Levein and MacPhee left on May 31st ( updated )

[John mcCartney]

41 minutes ago, Locky said:

Tried to read this thread from the podcast upload to the most recent post and gave up quickly. The outrage from some on here.

 

I don't know what people expected him to say? He took responsibility and apologised. Apart from that, he can't say much else, can he? Like any manager or even professional, he was confident in his abilities and even when sacked still had reason to believe he could've turned it round. Show me one manager in the world who hasn't said the same? No one is going to come out and say, 'Aye, I was shite, I just hung on for a wage ken eh?'.

 

I truly believe Levein gave his all like he said he did, and I truly believe he will be hurt by how things ended. Mistakes were made on his part, but things outwith his control certainly did have a knock on affect. I also do believe that we would've avoided bottom had he stayed on, but we've moved on and I'm more than happy with Daniel Stendel in charge.

 

People really need to let go of their outrage at Craig Levein, and perhaps channel it into the authorities who are the ones who have 'relegated' us. Levein didn't leave us bottom, and Levein never called the season early. Said it before and I'll say it again, thanks for all your efforts Craig and I wish it ended so much better, as I'm sure you do too. We've moved on and so have you, good luck in the future and stay healthy.

Good sentimental post chief altho we cant move on until the duds that he signed have left the club.
He poisoned the well.
This is what hurts punters who bought into the raincoat over the arm and the briefcase full of sandwiches and biscuits.

Edited June 9, 2020 by John mcCartney

[Tasavallan]

Craig Levein is dead to me.

 

 

Onward and upward.

[Andyp1874]

Levein is a Jambo and believe always wanted the best 

MacPhee shouldn’t have been anywhere near the club

[Pasquale for King]

2 hours ago, jr ewing said:

Imagine what he might have done if there hadn't been a salary cap. 

Liquidated us probably.

[Pasquale for King]

2 hours ago, Locky said:

Tried to read this thread from the podcast upload to the most recent post and gave up quickly. The outrage from some on here.

 

I don't know what people expected him to say? He took responsibility and apologised. Apart from that, he can't say much else, can he? Like any manager or even professional, he was confident in his abilities and even when sacked still had reason to believe he could've turned it round. Show me one manager in the world who hasn't said the same? No one is going to come out and say, 'Aye, I was shite, I just hung on for a wage ken eh?'.

 

I truly believe Levein gave his all like he said he did, and I truly believe he will be hurt by how things ended. Mistakes were made on his part, but things outwith his control certainly did have a knock on affect. I also do believe that we would've avoided bottom had he stayed on, but we've moved on and I'm more than happy with Daniel Stendel in charge.

 

People really need to let go of their outrage at Craig Levein, and perhaps channel it into the authorities who are the ones who have 'relegated' us. Levein didn't leave us bottom, and Levein never called the season early. Said it before and I'll say it again, thanks for all your efforts Craig and I wish it ended so much better, as I'm sure you do too. We've moved on and so have you, good luck in the future and stay healthy.

It’s rare but Keegan with England and Strachan at Middlesbrough both said they could do no more and left, bound to be others, maybe Collins at Hibs. 
Maybe if he keeps his head down and we have an upturn in fortunes but if we continue to struggle folk will always blame him for it. 

[JAMBO _MOBY]

2 hours ago, Shanks said:

No point looking back now, levein is an utter waster and king of the wage thieves.  We need to just draw a line under his shite legacy and just be happy that he is finally away from the club.

Definitely not a waster or wage thief.  
 

He worked himself into the ground trying to improve Hearts .  Just a poor manager with out-dated tactics who remains oblivious to his limitations.

[Lone Striker]

2 hours ago, Ex member of the SaS said:

NOW I understand.According to Levein we played better against " bigger " teams and not so good against " wee " teams. He then goes on to state when we had more of the ball we played poorly.

 

Right, footballers play badly when they have the ball! Obviously I have had this whole football thing wrong.

Yes - weird comment from CL in attempt to explain the poor form against "wee" teams.   Also his comment about too many "sheep" and not enough "leaders" - that may be true, so why did he sign so many "sheep" ?    

