Defiant Craig Levein is oblivious to any speculation over his future in job

By STEPHEN HALLIDAY
Published on Tuesday 16 October 2012 00:00

CRAIG Levein remained defiant last night amid intensifying speculation over his future as Scotland manager, insisting he still believes he is the right man to lead the national team to better times.

Ahead of tonight’s 2014 World Cup qualifying match against Belgium in Brussels, Levein claimed to be totally unaware of the ongoing debate over whether his tenure is on the brink of termination.

Despite already trailing joint Group A leaders Belgium and Croatia by five points after just three rounds of fixtures, Levein even proposed the startling argument that last Friday night’s 2-1 defeat by bottom seeds Wales in Cardiff was a “step in the right direction”.

While he accepts his need for a first notable victory in qualifying matches, with his only three in 11 attempts so far having come against Liechtenstein (twice) and Lithuania, the 47-year-old says he is not even contemplating the possibility that his job is on the line at the King Baudouin Stadium this evening.

“I don’t even think about it,” said Levein. “All I can do is concentrate on the games. After Friday night, we had to get over the disappointment, get onto the training ground, have team meetings and focus on this next match. To me, thinking about anything else, or worrying about anything else, is counter productive.

“I don’t know what other people are saying because I haven’t been looking at anything or listening to anyone. I’ve been taking no notice of anything else. Nothing else. Maybe in the world out there, there is a debate going on but I don’t know about it. It would do the players no good if I was worrying about other things. I’m only doing my job properly if I’m trying to help them get a performance against Belgium.

“Those decisions [about my job] are not mine. I firmly believe in what we’re doing, I really do. What I need more than anything else, to convince other people, is to get some results.

“When I say that I’m talking about everybody – you guys [the press], punters who don’t think we’re going in the right direction and everybody else. Every time you don’t get a result, it’s a black and white situation. We’ve played games where we’ve not played particularly well, but won, and everyone says everything is brilliant.

“Then we lose games having played well and everyone says it’s poor. Now the truth is somewhere in between. The performance in my eyes last Friday night was good enough for me to say that when we get these guys on the pitch, they’re capable of winning away from home in a qualifier.

“Now, we’ve had a long history of struggling away from home to get anything. But I think the performance on Friday was another step in the right direction in regards to how we played and created chances.

“The fact we didn’t win, in my eyes, doesn’t mean I throw everything out. A lot of people look at it and say ‘it was a loss,’ and 100 per cent it is. I can’t argue with that. But in my mind I see another step in the right direction.”

Time will tell whether the SFA office bearers continue to share Levein’s perception of progress being made by Scotland. His own conviction remains unshakeable, regardless of the growing sense elsewhere that his race is close to being run as national team boss.

Taken from the Scotsman