From Daily Telegraph Friday morning.
I'm off to bed now....
Craig Levein, the Hearts manager, is expected to be confirmed as the new Leicester City manager today.
The Scottish club's owner, Vladimir Romanov, has tried desperately to retain the services of the 40-year-old, who is regarded as one of the brightest prospects to emerge from Scottish football and had refused Leicester's first request for permission to open negotiations with the former Scotland international.
During talks last night with Romanov, a Lithuanian banker, Levein expressed his desire to speak with the Championship side and it is expected he will get his wish this morning.
Levein has guided Hearts into the UEFA Cup for the last three seasons, but initial posturing over Leicester's request to approach him subsided when Levein indicated that he would like to take the challenge of English football, because of the inability to break the stranglehold of Rangers and Celtic north of the border.
Leicester - who were given a glowing recommendation of Levein by their former manager Martin O'Neill - are ready to offer the Hearts chief a 2½-year contract and have made it clear they are prepared to pay the £250,000 compensation clause to secure his release.
They are confident that Levein will agree terms of around £350,000-a-year during negotiations with director of football Dave Bassett, who has been in temporary charge of the side since Micky Adams' resignation almost three weeks ago.
"As and when the board want to speak to Craig Levein that is when I will be getting involved. He has done a very good job at Hearts and Cowdenbeath before that," said Bassett.
Bassett will retain his post as director of football, but the return to the game of former FA technical director Howard Wilkinson as his assistant will be short-lived. Levein has already lined up his Hearts assistant Peter Houston to be the No 2 at the Walkers Stadium.
I'm off to bed now....
Craig Levein, the Hearts manager, is expected to be confirmed as the new Leicester City manager today.
The Scottish club's owner, Vladimir Romanov, has tried desperately to retain the services of the 40-year-old, who is regarded as one of the brightest prospects to emerge from Scottish football and had refused Leicester's first request for permission to open negotiations with the former Scotland international.
During talks last night with Romanov, a Lithuanian banker, Levein expressed his desire to speak with the Championship side and it is expected he will get his wish this morning.
Levein has guided Hearts into the UEFA Cup for the last three seasons, but initial posturing over Leicester's request to approach him subsided when Levein indicated that he would like to take the challenge of English football, because of the inability to break the stranglehold of Rangers and Celtic north of the border.
Leicester - who were given a glowing recommendation of Levein by their former manager Martin O'Neill - are ready to offer the Hearts chief a 2½-year contract and have made it clear they are prepared to pay the £250,000 compensation clause to secure his release.
They are confident that Levein will agree terms of around £350,000-a-year during negotiations with director of football Dave Bassett, who has been in temporary charge of the side since Micky Adams' resignation almost three weeks ago.
"As and when the board want to speak to Craig Levein that is when I will be getting involved. He has done a very good job at Hearts and Cowdenbeath before that," said Bassett.
Bassett will retain his post as director of football, but the return to the game of former FA technical director Howard Wilkinson as his assistant will be short-lived. Levein has already lined up his Hearts assistant Peter Houston to be the No 2 at the Walkers Stadium.