[Ex member of the SaS]

54 minutes ago, Andyp1874 said:

Levein is a Jambo and believe always wanted the best 

MacPhee shouldn’t have been anywhere near the club

Levein is no Jambo. He is Levein all over and only interested in himself. It was made clear when he attended a game at Raith ( If I remember rightly ) when we had an important game on at the same time.

Staying on and taking full wage until embarrassed into taking a cut when he should have done the right thing, even if that was to negotiate a deal where by he went on gardening leave. He knew as we all did that staying on when Stendel was appointed was wrong!

[jr ewing]

11 minutes ago, Ex member of the SaS said:

Levein is no Jambo. He is Levein all over and only interested in himself. It was made clear when he attended a game at Raith ( If I remember rightly ) when we had an important game on at the same time.

Staying on and taking full wage until embarrassed into taking a cut when he should have done the right thing, even if that was to negotiate a deal where by he went on gardening leave. He knew as we all did that staying on when Stendel was appointed was wrong!

I would imagine that his next stop will be Cowdenbeath. 

[dazajmbo]

Been told on very good authority that he himself had put a large amount of his own money into the club over various occasions including with the offer Ann Budge initially proposed. Apparently he had a massive pay out from Scotland??

 

This may well explain why it took budge so long to sack him, and also why she let him finish his  contract,  if he was indeed putting some of his own money in then I am sure Budge wouldn't want that information to come out to the fans and letting him finish his contract may just have been an extra incentive for her?

[kila]

8 minutes ago, dazajmbo said:

Been told on very good authority that he himself had put a large amount of his own money into the club over various occasions including with the offer Ann Budge initially proposed. Apparently he had a massive pay out from Scotland??

 

This may well explain why it took budge so long to sack him, and also why she let him finish his  contract,  if he was indeed putting some of his own money in then I am sure Budge wouldn't want that information to come out to the fans and letting him finish his contract may just have been an extra incentive for her?

 

Put money into the club as a philanthropist or invested for a return? Wasn't as if he waived his entire his salary when a pandemic hit...

 

Ridiculous if true because it means he literally bought himself time when it was obvious things were getting really ****ed. He knew he was struggling so he could either have said to the board lets get a DoF to replace me so I can focus on being the manager, or lets recruits a new manager and I'll back to DoF full time. The former would've meant his performance would've been reviewed by someone other than himself and he would've been sacked much sooner.

 

[Shanks]

2 hours ago, JAMBO _MOBY said:

Definitely not a waster or wage thief.  
 

He worked himself into the ground trying to improve Hearts .  Just a poor manager with out-dated tactics who remains oblivious to his limitations.

He has been a wage thief for the past 6 months anyway.  He’s a loser and we are well shot of him from the club, just a shame his ****ing god awful players are still going to be hanging around.

[Thomaso]

8 hours ago, Locky said:

Tried to read this thread from the podcast upload to the most recent post and gave up quickly. The outrage from some on here.

 

I don't know what people expected him to say? He took responsibility and apologised. Apart from that, he can't say much else, can he? Like any manager or even professional, he was confident in his abilities and even when sacked still had reason to believe he could've turned it round. Show me one manager in the world who hasn't said the same? No one is going to come out and say, 'Aye, I was shite, I just hung on for a wage ken eh?'.

 

I truly believe Levein gave his all like he said he did, and I truly believe he will be hurt by how things ended. Mistakes were made on his part, but things outwith his control certainly did have a knock on affect. I also do believe that we would've avoided bottom had he stayed on, but we've moved on and I'm more than happy with Daniel Stendel in charge.

 

People really need to let go of their outrage at Craig Levein, and perhaps channel it into the authorities who are the ones who have 'relegated' us. Levein didn't leave us bottom, and Levein never called the season early. Said it before and I'll say it again, thanks for all your efforts Craig and I wish it ended so much better, as I'm sure you do too. We've moved on and so have you, good luck in the future and stay healthy.

Aye all the best Craig! 😏

[Fraggle]

18 hours ago, Pasquale for King said:

There was other reasons he left too let’s not rewrite history here. More money and a shot at a bigger team, not a “provincial club like Hearts” are two of the other three reasons.

Indeed. Whilst Romanov was a f*nny, it wasn't that particular f*nny that drove Levein's decision to jump ship first time round.

