FOOTBALL: PEOPLE LAUGHED AS I STRUGGLED .. THEY WANTED ME TO FAIL BUT I'M A SURVIVOR
May 1 2005
By Gordon Waddell
CRAIG LEVEIN always knew he had a judge and jury waiting for him next season. He just didn't realise the journey he had to negotiate to get to the trial would take him so close to death row.
The Leicester City boss breathed a long-awaited sigh of relief on Tuesday night as his side ditched Derby and finally secured their Championship survival.
Now, six months to the day since the 40-year-old left his Hearts haven behind, he's finally looking up the way at the Premiership instead of shooting nervous glances over his shoulder at the abyss below.
Levein put his reputation and ambitions on the line when he moved to the Walkers Stadium in November and told everyone he had his sights set on the top flight.
And he's well aware people have been looking at their steady slide from mid-table and saying he's just another jock who's all mouth and no trousers.
In fact, he reckons there are those who'll be ENJOYING watching him toil. But he insists the time to judge him will be the end of NEXT season, not this one.
He said: 'I admit it's been to o close for comfort. The reason I got the job was the club was under-achieving.
'We'd signed a lot of experienced, highly paid Premiership players on one-year contracts - and it just didn't work.
'I can understand why Micky Adams did it because you look at the squad on paper and think, 'We've got a right chance here'But for some players it's just a bridge too far. A 46-game slog against guys who are hungry and fancy their chances against a big name.
'We just had too much experience and not enough legs.
'Still, it tells you something about your players - who you can rely on under pressure - and that's helped me make up my mind about who's staying.
'But we have to make the right signings in the summer. There'll be some people looking and saying, 'Ha, great, he's struggling' but there are a lot of things going right behind the scenes - and I'll be judged next season.'
At least he'll hit the ground running this time after a six-month crash course in what it takes to succeed in the Championship.
He and coaches Peter Houston and Kenny Black have had to learn on the hoof as well as mesh with assistant boss Rob Kelly - AND set about reducing the age profile of a side who could have had Stanna Stairlifts as their main sponsors.
The game before he took over, the average age of the starting line-up was the wrong side of 32.
On Tuesday that was down to 27, and by August it will be lower yet.
Former Arsenal great Martin Keown has already gone and Premiership veterans Ian Walker, Dion Dublin, Keith Gillespie and Nikos Dabizas will follow in a couple of weeks.
However, Levein is quick to stress it's their legs and not their egos that have been the problem.
He said: 'They're all right, honestly.
'I thought I'd have problems with some of the experienced players but there are No Billy Big-Times at all.
'Dion Dublin has played most games. He's a household name, played up front and at the back without a moan.
'Nikos Dabizas the same - he's brand new and he's a European Championship winner. He's a gem.
'The thing is, though, down here next season Sven Goran Eriksson is wanting a clear month to prepare the England team for the World Cup Finals in Germany. So if you stay in the Cup, you play EVERY midweek between August and Christmas, barring the international breaks.
'It's crazy but that's what we face and you can only get through that with the legs to match your experience.'
Levein has already made inroads on that front. Alan Maybury has settled instantly - 'he's been magnificent' - as has Stephen Hughes from Rangers and young stopper Paddy McCarthy from Manchester City.
And forgotten Scot Gareth Williams has also been given a new lease of life in midfield.
Patrick Kisnorbo and 23-year-old Slovenian striker Jani Sturm from HIT Gorica are on pre-contracts and Levein still has concrete faith in Mark De Vries making a big impact after a decent pre-season despite a less-than-impressive start.
Levein said: 'Mark hasn't set the heather on fire yet but he's still living in a hotel and hasn't been 100 per cent fit.
'I still have ultimate faith he'll be a big player for us.
'But it's going to be an important summer in terms of signings.
'It's a little bit out of the frying pan and into the fire for me because we've been asked to lose £5million from the wage bill.
'But it's not as tough as it was at Hearts because there's more to play with in the first place.
'And we're not starting from a bad position.
'I look at the way we've played recently against Sunderland and Ipswich and I know we have a chance.
'We know what we need to add. 'Two dominating centre-backs, a striker or two - we have Stefan Moore on loan from Aston Villa and he looks good - and a goalkeeper, one who's big, experienced and hungry and who's not going to be fazed playing in front of 30,000 people.'
Rab Douglas, perhaps? Levein laughs but he's giving nothing away yet.
Much like he expects of his team next season.
That's been his biggest bugbear - that his team have coughed up a whopping 26 goals from set-pieces.
Forging a miserly defence is something he and Houston took huge pride in at Hearts and a problem he insists will be top of his list of things to sort in pre-season.
His eyes roll into his head when he thinks about it.
He said: 'That's the thing about this division.
'It's not harder than the SPL but I've discovered set-pieces are EVERYTHING. It's amazing how many goals come from them. 'Every team has someone who can deliver a killer ball, every team has someone who has a long throw who can toss it into the box from anywhere in the last third.
'That's part of the learning process for me and a problem we can iron out over the summer when I've studied all the tapes.'
The other problem he has to solve is teaching his side to WIN.
Before yesterday his team had drawn an amazing 20 out of 44 games.
Think about that. Even if they'd LOST 10 of those and won the other 10, they'd still be 10 points better off and nearer the play-offs than relegation.
He said: 'It IS unbelievable. I know it sounds like excuses but we're nowhere near where we should be in the league.
'And we've also had some crazy decisions given against us.
'I've been in football 20-odd years and never seen this but TWICE this year we've had a situation where an opponent has passed the ball back towards his own goal, our striker's nipped in and scored and the linesman's given offside'That's what leaves you shaking your head because it sounds like you're just making excuses.'
Levein still has no regrets, though, no remorse he could have stuck around at Hearts and ridden the Romanov rollercoaster.
Already the Jambos have slipped from the consistent heights Levein kept them at for two seasons, with third place and a slot in the UEFA Cup now gone from John Robertson's grasp.
The former Tynecastle boss said: 'Nah, I just had the feeling. I wanted out a year before to be honest because the writing was on the wall.
'We were digging up players from out of nowhere, the youth system was working really hard and I knew we couldn't keep doing it.
'Every time I went to a board meeting it was getting worse.
'But I saw all the players out of contract at the end of this season and knew I had to be gone by then.
'So I've got no regrets at all. 'It's been tough but we'll hit the ground running next season
;-) :mrgreen:
