Stewart blames Levein for Hearts flop

ANGUS WRIGHT

HIBERNIAN midfielder Michael Stewart has claimed that his time spent across the city, with Hearts, was doomed from the beginning because of his relationship with Craig Levein, branding his then-manager a 'dictator'.

The former Manchester United player spent last season on loan at Tynecastle after an unsuccessful trial period with Rangers but a combination of injury and a breakdown in communications with Levein ensured his time with Hearts - the club he supported as a boy - was an unhappy one.

Stewart's star would appear to be on the rise again, having signed a one-year deal with Hibs and started each of the Easter Road club's five opening SPL matches but he made little effort to disguise the bitter taste left in his mouth by his wasted months under Levein.

"He [Levein] spoke about my reputation when I went in. He was very sceptical. He'd heard things about me and spoke about how he ran a tight ship. He was very much a dictator type and I was starting to get a frosty feeling from the guy," Stewart told a Sunday newspaper. "I don't want to be too derogatory about what went on from there, but he is the first person I thought looked down on me because of where I had been. It was almost like, 'Right, I'll show you that you're not good enough for me'.

"He was more interested in players who could run around for 90 minutes than anything else. I was in a catch 22. He wasn't willing to give me any games until he felt I could do the running around, but I wasn't going to be able to do that running around until I had some games. So then I get tagged as being lazy."

Stewart has found a new lease of life at Easter Road under Tony Mowbray, a manager who, he says, has finally ignored his reputation off the park to concentrate on what he can do for the club on it. The player is keen to repay Mowbray for showing faith in him, but is also driven by a burning desire to prove to his doubters that he has what it takes to play at the highest level. He added: "This is the first time I've got a manager who will properly back me. He isn't bothered about what anyone else says, he's made his mind up. I instantly got that from him: I could trust him.

"I want to prove wrong the people up here who've got doubts about me, not just as a person, but as a football player. That's a major driving factor. If I fail now, I'll hold my hands up and say I'm not good enough, but I know that's not the case."

Taken from the Scotsman