Edited June 9, 2020 by Fraggle

[Thomaso]

8 hours ago, Ex member of the SaS said:

OMG! Trying to whitewash his time, wasting huge amounts of cash on duff players, unable to cope with injuries ( that's part of a manager's job! ) Unable to get players motivated when it was clear we were heading down. Unable to gain the clubs targets and willing to let targets slip with no idea how to fix things. Happy to implement training and tactics that were 30 years out of date. Lying to fans at the AGM's with regard to how he managed to wangle manager and DoF roles. I could go on but this is more than enough reasons to never want him near Hearts ever again.

Bang on! How any Hearts fan can still be making excuses for that charlatan is beyond reason!

[Thomaso]

1 minute ago, Fraggle said:

Indeed. Whilst Romanov was a f*nny, it wasn't that particular f*nny that pushed Levein's decision to jump ship first time round.

Tell us more Fraggle.........😉

[Guest ToqueJambo]

3 hours ago, Shanks said:

He has been a wage thief for the past 6 months anyway.  He’s a loser and we are well shot of him from the club, just a shame his ****ing god awful players are still going to be hanging around.

 

He literally had a heart attack while taking us to the top of the league. A little respect wouldn't go amiss.

[Ex member of the SaS]

Just now, ToqueJambo said:

 

He literally had a heart attack while taking us to the top of the league. A little respect wouldn't go amiss.

Right, like the respect he showed the fans. Fans that ploughed loads into the club that was paying him way too much. and allowing him to throw good money after bad with numerous bad signings.

[Guest ToqueJambo]

5 minutes ago, Ex member of the SaS said:

Right, like the respect he showed the fans. Fans that ploughed loads into the club that was paying him way too much. and allowing him to throw good money after bad with numerous bad signings.

 

Folk are allowed to make mistakes. In March 2018 we were 3 or 4 points off a European spot and in our second semi final of the season, eventually reaching the final and doing better than most other teams do against Celtic in a final in recent years. If we get into that position again any time soon we'll all be loving it. 

 

This last season has been a complete shitshow obviously, the worst I can remember, for a variety of reasons, but let's not pretend that with a bit more luck things couldn't have turned out very differently the last 18 months.

Edited June 9, 2020 by ToqueJambo

[Fraggle]

14 minutes ago, Cruickshank for Scotland said:

Tell us more Fraggle.........😉

A gentleman never tells Mr. Cruickshank! 😉😄

[Shanks]

12 minutes ago, ToqueJambo said:

 

He literally had a heart attack while taking us to the top of the league. A little respect wouldn't go amiss.

I was gutted for him when he had his heart attack but what does that have to do with anything?  Does it excuse his utter pish signings? Does it excuse him wasting millions of pounds on ridiculous contracts? 
 

He is a big part of the reason hearts are bottom of the league when we have a budget that means we should be no where near this position. 
 

I have zero respect for his hearts ‘legacy’, as a person I wish him well but I am just delighted that he is finally away from the club.  He has been a disaster. 

[SectionDJambo]

6 hours ago, Lone Striker said:

Yes - weird comment from CL in attempt to explain the poor form against "wee" teams.   Also his comment about too many "sheep" and not enough "leaders" - that may be true, so why did he sign so many "sheep" ?    

Sounds a wee bit like John McGlynn saying we found it harder to play against 10 men. Clearly the wrong type of players being signed. Little intelligence and only up for it when the big boys roll into town. Couldn't play against anybody away from home, big or small.

[Pasquale for King]

42 minutes ago, Fraggle said:

Indeed. Whilst Romanov was a f*nny, it wasn't that particular f*nny that drove Levein's decision to jump ship first time round.

He was only just in the door as well, in the past he had told folk not to trust Mercer yet backed Robinson’s plan to take us to Murrayfield. 

[Dusk_Till_Dawn]

One day I’ll tell a funny story about Levein, Stendel and Edinburgh Airport

[Fraggle]

21 minutes ago, Pasquale for King said:

He was only just in the door as well, in the past he had told folk not to trust Mercer yet backed Robinson’s plan to take us to Murrayfield. 

It takes all:sports, sorry, I mean all sorts. 

