Levein in The Independant

[davieG]

The more I read the more I like Levein, let's hope that he's the real thing and means what he says.

'The intelligence of Arsène Wenger and the passion of Sir Alex Ferguson...'

...that's how Leicester's new manager Craig Levein has been described. In his first interview since taking the job, he talks to Ian Whittell about sacking Dave Bassett, punishing footballers who play golf too much - and misleading descrrptions

The two young Hearts professionals, forced last summer to sprint up and down the steps of Tynecastle's main stand with full sets of golf clubs strapped to their backs, could have borne witness to the fact that Craig Levein is not a man or manager with whom one should trifle, even before events of his first day in the post of Leicester City manager.

Monday of this week saw Levein meet with the club's director of football, Dave Bassett, one of the English game's most enduring and popular figures, to inform him his services were no longer required.

On a to-do list that covered a variety of tasks, not least of all getting acquainted with the baffling East Midlands road system ("I have the only satellite navigation system that lies," claims Levein), dismissing one of football's living institutions might have proved daunting to another manager, new to the club and the country. But, as Graham Weir and Neil Janczyk will testify, Levein has yet to meet a challenge in football he will not tackle.

"I've never worked with a director of football before," says Levein of his decision concerning Bassett. "And what I have done previously has worked for me and for the club I've been employed by. My thinking was, why not continue with what I had been doing previously? I might have been able to work with Dave, I don't know, but I thought I was better making the decision for myself.

"I spoke to Dave about it and he's been in football long enough to know the situation. He was great. He might be disappointed but I wanted to do what was right for me and the club. There was no intention to make a statement or send a message, I just wanted to get my back-room staff sorted out quickly." Indeed, Levein was yesterday given permission to speak to Blackburn Rovers' assistant reserve team manager, Robert Kelly, about a move to the Walkers Stadium.

But sending a message was precisely the effect of Levein's dismissal of Bassett. Bassett, true to type, was subsequently magnanimous enough to spend several hours with Levein, passing on his opinions about Leicester and the Championship division in which they currently occupy a mid-table position, but everyone else, within and without the club, was left in little doubt who is now in charge.

Weir and Janczyk learned the same lesson after contravening club rules by playing golf the day before a pre-season friendly with Hearts' Edinburgh rivals, Hibernian, the second time they had so done. Dropped and fined two weeks' wages on the morning of the match, they were also ordered to carry their golf clubs for an entire week with an identical fine the punishment if Levein were to spy them without their bags. Only after they had completed a post-match "warm-down", involving sprints up stadium steps with the fully laden bags, and reported for a reserve team game with their clubs two days later, were the pair pardoned.

It was an incident that caused much amusement among the first-team squad but issued a crucial disciplinary directive, indicative of Levein's sure feel for man-management. Old-school discipline combined with an open-minded approach to the modern game and modern footballer.

"Even players who fall out with him will not say a bad word," says one current Hearts player. "And that's because he is brutally honest with people. A lot of managers tell players, 'You be straight with me, I'll be straight with you,' then don't follow through with it. He does."

"A combination of the intelligence of Arsène Wenger and the passion of Alex Ferguson," was how the Leicester chief executive, Tim Davies, described his new manager at a welcoming press conference eight days ago, hardly a modest introduction. Levein, quite frankly, looked embarrassed.

"It's part of you guys' job to come up with something like that," he said to a journalist a week later. "Something that people will read and be interested in. I don't really think along those lines. When a young striker gets into the team, he's the next Gary Lineker or whoever. It's no different with managers, and I don't pay any attention to it. I understand why it's done, I just don't believe in any of it."

In Levein's case, it is not difficult to see why such comparisons have been made. The success of numerous Scottish managers south of the border, the lack of success by English counterparts (one top-flight title has been won by an English manager in 17 years) and Leicester's reputation for gambling successfully on the untried and untested - Brian Little, Mark McGhee, Martin O'Neill and Micky Adams - help explain his appointment. Two episodes, one from his 16-year playing career, the other from his seven-year managerial career, go some way to explaining the man.

