Craig Levein: I’ll miss Neil Lennon – he’s a good guy

Hearts manager Craig Levein admitted he will miss Neil Lennon after the Northern Irishman’s exit from Hibs.

Neil Lennon and Craig Levein exchange greetings before the most recent Edinburgh derby at Easter Road

The pair were rivals on the pitch but had respect off it, and Levein stressed Lennon will have no problem getting another managerial job.

Hibs suspended the head coach and his assistant Garry Parker last week following angry exchanges with players and chief executive Leeann Dempster. The pair officially left their jobs by mutual consent on Wednesday.

“I will miss Neil Lennon. I think he is a good guy and I’m sure he will get another job fairly soon,” said Levein. “I don’t know what happened but he is a good guy. You can’t always be friendly with people just by the very nature of what he is doing and what I’m doing, but I did get on well with him away from the football.

“It is hard in the football environment. You are always wary of letting your guard down or saying something you will regret or giving something away.

“We are all competitors but I think there is a great deal of empathy within the group of managers in the Premiership in Scotland.”

Levein holds the positions of both manager and director of football at Hearts. He and club owner Ann Budge are determined to harness a stable environment despite other clubs changing coaches often.

“That’s why I wanted to be a director of football, or maybe when Ann retires I should aim for chairman then I can try to keep myself in a job,” joked Levein. “It is difficult.

“Management has changed a lot even for me coming back in [in 2017]. The last time I was managing in club football was back in 2010. Between then and now there have been a lot of changes. There is a different feel to managing now than there was back then.

“I didn’t read what Brendan Rodgers said but I think the gist was that it is getting harder because there is less control and there are more people having an input than there used to be. That might be a good thing, but ...”

Man-management is now a more pivotal part of the job for any football coach. “There are more questions asked than there used to be,” said Levein. “Players are asking more questions about why they are not playing and now you have to give them an answer. In the past you told them to just shut up! There are a lot of people making decisions and then stepping back into the shadows. Thankfully, at our club, that doesn’t happen.” I’m quite happy to take responsibility for everything that goes on. I’m getting the blame so I’m as well doing something!”