Michael Stewart snaps back at Hearts boss Craig Levein on Twitter

Michael Stewart has responded to criticism from Hearts boss Craig Levein in a seven-tweet thread on social media.

Levein hit out at Stewart on Friday morning after the BBC and BT Sport pundit criticised the manager’s handling of new signing David Vanecek during the 2-1 defeat against Dundee.

The striker was hauled off after just 34 minutes into what Levein described as “rubbish” performance. He then revealed that the January signing had reported to his new club unfit.

Stewart accused Levein of poor man-management, to which Levein shot back that Stewart wasn’t brave enough to be in a manager’s position and make these decisions for himself.

Michael Stewart responded to criticism from the Hearts boss. Picture: SNS

Just a couple of hours later, Stewart posted his response on Twitter.

He wrote: “I enjoy these unintelligent conversations as much as I do the more thoughtful exchanges I have with other football people.

“I’ll keep asking the difficult questions of Craig Levein and as much as he wants to deflect with these particularly funny answers.

“His well-known need for control doesn’t work with me. He has tried to silence me before by attempting to have me removed from my position as a pundit. Unfortunately for him that didn’t work.

“As for the politics, hopefully Craig may well know every healthy democracy acknowledges the need for constructive criticism in order to progress. Perhaps this is something he should really focus on.

“Craig’s brought in more than 60 players, in his time at Hearts,

the equivalent of a new team every season. He asked recently to be judged after another two transfer windows. Well, he’s had those & the team, backed by a total squad of 30, has lost eight of the last 14 games.

“They’re sixth in the league and bottom of the league for minutes played by academy players. These are the uncomfortable truths that Craig wants to deflect people from. But I sense his wit is wearing thin with the masses.

“Now he’s publicly berating a player he signed, who’s trained for two weeks but only realises now is unfit. Those are big problems and Ann Budge and her colleagues will undoubtedly be concerned with these uncomfortable truths, whatever they say publicly.

“Craig urgently needs to learn that power always comes with accountability but I do wish him all the best. I’d love to see Craig taste that elusive success before his career finishes...... THE END.”