Good news! : 
Leicester close in on Levein
THE Hearts board of directors reluctantly agreed yesterday to give Leicester City permission to speak to Craig Levein. The Edinburgh club’s head coach was expected to tell prospective owner Vladimir Romanov at a scheduled meeting last night that he had made up his mind to leave for the Midlands, thus bringing to an end a near four-year stint at Tynecastle.
Although loath to let Levein go, Hearts decided to allow him to speak to his probable new employers in recognition of his ambitions as a manager and his service to the club. Leicester hope the 40-year-old will be free to watch their league match against Cardiff City tomorrow, and take charge of their game against Crewe Alexandra on Tuesday night.
Levein is to be offered a contract which will take him through to the end of the 2006-07 season, and will be allowed to take assistant coach Peter Houston with him. Hearts can expect to receive up to £250,000 as compensation for losing Levein, while the coach himself will have a salary of around £200,000, with substantial bonuses on top of that if he succeeds in bringing Premiership football back to Walkers Stadium.
The vacancy at Leicester arose after the resignation last month of Micky Adams, who had taken them up to the top flight for a season. Relegation to the Championship has seen the club’s attendances decline by over 20 per cent, but their average gate this season is still a healthy 23,690.
Dave Bassett, the Leicester director of football, has been acting as the club’s manager, and put himself forward for the permanent post. The City board, however, decided they wanted someone younger and more ambitious, and Bassett, 60, may not stay in his job much beyond an initial transitional period of a few months.
Last night the former Wimbledon manager became the first Leicester employee to so much as acknowledge Levein’s existence, although even then his comments were guarded.
"I don’t know a lot about Craig Levein, but he has obviously done well at Hearts," Bassett said.
"I have not really spoken to him before, but I have been in his company at a football match in the past. As far as I am concerned I would welcome any new manager to the club."
If Levein does go, the resultant vacancy will be just one more problem for Romanov to deal with, should he achieve effective control of Hearts by concluding his purchase of shares from the present chief executive Chris Robinson. Romanov has already admitted he is unsure where Hearts will play their home games in future seasons, with the sale of Tynecastle to Cala Homes due to be concluded at the end of January. In addition, a dozen players are out of contract at the end of the season.
Anatoly Byshovets, the former USSR player and Russia coach whom Romanov plans to install as the director of football with Hearts, was with the Lithuanian on business in Glasgow yesterday, and was expected to accompany him to the Edinburgh dinner with Levein. Sergei Fedotovas, a senior adviser to Romanov, was also expected to attend, while Levein was due to be accompanied by his agent and former Hearts team-mate John Colquhoun.
The meeting was scheduled before the news of Leicester’s interest broke, and the appointment of Byshovets was going to be one of the main areas of discussion, having caused some disquiet to Levein, who is used to taking football-related decisions on his own. With Levein’s mind apparently made up, however, there was probably little Romanov could do to reassure him in that or any other respect.
Byshovets may now have a more hands-on role, and more immediately, than he had envisaged. Romanov as yet has no official role at Tynecastle, but the chairman, George Foulkes, was instrumental in welcoming his investment in the club, and would be eager for him to have input into the appointment of senior employees. John Robertson, another former team-mate of Levein’s and the current Inverness Caledonian Thistle manager, will be favourite to take over as head coach.
As is his wont, Levein played his cards close to his chest over the Leicester deal. Even yesterday - at a time when, if no formal approach had been made, there had certainly been contact between Levein’s advisers and Leicester - he was dismissing talk of an imminent move as speculation.
"We are talking about something which might happen or might not happen," he said. "It is obviously flattering to be linked with a club the size of Leicester but, at this moment in time, there is nothing to report.
"I am completely focusing on Saturday’s game against Dundee and the Schalke match the following week."
The Schalke game, which takes place at Murrayfield, is Hearts’ second in the UEFA Cup group stages, following last week’s defeat by Feyenoord. Houston may be asked to delay his departure to the East Midlands to see the club through the tie against the German club and the subsequent two against Basel and Ferencvaros.
