Would You Take Levein Back?

I always liked Levein as Hearts manager. During his time in that role, the Hearts team was arguably the strongest and most physical side in the SPL, not to mention one of the fittest. He never had the money to go and sign top quality footballers, so the next best thing was to bring in solid professionals and knit them into a resilient unit, which Levein did brilliantly.

Many fans, particularly those of other clubs, were critical of Hearts' style under Levein, but I never had a problem with it. For too many years (probably since the Alex MacDonald days) Hearts had been a soft touch, a team that could easily be bullied or cheated out of the points. Not under Levein. We were the team doing the bullying and 'using our experience'(!) and the result was that outside of the Old Firm, Hearts were the most effective side in the country over a sustained period.

I also don't think that due credit was given for some of the good football Hearts did play during that time. The style was perhaps robust, but Levein signed some excellent footballers too. Jean-Louis Valois was an immensely skilful, if frustrating player for example. Paul Hartley was another Levein signing, as were Alan Maybury and Mark De Vries, who was a physical player at times but also had a fair bit of skill when the ball was at his feet. In fact, generally Levein's signings were excellent, especially if you consider that part of his remit was to pretty much halve the wage bill at the same time as trying to make Hearts a force again. It was no mean feat to have achieved what he did under those circumstances. He also gave us some memorable performances - I remember a 7-1 win over Dunfermline, a 5-1 over Hibs and of course, the famous away victory in Bordeaux. Great memories.

However there were those who just could not get into the 'if we don't concede we won't lose many games' mentality that Levein instilled into his squad. They constantly moaned when every Hearts player came back to defend a corner and would openly criticise the policy of playing ultra-defensive tactics at places like Parkhead. And that was their prerogative. Everyone has their opinion and if they are paying a lot of money to watch football, they are entitled to criticise if the product does not match their expectations.

I wonder now though, if those same critics of Levein would prefer him over the circus that seems to be at the helm now? If some of the rumours are to be believed, there is every chance of Steven Pressley joining Levein at Dundee United in the near future as part of the coaching staff. So here's your choice: Ivanauskas, Romanov and their army of 'advisors' and PC Analysts, or two men experienced in Scottish football who are respected the length and breadth of the country and in the football world in general?

A tough choice?!