Manager changes waste money, says Craig Levein

THE tolerance level for Scottish club managers is being diluted year by year, according to Craig Levein.

And the Scotland manager believes that the result is clubs blowing their budgets for precious little return.

The sacking of Hibernian manager Colin Calderwood at the weekend follows on from Jim Jefferies’ removal by Hearts a fortnight into the season.

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That means both Edinburgh clubs have dispensed with the services of the men they allowed to extensively reshape their playing squads only a matter of months ago and Levein can see no logic in that way of working.

Already this season, doubts have been cast on the future of almost half the managers working in the SPL.

One of those under scrutiny was Levein’s former assistant and successor Dundee United, Peter Houston. He is also the Scotland assistant manager but has stayed at Tannadice as the national team spend the week in Cyprus, where they will play a friendly tomorrow evening.

Levein says the undermining of Houston from within the Tayside club was “nonsense” and calls it “sad” that managers consistently appear to be made scapegoats for the, often unrealistic, demands of others.

“I think what has happened with managers in the SPL this season is about a lack of understanding,” he said. “Every club has the right to dream but managers can suffer through people’s dreams. There has to be a realistic expectation of where clubs expect to be, what their league positions are, whether a manager is punching above their weight or under-performing.

“It is just the modern trend to change the manager. I think it is counter-productive at times. You buy a load of players, you get the manager to spend all the money, you get rid of him and then you get a new manager in and he gets rid of all those same players. And you do that rather than have a plan to start with about what you are trying to achieve over three or five years. That way you can ask whether your manager is right for the plan and, if he moves on to better things, whether you can get someone who is as good and can do it with the same philosphy. For me that is that is the way to run a business. But football clubs aren’t run in that way and it is crazy.”