Leicester close in on Levein
THE Hearts board of directors reluctantly agreed yesterday to give Leicester City permission to speak to Craig Levein. The Edinburgh club’s head coach was expected to tell prospective owner Vladimir Romanov at a scheduled meeting last night that he had made up his mind to leave for the Midlands, thus bringing to an end a near four-year stint at Tynecastle.
Although loath to let Levein go, Hearts decided to allow him to speak to his probable new employers in recognition of his ambitions as a manager and his service to the club. Leicester hope the 40-year-old will be free to watch their league match against Cardiff City tomorrow, and take charge of their game against Crewe Alexandra on Tuesday night.
Levein is to be offered a contract which will take him through to the end of the 2006-07 season, and will be allowed to take assistant coach Peter Houston with him. Hearts can expect to receive up to £250,000 as compensation for losing Levein, while the coach himself will have a salary of around £200,000, with substantial bonuses on top of that if he succeeds in bringing Premiership football back to Walkers Stadium.
The vacancy at Leicester arose after the resignation last month of Micky Adams, who had taken them up to the top flight for a season. Relegation to the Championship has seen the club’s attendances decline by over 20 per cent, but their average gate this season is still a healthy 23,690.
Dave Bassett, the Leicester director of football, has been acting as the club’s manager, and put himself forward for the permanent post. The City board, however, decided they wanted someone younger and more ambitious, and Bassett, 60, may not stay in his job much beyond an initial transitional period of a few months.
Last night the former Wimbledon manager became the first Leicester employee to so much as acknowledge Levein’s existence, although even then his comments were guarded.
"I don’t know a lot about Craig Levein, but he has obviously done well at Hearts," Bassett said.
"I have not really spoken to him before, but I have been in his company at a football match in the past. As far as I am concerned I would welcome any new manager to the club."
If Levein does go, the resultant vacancy will be just one more problem for Romanov to deal with, should he achieve effective control of Hearts by concluding his purchase of shares from the present chief executive Chris Robinson. Romanov has already admitted he is unsure where Hearts will play their home games in future seasons, with the sale of Tynecastle to Cala Homes due to be concluded at the end of January. In addition, a dozen players are out of contract at the end of the season.
Anatoly Byshovets, the former USSR player and Russia coach whom Romanov plans to install as the director of football with Hearts, was with the Lithuanian on business in Glasgow yesterday, and was expected to accompany him to the Edinburgh dinner with Levein. Sergei Fedotovas, a senior adviser to Romanov, was also expected to attend, while Levein was due to be accompanied by his agent and former Hearts team-mate John Colquhoun.
The meeting was scheduled before the news of Leicester’s interest broke, and the appointment of Byshovets was going to be one of the main areas of discussion, having caused some disquiet to Levein, who is used to taking football-related decisions on his own. With Levein’s mind apparently made up, however, there was probably little Romanov could do to reassure him in that or any other respect.
Byshovets may now have a more hands-on role, and more immediately, than he had envisaged. Romanov as yet has no official role at Tynecastle, but the chairman, George Foulkes, was instrumental in welcoming his investment in the club, and would be eager for him to have input into the appointment of senior employees. John Robertson, another former team-mate of Levein’s and the current Inverness Caledonian Thistle manager, will be favourite to take over as head coach.
As is his wont, Levein played his cards close to his chest over the Leicester deal. Even yesterday - at a time when, if no formal approach had been made, there had certainly been contact between Levein’s advisers and Leicester - he was dismissing talk of an imminent move as speculation.
"We are talking about something which might happen or might not happen," he said. "It is obviously flattering to be linked with a club the size of Leicester but, at this moment in time, there is nothing to report.
"I am completely focusing on Saturday’s game against Dundee and the Schalke match the following week."
The Schalke game, which takes place at Murrayfield, is Hearts’ second in the UEFA Cup group stages, following last week’s defeat by Feyenoord. Houston may be asked to delay his departure to the East Midlands to see the club through the tie against the German club and the subsequent two against Basel and Ferencvaros.
