Craig Levein lifts lid on issues he created at Hearts ahead of Tynecastle return and why things will be different at St Johnstone

Former Hearts manager returns to the club he served with distinction as a player and over two contrasting spells as manager

Former Hearts manager Craig Levein is back in the dugout with St Johnstone. (Photo by Alan Harvey / SNS Group)

There was no taking the St Johnstone job without the agreement of his wife and daughter.

Heading back into football management is too big a commitment to not have the family on board. Especially when Craig Levein himself admits that he is getting older and that, since his well-publicised heart problems and Hearts issues, energy levels have waned and he knows there are limits to what he can take on.

“Both [his wife] Carol and [daughter] Christie understand that as much as there are real lows and all managers talk about the job being terrible at times, when you’re not in it, you miss it. It is addictive.

Craig Levein alongside Hearts chairwoman Ann Budge following his appointment as manager for the second time in 2017.

“That was one reason I got involved at Brechin because once you’ve been part of it, you always want to be part of that environment.”

But he returns to the hot seat as a very different character. The passion remains, along with the will to win, but there is less need for absolute control, and a more of an emphasis on working smarter rather than simply working harder.

A role as an advisor to the Brechin board and a mentor to fledgling manager Andy Kirk, one of his former players, his work with the Highland League side was a favour for a friend and a way to dip his toe back in the water after the hurt he had to come to terms with when the latest six year association with Hearts came to a disappointing end in 2020.

Since losing that Tynecastle position – actually, it was two jobs – at a club he has served for almost a quarter of a century as a player, manager, and director of football, he has had to go through a process. One of soul-searching, gradual realisation, and honest acceptance. It hasn’t always been easy but, he believes, it has been worth it.

Sitting in a cafe, chatting, his two dogs relaxing at his feet, he nods down at his companions. They are not technically therapy dogs but they may as well be. Over the past few years, they have kept him company over lengthy walks as he wrestled with his thoughts and tried to learn from past experiences. They are also the ones who will help prevent him from being sucked back into old mistakes. The reality is that while he grasps their leads, he is able to ease up on the managerial reigns.

“These are the ones that suffer now that I’m back [in management],” he smiles. “I used to take them out for at least a couple of hours every day. Now Carol takes them out before her work and then I take them out for half an hour before I head up to St Johnstone. Because I’m the gaffer, I don't need to start as early.

“To be honest, I like that part of the day when I can get up, go for a walk, and clear my head before the working day starts. I don't want to get back to a place where I am exhausted when I come home and I’m actually ok with saying that. I don't feel I have to get into work at 7am and not leave ‘til 9pm which is what I used to do.

“I can’t do as much as I used to. That's a fact. I’ve faced that now. After I had problems with my heart, things changed. I do more walking and my cholesterol has come down. I still like my grub but it’s about balance. I don’t want to find myself back in the same rut, thinking that you have to do more, and more to make things better.”

If the dogs help to give him balance, so too does the presence of Kirk, who joined him in swapping Glebe Park for McDiarmid Park. Having impressed Levein at Brechin with his coaching sessions, the way he wants the team to play, and his ability to instil that in the squad, he is more than the assistant manager.

“Being at Brechin and formulating this relationship with Andy has helped me to realise that other people can do certain things better than I can. That’s something I would never have admitted before in case people saw that as a weakness but it’s not a hard thing to admit now. It was something that registered with me gradually during all that soul-searching after Hearts.

“So, when Geoff [Brown, the St Johnstone owner] was talking to me about the job, I actually thought that if Andy said no to coming too, then I would probably just have stayed where I was.

“I’ve just got to the point where I realised I can't do everything and there is no point getting to the point where you know that to be true but then saying ‘aye, I will take the job’ and then toiling with the parts of it you didn't really want to be doing. That made no sense to me. There was a time when I, 100 per cent, would have done that but not now.”

There’s a lot of things that Levein now thinks or does that might surprise those who see him as old school or intransigent. Even aside from preferring oat milk in his coffee.

This Saturday he heads back to Gorgie with St Johnstone, the team who, ironically, helped bring the axe down on his Hearts career, looking to maintain the side’s upward journey. A draw and a win in his first two games in charge have elevated the club, easing them out of the automatic relegation and play-off spots.

In the capital he will face former player and current Hearts gaffer Steven Naismith, a man he knows well but he will also be walking into the unknown.

“I like Steven. So that will be interesting. I brought him back up the road and into the club so it’s nice to see him going into coaching and getting an opportunity.”

He is one of many former Levein players who have taken that path and their ex boss is not surprised.

“I always gravitate towards players with that steeliness and workrate and they all had the mentality that when things got difficult they could find a way and that never really leaves you. They are tough people who have been in football and they have come through it maybe not unscathed, because I don't think anyone leaves unscathed in football, everyone has battle scars, but their mentality means that when things get tough, they fight harder.”

Someone who should be regarded as a club legend – Levein has, quite rightly, long-since been inducted into the Hearts Hall of Fame due to his performances as a classy centre-half and his ability to steer the Jambos into European football and cup finals as a manager – his last spell at the club muddied the waters for some of the support leaving him unsure what reception he will receive at Tynecastle but too focused on Saints to give it too much thought.

And, having had some honest conversations with himself, if there was hurt and disappointment at the way things ended, it is directed at himself, he says, not the board – “I still love Ann [Budge]” – or the fans. He continued: “I have been back a few times doing radio and it has been OK but I’m not sure it’s been long enough for emotions to settle. In football, the only thing that matters is winning matches and I didn’t win enough. So, you’ll never hear me bleating about that.

“The Hearts thing was sore because it’s Hearts. Nobody wanted me to do a better job there than me but it just got away from me. When that happens it is so difficult to claw things back.

“I look back on it and I think there was a pivotal moment when Ian [Cathro] left and we looked at possible replacements but then one of the directors asked me if I would take it on.”

Already the Director of Football at a club still finding its feet after near extinction, and overseeing an academy rebuild, adding the managerial role to his workload, although well-intended, proved foolhardy.

“When I look back, that was me thinking I was 20 years younger and had the energy and capability to do all those things. But I wasn’t and that was obvious by the results. Because I was trying to do all of these things right, I was actually not doing any of them right.

“It took me a while to get over it because I didn’t feel I had done a particularly good job and I had to understand why.”

Dog walks, punditry, some podcast laughs and then the Brechin gig helped fill his days and while he wanted a return to the coalface, the former Scotand boss had to think hard before diving in with Saints, where he says he is surrounded by good people and players with a spirit that belies their league position.

“I had to make sure I was honest with myself about whether I was ready. Previously I wanted to do everything. Being honest, it was about control and making sure everything was done properly.”

But with age and contemplative dog walks comes wisdom and now he knows that spreading the load can be a better way to do that. He hopes that both he and St Johnstone will benefit from that realisation.