It really amazes me how negative that some Hearts fans are in relation to Craig Levein’s abilities as a football manager, and the work he did whilst he was in the Tynecastle dug-out.
A guy sitting behind me at the Celtic game on Sunday, whose constant barracking of his own team throughout the match is no doubt responsible for the ‘sensitivity’ I’m currently experiencing in my right ear(!), made more than one comparison between our current manager Csaba Laszlo and Levein, especially after the decision to bring on Jamie Mole for Christian Nade late on.
‘*** off, Csaba’….. ‘**** off to Dundee United to join that **** Levein ya negative b******’ was pretty much the gist of it, and to my amazement there weren’t many who backed my counter-proposal of Hearts perhaps negotiating a managerial swap deal between the two!
I know it’s still pretty early days for Csaba so I’m not about to join the considerably large bandwagon of disapproval towards him that exists at the moment, but anyone attempting to compare his Hearts teams to date against those of Levein is surely having a laugh if they think there are glaring similarities. For a start Levein had us as physically strong as we’ve possibly ever been, certainly since the days of Alex MacDonald and Sandy Jardine anyhow, and this is what he built the considerable success he achieved given his resources firmly upon. Csaba’s side are a bunch of weaklings by comparison.
It’s also consistently suggested that Levein’s teams were very boring to watch due to the emphasis placed on a solid defence. While I would agree that CL definitely did adopt a ‘keep it shut at the back and we’ll always give ourselves a chance’ philosophy, I think those saying that the football was always boring either have short memories or are exceptionally difficult to please. Yes there were some dull matches in there but name a Hearts manager (George Burley’s 12 games apart) who didn’t take charge of some of those. Levein took charge of some of the most memorable Hearts matches of the modern era, including some unbelievable derby matches (5-1, 4-4 and the Phil Stamp 2-1 game at Easter Road), a 7-1 hammering of Dunfermline and some great European nights too. He had us incredibly hard to beat by pretty much any team in the country, and we finished in consistently high league positions during a time when he was having to cut back on wages significantly, so I really fail to see where all of this negativity comes from.
As I’ve said before, I really do believe that Csaba needs time to get things right at Tynecastle, and by that I mean at least the full season. It seems right now that the fans are going from one extreme to another depending on our most recent result, which really isn’t ever going to do those genuinely trying to turn things around at our club (and I really do think that Csaba & co are putting everything into it) a lot of good.
But if you offered me back Craig Levein, a man whose Dundee United side just made it eight games in a row without defeat at Ibrox last night, (ok so they only drew against Rangers but I’m sure they’ll bounce back!) tomorrow instead, I know what answer I’d be giving …..
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It just shows how hard some fans are to please – and their memories are so short, its amazing they can even remember who Craig Levein is !! CL’s rejuvenation of Dundee Utd has shown that whatever he achieved at Hearts was not a fluke …. and the setback at Leicester has not destroyed his ability to spot, coach and organise players at this level. Only time will tell if Csaba has what it takes (at least 1 year, as you say … probably 2), and I’m happy to give him that time. Its not the defeats to the OF that matter… its whether we can achieve regular victories agains the ICTs / St Mirrens / Hamiltons etc
Csaba has an awful lot of hard lessons to learn about football in Scotland. As you say he needs time (and proper support from his Chairman). Let?s hope he gets it, learns fast and doesn?t let the ********s get him down. Craig Levein on the other hand is much, much further up the learning curve. He knows the (sad) reality of the game up here from his experience both as a player and a manager but strikes me as a resilient character who is not prepared just to accept the status quo. His well publicised views after a certain Rangers v. Dundee Utd game are testament to that. He comes across as an articulate, intelligent man and, I think, a very able coach. With some half decent money behind him Levein could be one of the great Scottish managers and (minus Romanov whose interference Levein could not possibly tolerate) I would have him back at Hearts in an instant.
I still think Levein is a legend… Always will be just like Jeffries amongst others.