Levein: The author of his own demise

Michael Grant

THE sculptor might as well begin work on Craig Levein's managerial headstone now.

It isn't going to make for pretty reading. I will be among the journalists who board a flight to Belgium with the Scotland squad tomorrow morning and it's going to be another of those strained, avoiding-eye-contact trips, with more turbulence inside the plane than out.

Levein will do interviews ahead of Tuesday's game in Brussels and he'll do his damndest to sound upbeat. Maybe he'll try to shift the emphasis on to bad refereeing, or make the legitimate point that going at least 18 years without reaching a major final can't be pinned on him. Whatever he says is going to sound empty. He has lost the country and the country wants him out.

When Scotland fail to win on Tuesday – there is nothing to suggest they will cope with a clearly superior Belgian side especially with Darren Fletcher a doubt and Scott Brown having flown home yesterday – they will have had only one victory in seven matches. Levein's record when it matters is woeful: just 13 points harvested from a possible 33. He has had one European Championship campaign which yielded next to nothing and now Scotland are traipsing through another set of dismal letdowns.

What the sculptor can chisel into the headstone is this: Levein's reign has been barren and joyless. Every Scotland manager, even the ones remembered as duds, had their moments. There were plenty of highs for a while under Ally MacLeod. There was a draw with Germany, qualification for a play-off and a home win over Holland under the shambolic guidance of Berti Vogts. Even George Burley can claim to be the man who brought Steven Fletcher, James Morrison and Kris Commons into international football, and who gave the Dutch a real fright with a fine performance at Hampden three years ago.

But Levein? What does he have? In two campaigns there hasn't been a single qualifying match in which a consistently impressive and powerful performance delivered a stylish, memorable victory. There hasn't been a win at all against anyone other than drab Lithuania and the cannon fodder of Liechtenstein. Spain, the Czech Republic, Serbia, Macedonia, Wales: in seven games this supposedly ever-improving Scotland, with their relentless march of progress – according to the only man who can detect it – haven't been able to get the better of any of them. Seven points out of nine have been dropped in the World Cup before Scotland have even faced the two best teams in the section.

Levein's successes have been private, behind-the-scenes matters. There has been no "Boozegate" on his watch. The vast majority of players clearly like him and follow his orders. They've not withdrawn en masse from friendly squads or let him down on disciplinary issues. In return, he's indulged them with endless praise – often overdoing it – and frequent rounds of golf. But he has made mistakes, big ones, and they define his reign. Playing without a striker in Prague felt like a betrayal of Scotland's idea of itself as a proud football country. And, more to the point, we lost.

Steven Fletcher's return in Cardiff visibly brought a new dimension to the side, but too late. If Levein could swallow his pride and reach for Fletcher this month, why not before the ruinous double-header last month, or at any other point in the past year? Prague and Fletcher can be chiselled on to that headstone, too.

There's nothing wrong with a manager being stubborn or single-minded – Levein is both – but alarm bells start to ring when they are inconsistent. When he took the job he said only those playing regular first-team football would be picked for Scotland. Now, Alan Hutton gets a game. Before last month's double-header he said he had a team full of goalscoring midfielders and forwards, but after the two matches he said he had been short of quality in the middle. Which was it?

He didn't pick Charlie Adam, then he was his "quarterback", and now he doesn't pick him again. Jordan Rhodes went from being Scotland's future to "overhyped" in the blink of an eye. The door was closed on Fletcher - and then it wasn't. As is often the case with failing managers, the worse the results are, the more inconsistent he has sounded.

Levein has loved the status and importance of managing Scotland. He has enjoyed working with a class of player far higher than those he ever coached before. In truth, he's often seemed excessively grateful for the mere presence of guys such as Darren Fletcher, Gary Caldwell, James Morrison and Kenny Miller, whom he seems to regard – even off the record – as being above even constructive criticism.

But it's not healthy when a manager is so inextricably bound to his players that he won't admit to bad performances when they are obvious to the rest of us. Cardiff on Friday was by no means the worst – although Adam's attempt to cover Gareth Bale at the winner couldn't have looked any lazier if he'd shuffled over to him with a pint and a cigarette in his hand – but Levein's 23 games have included too many flawed displays. And after them he sounds like a man in denial.

He will be sacked because results dictate it and supporters demand it. It doesn't matter that he might have made a significant contribution to the SFA's long-term strategies on player development: 7500 fans didn't follow his team to Cardiff for that. A manager is paid to win games.

He's such an unpopular figure with many fans that it's hard to see where his next club job would be, but that's for another day. Right now is about the end of a Scotland reign that has lasted almost three years, long enough for people to recognise that this is as good as it's going to get.

Put it this way: if the SFA asked him to make a case for staying in the job, what on earth would he say?

Taken from the Herald