Levein marooned in England
JOHN DOCHERTY

CRAIG Levein has stopped off for a snack at the Moto service station north of Leicester and is enjoying a cafe latte and cherry muffin. No stranger himself to the storm clouds which invariably gather around Tynecastle, he sums up perfectly the latest goings-on at the old stadium where he was a player and manager for 17 distinguished years.

"Hearts would not be Hearts if there wasn't any drama," says Levein, his face breaking into a wry smile.

As the last piece of muffin disappears down his throat, he offers up some crumbs of comfort for the Jambos fans whose emotions have been through the wringer this season, with the sackings of manager George Burley and chief executive Phil Anderson by ruthless majority shareholder Vladimir Romanov, which were quickly followed by the resignation of chairman George Foulkes. For the supporters it was hard, if not impossible, to digest, especially as their team were flying at the top of the table at the time, leaving the Old Firm in their wake.

The controversy was renewed in the BBC's Frontline Scotland documentary on Romanov on Wednesday when the Lithuanian bank owner claimed Burley and his colleagues were leading Hearts towards ruin. Levein insists, however, that Burley's shock exit was inevitable, the only way forward for Hearts.

He said: "I don't really know Mr Romanov but it looks like he's fairly keen on making the club a success. Obviously there was a lot of upset with George Burley going but I don't know the ins and outs of that. One thing I would say is that if the manager and the man at the top don't get on, if they realise they cannot work together, you are better with a split because if that carries on it just harms the rest of the club. If you cannot work together, you are better admitting it and moving on.

"I met Mr Romanov once and he's a nice guy. He seemed a straightforward genuine guy who was interested in the club and wanted Hearts to do well. Time is always the big thing in situations like that. You have to wait and see.

"If you look at the standard of players who have come in, you cannot argue. He has put his money where his mouth is. Hearts have got some good players and the players who cost the big money wages-wise are the forward players. Romanov has brought in the likes of Rudi Skacel, Roman Bednar, Edgar Jankauskas, and Michel Pospisil. Good on him."

Levein is well aware that the pressure will always be on Romanov to deliver the goods, which turns the heat up even more on head coach Graham Rix, who arrived at Tynecastle carrying all sorts of unwanted personal baggage.

"It's the same old thing in football. Fans demand instant success and everything has to get done immediately. A lot of fans wanted [Romanov] to spend loads of money straight away but he didn't do it. He waited and invested fairly wisely in the summer.

"Let's see what happens in January or at the end of the season. I don't see enough of the games to say for definite if I think Hearts can win the league. I don't know the strengths or weaknesses of the teams although I have seen a few of the Hearts games on the TV. I obviously know some of the players who were there when I was there - Craig Gordon, Andy Webster, Steven Pressley, Paul Hartley, Robbie Neilson. They will be better players this year than they were last year because they have played together again for a little bit longer.

"With Hearts adding quality to the rest of the areas, they must be a better side than the side I had. Every year at Hearts I was cutting back. As I said before, there is no doubt the players who cost the big money are the ones in the forward areas, your strikers, your creative midfield players. We could not afford players like that at Hearts although luckily enough we had some really good defenders. To improve that team what I needed was more money."

While he did an impressive job at Hearts under a stringent budget which got tighter every year, Levein - manager from Christmas 2000 until the end of October 2004 - insists he had no alternative but to seek a fresh challenge elsewhere.

"From my point of view it was the right time for me to go. It was right for the club and that has proved to be the case. That's a fact. There are a new faces there now and interestingly enough Hearts have still got the players who I would have said were the best players when I was there - although there could be one or two more who I took to Leicester.

"It's all about quality and Hearts have added to that. Skacel is a fantastic player. Bednar looks good as well. When you add players like that to an already decent core, it does not surprise me that Hearts are doing so well.

"I desperately hope they do win the championship. The big thing in Hearts' past, when they have been there or thereabouts, is that they have not strengthened at times when they needed to. We will see what happens in the January transfer window, it's the same for Celtic and Rangers.

"If you look at the table Hibs are creeping into it as well. For the first time in God knows how long we have got a decent league in Scotland.

"For Hearts a lot will depend on how long they can keep everyone together. In years gone by whenever Hearts have had a successful team, they have lost players. That's a fact."

Levein's number one objective these days is to take Leicester into the Premiership. At the same time, whatever is going on along Gorgie is never far away from his heart.

"I always look out to see how Hearts are getting on. I still text [assistant coach] John McGlynn every week to wish him all the best and he does the same. I was there 14 years as a player and three years as a manager, the club will always mean a lot to me. I have a lot of friends who are Hearts supporters, it will always be the same."

Just as it was at Hearts, Levein has got to budget carefully at Leicester. Since his arrival he has brought six players from Scotland, former Hearts quartet Mark de Vries, Alan Maybury, Patrick Kisnorbo and Joe Hamill along with ex-Celtic pair Rab Douglas and Momo Sylla, plus former Ranger Stephen Hughes.

"When I started signing players from Scotland there were some dissenting voices from people saying the Scottish League is crap and I should not be doing this or that. But when you look at the players I have signed, Kisnorbo is an Australian internationalist, Alan Maybury is an Irish internationalist, Rab Douglas is a Scottish internationalist, Momo Sylla is a Guinea internationalist. From my point of view they are value for money.

"Rab has played a lot of games for his country and has a huge wealth of experience with Celtic as well. But a little bit towards the end when he was at Celtic he wasn't always in the team and just wanted to play.

"The other thing about him coming down here is that it is something new. We are gearing the club up to play in the Premiership. Rab has never played in the Premiership before. That's one thing that the players have all got in common, for whatever reasons they all want to prove themselves.

"Even the likes of Maybury who was at Leeds for a fair period of time, has got something to prove because it did not work for him at Leeds and he did not play a lot of games. He went to Hearts, played a lot of matches, now has come back to England and wants to prove he can play in the Premiership.

"It's the same with Kisnorbo, De Vries, for all the players. We are getting there. That's the reason I came down. It's the only reason I came down, I want to manage in the Premiership."

Taken from the Scotsman