The former involves him engaging in a furious on-field row with centre-half partner Graeme Hogg over who was to blame for failing to mark a Raith Rovers striker in a game in 1994, an argument that ended with Levein fighting with his team-mate, breaking his nose and rendering him semi-conscious. Yet, the most remarkable aspect of that anecdote lies not in the fact that Raith failed to score, or the fact that the fight took place while the game continued, but the fact that the match in question was a pre-season friendly. Significantly, Hogg was among the first football "pundits" to sing Levein's praises in the Scottish media following his appointment by Leicester.

If that was the "Ferguson" aspect of Levein's personality, the "Wenger" part was apparent two years ago when he was fined £1,000 by the Scottish Football Association for publicly criticising a referee. Outraged, on a point of principle and citing his right to free speech, Levein refused to pay even after the SFA doubled and quadrupled the fine and eventually banned him from the dug-out for four months. Levein took the Association to the Court of Session and, some 10 months later, a hearing was only averted after the SFA admitted it had been partly to blame and the club agreed to pay their manager's fine.

Such is the man Leicester chose to succeed Adams late last month, an appointment that caused surprise in some quarters, if not within Leicester circles, given their modus operandi in appointing previous managers. "There were bits and pieces of interest from England in the past but nothing concrete," says Levein who, by general agreement has established Hearts as Scotland's third club in his four years at Tynecastle. "Given Leicester's reputation for taking a chance on relatively unknown managers, you can see why they offered me the job. It's something that has worked for them.

"There is a massive hunger to succeed among managers up there. Sometimes, in Scotland, you get annoyed by people claiming the League is no good because, if the League is no good, the implication is the managers can't be any good. Everyone I speak to up there is desperate to come down here if they get the chance. It's like a hungry young footballer, coming into a first team and being desperate to make an instant impression. My aim is to get in here and make an impact immediately, to try and improve the club.

"You might ask what it says about the two Leagues, leaving the third-best club in Scotland for a Championship club in England, but that is nothing to do with anything other than me and my wish to get into the Premiership. It's not about the size of the club. You could argue Leicester have got more fans and a better stadium than Hearts but coming here wasn't about comparing Hearts with Leicester.

"I thought getting to the Premiership from Hearts would be difficult. Nobody would take a chance on me. I couldn't see a Premiership club going up to Scotland for their manager. Paul Sturrock had to go to Plymouth to get to Southampton, now Bobby Williamson has left Hibs to go to Plymouth. I thought this might be my best opportunity to find a club, as big as possible, with similar ideas and ambitions to me."

Those ambitions are driven, in large part, by the premature end, through a knee injury, to Levein's playing career. A gifted defender, in the Lawrenson-Hansen mode, Levein would have won far more than 16 caps and, arguably, played at a higher club level had he not been so unfortunate.

"I finished playing too early. That was the biggest thing," said Levein, now 40. "I was playing as well as I had ever played when I got injured, at 29 to 30. There is an element of that in what drives me. I was fit enough, I could have played until 35, easily, at a decent level. So, there is an element of frustration there and it does manifest itself. I say to myself, I need to do as well as I can on this side to make up for what I lost. When I sit down and think about it, it's something I've been conscious of."

From Leicester's point of view, of course, surfing such a talent pool for ambitious young managers comes at a price. Little, for Aston Villa and McGhee, for Wolves, left the post controversially. Levein, however, insists he will not follow suit.

"If you look back through my career, I've always been a fairly loyal person," says Levein, who has spent the last 23 years exclusively with Cowdenbeath and Hearts, playing for and managing both clubs. "This isn't a vehicle for me, other than to try and drive the club into the Premiership. I'm not here to be here a year and gone. Yes, this is a stepping stone to get me into the Premiership, but with Leicester."

