LEVEIN TO LEAVE HEARTS AS STENDEL ALSO NEARS EXIT
Down and out... Levein to exit doomed Hearts
CRAIG LEVEIN will complete his delayed departure from Hearts at the end of the month after Ann Budge abandoned plans to extend both his and Austin MacPhee’s contracts. And they may yet be joined by Daniel Stendel, with the German head coach waiting to see if today’s SPFL summit condemns the club to relegation — triggering a release clause in his own deal. Former captain, head coach and director of football Levein was kept on by club owner and chairman Budge when relieved of his frontline managerial duties last October. Northern Ireland assistant
MacPhee, who served as interim Hearts head coach during the lengthy pursuit of Stendel, was also retained when the new boss cleared out the backroom staff shortly after his arrival in December. Budge surprised fans by revealing that Levein and MacPhee would be sharing director of football duties — including playing a leading role in recruitment — at least until the end of the season. And she declared that, if the partnership proved successful, Hearts should consider keeping both in situ rather than hiring an outsider as a replacement. But Sportsmail understands that both men have now been told their employment will end when their current contracts expire on May 31. Hearts legend Gary Mackay last night claimed that Levein’s exit was long overdue — and admitted he had no sympathy for his former team-mate. Mackay said: ‘I do feel for Austin a bit, because he came in and was doing a particular job and has a skillset with regards to his contacts worldwide. ‘I don’t — and I genuinely don’t, from a football perspective — have any degree of sympathy for Craig Levein. ‘I think it (his departure) has taken longer than it should have and it probably sums up what I’ve known all along — that this whole project has been about Craig Levein and not about Heart of Midlothian. ‘It’s ended in a manner I didn’t want to see for my club, but it has, because this so-called project was the best pull-thewool-over-the-eyes job done on Ann Budge as I’ve ever seen done. ‘I hope now it can be a fresh start. I will certainly be buying a season ticket as soon as I can now.’ Stendel, who is tied to the club until 2022, is likely to invoke a loophole allowing him to break free in the event of relegation. He remains happy at Tynecastle, according to agent Timo Rodewald. But Rodewald told the Edinburgh Evening
News: ‘If Hearts go down, Daniel’s future will need to be discussed.’