recruitment, has been asked to work from home. She also confessed she erred in not taking decisive action after the 2-1 Scottish Cup final loss to Celtic at Hampden seven months ago. ‘I think the cup final camouflaged things a little bit,’ said Budge. ‘But there was a genuine belief that we were very close to being a good team. We had a raft of players still injured and, with a bit of luck, we thought things could have picked up. ‘But if we had done it (sacked him) at that point, we could have ensured that Craig left — maybe not on a high but at a point where there had been some success. ‘At that point, he didn’t have any desire to leave. He wanted to keep trying to tweak things and wait for players coming back from injury. Maybe I should have taken the decision out of his hands but hindsight is a wonderful thing. ‘I didn’t ask Craig to offer his services as first-team manager (in the first place). ‘In truth, I was very uncomfortable with it but I spoke to him, the board spoke to him and he wanted to do it. ‘It could quite easily be said: “Yes, I made a mistake”. ‘The other mistake I think I made was in not looking for a new manager in the summer, so I made a couple of mistakes. But it wasn’t blind faith.’ The issue of Levein remaining at the club was a recurring theme at yesterday’s AGM to the annoyance of Budge. She said: ‘There were an awful lot of comments about Craig Levein. What were their concerns? Why is he still here, basically. But he’s got absolutely nothing to do with the first team any more. Daniel doesn’t ask his advice or opinion and Craig does not offer it. ‘There are things Craig can help us with in the short term so why throw that expertise and knowledge away? ‘I just don’t know why they can’t drop it. The guy has lost his job. He will still be leaving in the summer as planned. ‘But if he came to me tomorrow and said he had been offered a new job that he wanted to take then fine.’ Budge, meanwhile, has pledged to support Stendel in the January transfer market but warned there must also be players leaving. ‘We do not have a bottomless pit of funds and our squad is big,’ she stated.