Leicester's last flirtation with the Premiership was not a happy one, under Adams a year ago. Relegated by a six-point margin, the season will be forever tarnished by events in La Manga where nine first-team players were arrested, although none charged, following a riotous night out. One gets the impression there will be no repeat performance under Levein. "La Manga was not a factor in my discussions with the board at all," says Levein. "I never asked. They never mentioned it. But if I think taking them abroad in the future is the right thing to do, I will do it." As ever, Levein is his own man

[Scow]

Excellent read.

He keeps saying the right things, will this be reflected on the football pitch?

[Shum]

He talks the talk, but will he walk the walk?!

[Leicester_Mad]

He talks the talk, but will he walk the walk?!

33710[/snapback]

i have a feeling he will, as long as he gets a chance

[step]

He talks the talk, but will he walk the walk?!

33710[/snapback]

i have a feeling he will, as long as he gets a chance

33717[/snapback]

He certainly walked the walk at hearts, dont you worry he wont take any shit here. He wil get results

[Hoof Fox]

Most definately, dependingon how long he stays with us, I can see him being as successful and popular as Martin O'Neill.

He seems to think outside the box, has refreshingly new ideas and beliefs in how clubs and players should be managed.

He is also very single minded in the way he operates, for example he gets rid of Bassett on his first day, then when it comes to picking his first side he drops Dublin to the bench, whilst Elliott and Makin arent even in the squad.

He doesnt care for reputations and it is that ruthlessness that will hopefully rub off on his team and ensure a long and successful era for Leicester City under Craig Levein.

[Anish]

Yes he does talk the talk, but he has proved himself to be more than capable at Hearts, and I'm confident that he will do the same here.

[Jonbluefox9]

I tell you what, you all want to meet Kenny Black. Met him today and he's a character. Levein's the sensible taskmaster and Black will add the humour to the squad. Haven't met Houston yet but Levein and Black are brilliant. Craig will have a conversation with any fan who wants one about what's going on at the club. I'm confident that we'll beat Coventry and have a successful remainder of the season, quite possibly the Playoffs will follow.

[Hullfox]

It's a fabulous article and it makes me worryingly optimistic.

He is quite obviously a single minded ambitious manager who will not suffer fools gladly.

However, if he does not get the results and starts handing out disciplinary action like mentioned, some will view him no different than Mickey who himself is single minded. Unfortunately for him, it worked against him. Results will decide whether CL is good for Leicester City.

I hope against hope that as Shummy says he walks the walk because I already like the man a lot.

[Jonbluefox9]

The atmosphere amongst the players is better already. One thing Micky did towards the end was to tell the fans to blame him and keep the pressure off the players. I can't see Levein doing this. If the players aren't performing and are getting criticised he won't protect them. He'll tell them to prove people wrong.

[Louise]

Second article in the Independent

From hard man to loyalty man

Under new management: Leicester's new leader has a reputation for toughness. Now his players will gain from pain

Craig Levein has already been compared to Arsène Wenger and Sir Alex Ferguson. Not bad going for someone who was 40 only last month and who has been manager of Leicester City for less than a fortnight. The Wenger likeness is a less-lined facial one, abetted by the glasses which tend to add gravitas, while the Ferguson resemblance is one of accent rather than achievement so far, allied to a reputation for being a hard man, of which more in a moment.

Levein contrives a small smile at the Wenger-Ferguson stuff, dismissing it as media fluff designed to attach a tag to someone as yet unknown in the English game, and wastes little time in launching a convincing argument that he is very much his own man, and an extremely ambitious one.

A 16-cap Scottish international whose career was ended prematurely by recurring knee injury problems, he learned management basics at Cowdenbeath, the club known up north as "The Blue Brazil" and where he started as a footballer. From there, maintaining the symmetry, he took over at Hearts, where his playing days had next taken him and where he made 401 appearances.

After four years as Hearts manager, Levein decided that English football, specifically the Premiership, was for him. Hence the acceptance of Leicester City's offer. Never mind that Leicester are not actually in the Premiership any more. Like Cowdenbeath, it is somewhere to start in pursuit of his design for fame, either Ferguson-fashion or Wenger-style. "I wanted to come down here and see if I could do it," he explained after putting his players through a training session which stretched far beyond their normal lunch hour. "The Premiership is the best League in the world, so who in his right mind wouldn't want to be a manager at that level?"