[jack D and coke]

Listened to the interview and expected to be raging but wasn’t tbh. Thought he came across fairly well and admitted his failure honestly. 
It’s all water under the bridge now just hope Stendel stays, we stay up and we can try build something. 
Who was the poster who was going to tell us the Levein stories when he left again? Forget his handle on here...

[Ex member of the SaS]

15 hours ago, ToqueJambo said:

 

Folk are allowed to make mistakes. In March 2018 we were 3 or 4 points off a European spot and in our second semi final of the season, eventually reaching the final and doing better than most other teams do against Celtic in a final in recent years. If we get into that position again any time soon we'll all be loving it. 

 

This last season has been a complete shitshow obviously, the worst I can remember, for a variety of reasons, but let's not pretend that with a bit more luck things couldn't have turned out very differently the last 18 months.

Sorry TJ but we should not be relying on luck.

[Hearts1975]

15 hours ago, jack D and coke said:

Listened to the interview and expected to be raging but wasn’t tbh. Thought he came across fairly well and admitted his failure honestly. 
It’s all water under the bridge now just hope Stendel stays, we stay up and we can try build something. 
Who was the poster who was going to tell us the Levein stories when he left again? Forget his handle on here...

Exactly what I thought after hearing the interview 

 

I listened to the podcast yesterday and I think that’s as close as you will get to Levein admitting he got it wrong. 

He did say that if given longer he would have sorted it but he has said that all along 

 

the real interesting bit for me, and in the podcast, was when he explained about the players and having different characters in the team and when the key players were out injured there were no leaders on the park 

 

My initial thought was tough Craig, you bloody signed them but When I think on it now and if I was to cut him any slack it would be that he was let down by those he surrounded himself with.

 

Putting the coaches to one side our recruitment has been an absolute shambles. Even Stendel has asked for support where this is concerned. 

Who ever was scouting for Craig Levein is as culpable as anyone and the scouting piece needs an overhaul, quickly 

 

I said my bit and let my frothing out where CL was concerned. It’s gone now, he’s gone now. I kinda got the impression yesterday and throughout the whole podcast that as much as we all knew this was failing for a long time, that he genuinely believed that he could turn it round with time and that’s why he stayed on, as he just couldn’t see it.

 

Anyway, like u said, it’s done, past and consigned to history - we now need to look forward and not dwell on the past 

 

Sure you will be the same but I got other stuff on my mind at the moment with the SPFL circus act in town.

 

Really really hope Stendel stays and that AB gives him the support that she gave CL It hasn’t been a great start and probably not the start that he has wanted but I still firmly believe and given time he will turn out to be a big big success for us 

[jack D and coke]

2 minutes ago, Hearts1975 said:

Exactly what I thought after hearing the interview 

 

I listened to the podcast yesterday and I think that’s as close as you will get to Levein admitting he got it wrong. 

He did say that if given longer he would have sorted it but he has said that all along 

 

the real interesting bit for me, and in the podcast, was when he explained about the players and having different characters in the team and when the key players were out injured there were no leaders on the park 

 

My initial thought was tough Craig, you bloody signed them but When I think on it now and if I was to cut him any slack it would be that he was let down by those he surrounded himself with.

 

Putting the coaches to one side our recruitment has been an absolute shambles. Even Stendel has asked for support where this is concerned. 

Who ever was scouting for Craig Levein is as culpable as anyone and the scouting piece needs an overhaul, quickly 

 

I said my bit and let my frothing out where CL was concerned. It’s gone now, he’s gone now. I kinda got the impression yesterday and throughout the whole podcast that as much as we all knew this was failing for a long time, that he genuinely believed that he could turn it round with time and that’s why he stayed on, as he just couldn’t see it.

 

Anyway, like u said, it’s done, past and consigned to history - we now need to look forward and not dwell on the past 

 

Sure you will be the same but I got other stuff on my mind at the moment with the SPFL circus act in town.

