Levein irate at ‘gloating’ Doncaster

CRAIG LEVEIN has hit out at Neil Doncaster for ‘gloating’ over the tribunal verdict which confirmed the relegation of Hearts. A bitter legal battle over a league vote to demote the Gorgie side and Partick Thistle when coronavirus took a wrecking ball to last season split the Scottish game.

When reconstruction failed, the Court of Session sent the case for independent arbitration and on Monday a three-man panel found unanimously in favour of the SPFL. Facing calls for his suspension following allegations of bullying and coercion, which were kicked out by the tribunal, Doncaster said he was ‘delighted’ by the verdict and insisted the league’s handling of the matter had been ‘vindicated’. Speaking after Hearts owner Ann Budge branded the league’s ‘self

congratulatory’ statement ‘shameful’, however, former Tynecastle boss Levein insisted the whole affair was ‘disgraceful’. ‘For me, the whole thing has been shockingly handled by the SPFL and I am not just talking about the board, but the executives as well,’ said Levein. ‘Nothing will change my mind on that because the whole thing, right from the beginning when the clubs were told to have their vote in on the Friday and they actually had a month to do it. ‘It has been handled so badly and Neil Doncaster’s statement where he is gloating about having punished three of his clubs is shocking. ‘He should never be talking in those terms. It is a members’ organisation and his job is to protect all of the members. ‘For him to come out and say he has been vindicated was disgraceful. ‘This isn’t about his character. It is about some of the decisions he’s made and it wasn’t a good decision to word that statement.’ Hearts manager and director of football until October, Levein’s own role in the club’s relegation will come under scrutiny. Defending the right of the club’s major shareholder to risk SFA disciplinary action by pursuing civil court action in contradiction of the governing body’s Article 99, Levein told BBC Scotland’s football podcast that the verdict came as no surprise. ‘I did speak to Ann last week and she was dismayed at how things were going,’ he said. ‘Everybody should be putting themselves in Ann’s shoes here. ‘She was backed into a corner and this goes way back to the beginning when the SPFL board, instead of coming up with a solution that didn’t cause any harm to any of the clubs, which is what they should have done, failed to do so. ‘There should have been no harm done to any of the clubs from the organisation itself, but that is exactly what happened. ‘That is the thing that bites more than anything else. ‘And that is why Ann had to come out fighting. Any owner of any club would have done the same.’