Levein maintains the new role is "a great opportunity to try to find a club that has similar ideas to mine". He is, however, swift to point out that he does not intend to use Leicester as a springboard into a job in the big-time. "I have always been a loyal person, this isn't a vehicle for me, other than to try to drive this club into the Premiership. I'm not planning to be here for just a year."

It will not be a straightforward drive. Leicester are in the lower half of the Championship table and unable to break free of drawing most of their games - nine so far and six in a row. As the former player Alan Birchenall, now the club's match-day announcer, human buffer zone and good humour man, pointed out: "We're too good to lose, not good enough to win. We're going for Arsenal's record with a difference, 49 straight draws."

Not if it is anything to do with Levein. The draw sequence will, he hopes, be broken tomorrow when, on a night when they celebrate their 120th year as a club, Leicester entertain Coventry in what is billed as "the M69 derby". He has already witnessed two of those draws, one as an observer of a side chosen by the caretaker, Dave Bassett, at Cardiff, and the second at Crewe last Tuesday, an 11 he had nominated.

That Levein was disappointed by what he saw at Cardiff is an understatement. Crewe, he claims, was better, but still not good enough. Between the two matches he had his first team talk. "We went over some things that were very basic but very important, and I saw players buying into what we were talking about, which made me feel a lot better than I did going home from Cardiff. I talked about being more positive, taking a bit more of a risk with regard to going forward, our work-rate coming back, getting behind the ball, making ourselves difficult to beat, trying to stop crosses.

"All these things were better at Crewe on Tuesday. Anybody who watched the two games could see a different mentality, more positive. We have spent a lot of time in recent matches camped on the edge of our box with 10 minutes to go, hoping we don't lose a goal. On Tuesday night we were on the edge of Crewe's box pushing to try to score a winner. I don't believe we solved the problem there but we have taken a small step and experienced something positive. Hopefully, that experience will be put to good use against Coventry.

"But I worry about us defensively, in all honesty. If we are to get a major improvement, conceding so many goals is something we need to eradicate quickly. The best teams don't lose goals and give other teams opportunities like we do, but I can do something about that." That something, he feels, may not extend to promotion, or a play-off place, this season, even with the coaches he had at Hearts, Peter Houston and Kenny Black, already at his side. "It would be difficult, but I'm not saying it's not possible."

Leicester's grim financial situation, which once saw Birchenall do his pre-match spiel wearing a tin helmet, has eased a little and Levein claims: "Even with cutbacks Leicester's wage bill will be in the division's top three or four next season. There is still a good enough pot to be able to bring in enough decent players."

Clearly, this indicates a clear-out of large dimensions before that happens and he admits: "At the moment there is no money to strengthen, so it might be the case that I shuffle things around."

That hard-man reputation was earned when, in a pre-season friendly against Raith Rovers, Levein and his fellow Hearts defender Graeme Hogg came to blows over who was at fault when Gordon Dalziel almost scored for Raith. Levein collected a 12-match ban and a fine of two weeks' wages, while Hogg picked up a broken nose and ended up, in the words of Dalziel, "completely spangled" on a stretcher.

So have Leicester hired a hard man? "I think I am very fair with the players and the staff and try to play a middle line," Levein insisted. "But my job is to steer the ship in the right direction and to do that I have to make sure everybody is working with the same aims in mind."

Did that, one wondered, mean ensuring the embarrassments of La Manga would not be repeated? It did. "That sort of thing probably won't raise its head for ever more at this club. I believe professional footballers realise they have a job to do, to act responsibly."

Having learned responsibility through a painful route of fisticuffs, injury and managing Cowdenbeath on wages of £150 a week, Craig Levein is admirably positioned to enforce it at Leicester.

http://sport.independent.co.uk/football/co...sp?story=580370

Settles a few arguments about transfer budget anyway...

