Arab scrap

Natasha Woods finds Craig Levein fully aware of the difficult mission confronting him at a club desperate for success

ASK Craig Levein why he accepted the challenge of managing Dundee United and his response contains the sort of home truths which highlight why Eddie Thompson may finally have appointed the right man for the job. But it will still make difficult listening for the chairman.

“I looked at a number of things before I took this job, and the biggest thing was I felt the chairman was ready for me to be the manager here,” observed Levein, as he prepared his new team for the visit of Rangers this afternoon.

“I know it sounds a bit strange, but I felt he’d been a bit bruised over previous seasons and he needed a little breather – to take a step back. And I’m quite happy to shoulder that responsibility. He knows I’m strong enough to look after it.”

Levein pauses and half-apologises; not sure he has been precise enough with his choice of words. But those listening know exactly what he means. In four years as owner of the Tannadice club, Thompson has spent more than £4 million and sacked five managers in an attempt to revive fortunes. It has appeared an all-consuming crusade; the sort where the wood has been lost among the trees.

Now he has appointed a manager with considerably more experience than those who have gone before and someone prepared to say what needs to be said, even if that involves telling the chairman to relax and let him provide the focus.

It only took the former Hearts and Leicester boss a couple of days in the post to sense the negativity and desperation in the air. “I looked at what has happened here in recent years, the managers and so on, and there has been a kind of desperation to do well – it’s been unhealthy,” said Levein.

“It’s frustration. I’ve never met a guy as enthusiastic as the chairman – that’s where it comes from. I think maybe his Achilles heel is that he is a supporter. But I got a really good feeling talking to him because I’d rather have that – someone who is so desperate for his club to do well,” he added.

“I just feel I can help with that. I’ve been through quite a lot myself at a number of clubs and worked with a lot of different people. And managing up the way is just as important as managing down the way.”

In some ways, he senses Thompson is like Chris Robinson, the local businessman-made-good who was the powerbroker at Tynecastle back in the days Levein was marshalling Hearts on to the coat tails of the Old Firm. That must seem like a lifetime ago for Levein who, having established his credentials in the SPL, was offered the chance to rebuild Leicester’s fortunes in 2004. Fourteen months later he was sacked, having learned the sort of hard lesson which should serve him well on Tayside.

“I cleared the whole thing out and got a load of younger players in, but I should have taken my time doing it. I just thought I was going to get longer than I did. And if I had known what I know now, I wouldn’t have gone about it in the same manner.”

Intriguingly, the challenge at United is different from the one he faced at Hearts and Leicester, where results had to be delivered on the back of down sizing wage costs. Thompson may no longer be suckered into paying over the odds for players, but the chairman is still promising there will be a decent budget available when the transfer window re-opens in January.

Levein, having dipped his toe back into managerial waters with a non-contract spell at Raith Rovers this season, knows he is putting his reputation on the line at a club where many other managers have had their’s shredded. United’s situation is starkly illustrated by the statistics of recent weeks which have seen them slump to the foot of the SPL table. Under Craig Brewster they have shipped 16 goals in their last four games, culminating in last weekend’s 5-1 thrashing by Falkirk.

Levein watched that match, but chose not to judge his new team on it. “I watched it, but I thought it was probably not typical of the team. I think it was the culmination of everything falling apart.”

The problems are obvious enough. Levein admits the squad he has inherited is lop-sided, with too many inexperienced players. He needs quality strikers, and to find a spine for his team, but such strengthening will have to wait until the transfer window opens. Longer term, he believes the youth set-up at Tannadice will start delivering quality, but the immediate priority is to get the best out of what he has and build some confidence.

“We have to be hard to beat, it is as simple as that. And how we get there is up to me,” he explained, revealing his focus in training last week was to identify the most naturally-gifted defenders in his squad.

Training was insightful in itself. “You could see the same desperation manifesting itself in people trying too hard. The players were running about at 100 miles an hour – they so desperately wanted to do well and catch my eye. I’m just hoping they slow down to about 90mph by Sunday,” he joked.

His first week in the job has already provided plenty of evidence of what needs to change, and it is attitudes as much as the personnel. “Everything here is about what people ‘cannot’ do. If you ask somebody about a player it is always ‘well, he cannot do this, or he cannot do that’. It is incredible. It is the first time I’ve ever experienced it at a club, because everything starts with a worst case scenario. Even picking people up for speaking like that can help.”

It may take more than the power of positive thinking for United to manage a victory over Rangers today, but Levein isn’t bothered by the calibre of opposition for his first match in charge; not at the start of November and under a fresh regime he believes his chairman will back with an eye to the long-term.

“I think you need to do your research when you appoint someone and have a game plan. And if you’re 100% convinced you have got the right plan, you should see it through.”

It sounded like a statement aimed at the man who recruited him. And Thompson would be wise to listen.

Taken from the Sunday Herald