 

Really really hope Stendel stays and that AB gives him the support that she gave CL It hasn’t been a great start and probably not the start that he has wanted but I still firmly believe and given time he will turn out to be a big big success for us 

Yeah he said he thought Stendel encountered the exact same problems with certain players not having the mettle to lead the team against the lesser sides and then when pressure off against Rangers and Hibs etc we played much better. You’re right about the scouting it just seemed scattergun at times and downright awful at others. 
Im glad he done it and was honest about stuff cos as much as I spat tacks towards the end and him staying on you don’t want to carrying that hate for what I do consider to be a Hearts man at the end of the day. It started to come apart but I genuinely hope that his hopes, of the academy will bear fruit going forward and at least he can take some credit for that. 
There is more to worry about right now an all👍🏼

[Hearts1975]

7 minutes ago, jack D and coke said:

Yeah he said he thought Stendel encountered the exact same problems with certain players not having the mettle to lead the team against the lesser sides and then when pressure off against Rangers and Hibs etc we played much better. You’re right about the scouting it just seemed scattergun at times and downright awful at others. 
Im glad he done it and was honest about stuff cos as much as I spat tacks towards the end and him staying on you don’t want to carrying that hate for what I do consider to be a Hearts man at the end of the day. It started to come apart but I genuinely hope that his hopes, of the academy will bear fruit going forward and at least he can take some credit for that. 
There is more to worry about right now an all👍🏼

I’m glad I listened to it tbf as initially I just wasn’t interested in hearing it or listening to his side of things.

It doesn’t change anything thats happened but putting the emotion to one side it looks like he gave it everything he had, but it just wasn’t anywhere near good enough, at the end of the day. 

I Can’t hate the guy. He hasn’t set out deliberately to do this. He just couldn’t see that it wasn’t working and adopted the ostrich mentality. He has to live with it as well and I believe this has hurt him as much as it has hurt any of us 

after listening to it, It’s just left an overwhelming feeling of disappointment, more than anything else. 

 

[OTT]

Its deeply worrying so many players were recruited that lacked bottle. 

 

Aberdeen have shown pretty consistently that beating the OF isn't really that important to where you finish. Being consistent against lower placed sides is ultimately how you climb the table and remain at the top end. I think its baffling that despite recruiting what looks like a really good team, the mentality just wasn't there (Levein points this out and highlights it was that way under him, MacPhee and Stendel). Does that responsibility lie with the coaching staff?

 

Regardless, we absolutely cannot start next season with the squad populated by the players who have saw us demoted. We need much stronger recruitment focused on bringing in players who have a steely mind to taking to the field. 

 

I would hope if expulsion is fixed and we're a Premiership team next season that Stendel is focused on recruiting guys who are of the Naismith mentality. There just isn't the leadership in that squad at the moment. We're not playing in the EPL, ability at the moment is secondary to mentality (which is crazy, but there you go  ). Players of the required ability are a dime a dozen, so narrowing this down to find the mentality we need is the challenge (and where recruitment has fallen down). 

[Greedy Jambo]

Stewart's blistering Levein criticism

Michael Stewart has branded former Hearts manager and director of football Craig Levein a “dinosaur”.

In an interview with the Scottish Sun, he admitted that he hopes "he has nothing more to do with Scottish football.”

Stewart critiqued Levein’s interview with the BBC on Monday where he claimed he was confident that he could have turned it around at Hearts and led them to safety, noting the players he had out injured.

The pundit said they were just “excuses”, that Levein is “utterly delusional” and he “took them into the deepest, darkest hole imaginable”.

[The Real Maroonblood]

3 hours ago, Space Pirate said:

Stewart's blistering Levein criticism

Michael Stewart has branded former Hearts manager and director of football Craig Levein a “dinosaur”.

In an interview with the Scottish Sun, he admitted that he hopes "he has nothing more to do with Scottish football.”

Stewart critiqued Levein’s interview with the BBC on Monday where he claimed he was confident that he could have turned it around at Hearts and led them to safety, noting the players he had out injured.

The pundit said they were just “excuses”, that Levein is “utterly delusional” and he “took them into the deepest, darkest hole imaginable”.

He’s right.

[Greedy Jambo]

10 minutes ago, The Real Maroonblood said:

He’s right.

 

I agree,

It all seems to be forgotten about.

 

[Dusk_Till_Dawn]

10 hours ago, Space Pirate said:

 

I agree,

It all seems to be forgotten about.

 

100%.

 

Ann still owes us that review of the footballing department. No whitewashing our woefulness please.

[Ex member of the SaS]

With regards the player mentality, could this be down to how Levein man manged the other players? Allow Naismith to train from home etc>