[dearyme]

JIM LEISHMAN knew Craig Levein had the hunger to be a top boss ... when he took his first coaching job for just 80p a training session!

Leish put the new Leicester City gaffer on the starting rung of the ladder seven years ago when he was in charge at Livingston.

But the West Lothian side were so skint they could only afford to pay Levein the price of his toll to get across the Forth Road Bridge.

Some may have thought the former Scotland defender was daft to accept such a pittance after a series of knee injuries finished his playing career.

But it turned out to be the smartest move he ever made because it put him on the road to a £250,000-a-year salary at the English Championship club.

And Leishman - now Dunfermline's Director of Football - says he saw from the start that Levein was on a mission to make it all the way to the top.

He said: 'I already knew Craig from his time at Cowdenbeath when he was a young player and I was assistant manager. We were both from Fife and met often from then on.

'When his career was finished he asked if I needed a hand at Livi.

'I was grateful because the club was going through a tough time financially and I was doing everything by myself.

'We couldn't afford a full-time coach so I said it was a chance for him to get a bit of experience.

'Craig learned his trade well from there on. He was only at Livingston for three or four months before Cowdenbeath appointed him as their manager in November 1997.

'But his contribution did much to help Livi to finish third in the Second Division that season. We only missed out on promotion on the last day.'

The club's contributions to Levein weren't quite so significant.

Leish laughed: 'He did it all for his toll money to get to and from his home.

'Then I fined him for having the cheek to take the 80p!

'But his work with us had nothing to do with money. He was clever enough to spot it was an opportunity.

'And you could see back then he had what it takes to be a success.

'When he was Cowdenbeath's boss I often saw him at night watching youth games in the park to check if there were any players with potential he could sign.

'That shows you the kind of dedication he has.'

It was that dedication Leishman had tried to drum into Levein as a teenager at Central Park.

As No 2 at Cowdenbeath he kept the promising youngster back for extra training to hone the skills that eventually made him a Hearts legend and earned him 16 caps.

Leish revealed: 'Who do you think taught him that ability to pass the ball the way he could? Me!

'I took him in after training and set up this exercise with a cone about 30 yards away.

'I told him, 'Right, hit the cone ... then you can go in and get changed'.

'He said, 'Nae bother.' 'So I put the ball down and pinged it - bang! I hit the cone first time and walked off the park.

'I didn't even turn round and look at poor Craig. But it took him a full 15 MINUTES before he joined me in the dressing room!'

Yet Leishman's belief in Levein's potential as a manager never wavered - even when he was piling the pressure on him during a torrid spell early in Craig's Tynecastle career.

The Jambos had snatched him from Cowdenbeath in December 2000 to replace Jim Jefferies.

It should have been a dream move for a man who was loyal to the club for 14 years as a player.

But the behind-the-scenes turmoil that continues to envelop Hearts was there even in Levein's early days.

And that made life difficult for a rookie boss trying to find his way in the top flight.

Leish recalled: 'When Livingston first went up to the Premier League we beat Hearts twice in a row at Tynecastle. Things weren't easy for Craig at the club back then.

'All sorts of things were going on behind the scenes and the fans were giving him some stick.

'The supporters were annoyed at what they saw happening to their club and took out their anger on him.

'But even back then I told the press Craig would emerge as one of the best managers this country has seen. I'm pleased to say I was right.

'His communication and man-management skills are first class. He goes about his business right. And he knows the game.

'Craig has worked hard to get this chance to make another step up and he deserves it.

'I'm sure it won't be his last.'

[Ric Flair]

Levein is a legend already in my eyes, irrespective of what he does here. There's no doubt he'll sort this team out, I think Levein could well be as good as he wants to be. I've never been as impressed by a person's characteristics as I am with Levein, everything about him seems perfect for what us fans have been crying out for here.

The discipline, the passion, the commitment, the honesty, the eagerness for homegrown players.

Well up for tonight, Your gonna die Cov.