ANGER MANAGEMENT

THE muffled ring of his mobile phone tries to make itself heard through his golf bag. It's fighting a losing battle.

"Whoever it is," shrugs Craig Levein as he blanks its pleading tone and hauls out his driver instead, "they're not important enough."

This isn't just golf for the man sacked by Leicester 46 days ago. It's therapy.

By Craig's own admission though the self-administered treatment to dispel the anger and frustration at being forced out of a job he felt was only half finished is all but over.

He's ready to rejoin the real world.

It's 15 months since Levein left Hearts and his reputation as Scotland's most promising gaffer for the lure of the Championship and an obvious [ step on the way to fulfilling his ambitions.

But despite inheriting a team of overpaid underachieving Premiership dropouts, from hacking an incredible £5million off the annual wage bill, from reducing the average age of his squad from 30 to 23, he still couldn't escape the ultimate football truth - you're only ever as good as your last result.

Craig is realistic enough to know that after seeing his side skirt with the bottom three for much of the season - but deep down he's still raging that someone else will reap what he's sown.

That's why he hasn't even been to a game since his sacking. Why neither his golf clubs nor his two bearded collies, Breck and Rye, know what's hit them these past six weeks all the attention they've had.

"This is the first time I've discussed with anyone how I've felt about things and dealt with them," the 41-year-old said. "But it's time".

"When I came back to Scotland I was angry more than anything. And it will be proved next season - maybe even this season - that all we needed was a win. I did at Leicester in a year what it took me more than two at Hearts to do - get rid of all the high earners, bring in younger players and try to mould them into a team.

"So yes I was angry because I'd done all the crap things, all the hard work - identifying players, getting rid of others, shaking things up and setting a system for the club's future.

"I feel cheated by having done all the graft for someone else but it's made me more determined for next time I get the chance.

"Someone will benefit because I feel it's a stain on my managerial career that needs wiped out.

"And when I get angry it takes me a while to calm down. If you hold on to stuff it can eat away at you so I had to make sure my head was clear.

"Watching games constantly wouldn't have helped so I've not been near one.

"I've played golf, gone with my daughter Christie to the zoo, done a lot of walking the dogs and gradually letting things go. Like letting the air out of a tyre."

Levein was offered the Leicester job based on his ability to make a silk purse out of a sow's ear.

He'd done it on a lesser stage at Cowdenbeath and after an almost identical period of transition at Hearts took them to back-to-back third spots in the SPL and into Europe.

But the time he was afforded there never materialised at the Walkers Stadium.

He sighed: "In the space of a year 19 players left, 15 or 16 came in and the average age of the side dropped from 30 to 23.

"And the difference in the wage bill between the two sets of players was more than £5m.

"So we DID go through a period where we were having a hard time. But we were playing well and all the stats tell you we should have been winning - but we weren't.

"In fact we had more shots on and off target than any other team in the league including Reading and Sheffield United.

"We were in the bottom three, they were the top two. But the problem was our conversion rate was 14 per cent, they were 32-33. We were top of the league in chances on goal. Bizarre.

"That doesn't keep happening but the problem I was fighting against was 'Would people be patient enough to wait for the change?'

"They weren't.

"At Hearts the same thing happened but the difference was the directors believed we were heading in the right direction.

"So what frustrates me is this time next year LeciesterWILL be a good side.

"Guys like Richard Stearman and James Wesolowski, the youngster who had his leg broken by Bobo Balde in pre-season, had come into the team and will be top players.

"We got Paddy McCarthy as a kid from Man City. He'd never played a first team game, now he's captain. He's another who'll be top notch.

"And we'd just signed Matty Fryatt from Walsall at 20. And that's why I was so frustrated and angry."

It's a sore lesson learned for Levein - one he intends to take with him if and when he gets another crack.

He said: "I know I did things wrong and if I could do it again I'd go right back to basics. There's a way of playing in that division.

"Don't try to impress, don't try to play, don't get beaten. Watch that league - that's what it's all about.

"I should have adapted, not got caught up in what Leicester were. Be hard to beat, concentrate on what's important, buy some time to get through the transition. That's what I should have done.

"But I did what was 100 per cent best for the club and not for me which is what I've done for both my previous clubs.

"A year in at Cowdenbeath I would have been sacked if the chairman had listend to the fans.

"And if Chris Robinson had listend to the supporters after a years at Hearts I'd have been out.

"I know what this has done to my reputation because I understand how the game works.

"But every club I've ever been at I've left them in a better state than when I joined." And that's a fact Levein hopes will stand him in good enough stead that the job market will still be kind to him.

Because he believes he has more to offer now than ever. Not that he'll be taking the first job that comes along - just the right one.

He's already been linked with Livingston - one he wasn't ready for - and with taking over from Jim Leishman at his local club Dunfermline.

Craig said: "I heard about that and I go back a long way with Leish, to my days as a player at Cowddenbeath, but I knew nothing about it.

"I understand what happened at Leicester and the perception up here that I'm back withmy tail betweenmylegs and being linked with jobs. That's the game.

"But it hasn't changed my ambitions.

"It's been two steps forward and one back but it's important the next job I get is right for me.

"Someone will be lucky because I have a lot of ideas that have been enhanced by the past 15 months. And some club will get the benefit.

"But although I know I can't pick and choose when to work again I need the type of job I want.

"I'm happy to work under the conditions I've had at my last three clubs.

"However, now I have to start thinking about the best way forward for myself. I've done Leicester a huge favour but suffered because of it."

Levein has finally worked the suffering out of his system though - now he just has to sit and wait for the phone to ring.

The problem, as ever for unemployed bosses, is not appearing like the grim reaper over the shoulder of the next gaffer waiting for the sack.

"I know there are those who do that," he says uneasily. "But that's why I've not been up at East End Park.

"It would have been an obvious first game to go to, two minutes up the road from my house, but I know how it would have looked and I'd never do that to big Leish."

He pauses then grins. "Ach, I suppose there's a bit of vulture in all of us though. "Some just fly a bit lower than others."

Taken from the Sunday Mail