Former Scotland star Paul Hartley backs Levein to stay in job

Published on 01/11/2012 00:00

Former international Paul Hartley has backed Scotland manager Craig Levein as his position comes under scrutiny again.

Scottish Football Association bosses will discuss Levein’s future this week following a disappointing start to the World Cup qualifying campaign. Scotland are bottom of Group A with just two points from four games.

But Hartley, who won 25 caps and played under Levein at Hearts, believes that the national team boss should be given more time.

He said: “I think we’ve got the right man in Craig. We can’t chop and change managers every couple of years, we’ve got to give them more time to hopefully get the positive results.

“He’ll see it as a building job. We know we’re not in a good position.”

Hartley – manager of Irn-Bru Second Division side Alloa – believes Levein has the mentality to cope with the pressure.

He added: “Being Scotland manager is always a high-pressure job.

“When you don’t win games, with the media attention, you come under a lot of pressure and I think Craig knows that. But he’s strong enough, he’s got a strong mentality.”

Hartley also feels the players, several of whom play in England’s top league, should shoulder some of the responsibility for poor results under Levein.

He told the BBC: “We’ve got a good group of players and we’ve not got the right results, so I think there’s got to be blame there, too. When you don’t win people start asking questions.

“Players have to take some responsibility it can’t always be the manager’s fault.”