'Excuse after excuse', 'I don't blame him for everything' - Hearts fans have their say on Craig Levein's interview and survival claims

The former Hearts boss believed he would have kept the club in the Premiership

Craig Levein spoke to media for one of the first times since leaving being sacked as Hearts manager at the end of October.

In an interview with the BBCSportsound/status/1269963892807122944">BBC, the former Tynecastle player and manager apologised for the position the club are in but believed he could have turned it around given more time.

Levein also pointed to the injury situation which hampered progress.

Craig Levein spoke on his Hearts reign on BBC. Picture: SNS

At the time of his dismissal the club had won just eight league games since he had led the team to the top of the table at the beginning of November 2018.

Former Hearts midfielder Michael Stewart, who has been a Levein critic, expressed his view on the interview on social media.

He tweeted: “Man takes zero responsibility ever. An incredible ability to deflect.”

Hearts fans also had their say on what Levein said.

@Lewis_McKenzie_: “Headline will take all the focus here but some interesting points made…

- Good squad, but never felt they clicked

- Not enough leaders, most were injured

- Too much pressure and anxiety for some players in games vs bottom six

Which all takes you back to one thing: Recruitment”

@frazz4: “Mixed feelings about his interview, I do believe he thought he could sort it. But that was the problem, he couldn't. He did say sorry at the end of the interview he tried his best he said, thanks Craig now off you pop.”

@roberts1874: “It’s excuse after excuse, you recruited them so the buck stops at you.”

@HeartsRant: “He went 170 days without a win and failed to win 75% of matches within the calendar year of 2019. The man has no shame. None whatsoever. His reign was a disgrace and his arrogance continues as he begins his quest to gain new employment.”

@ali_hibberd: “No doubt he presided over a nightmare period for Hearts but I also have no doubt whatsoever he did his very best. He's gone now so maybe it's time to lay off the slagging.”

@crynie1: “Definitely stayed to long and football was rank rotten but also think games against Hamilton, St Mirren etc would’ve got better results. Still should've left after cup final.”

@NATALIEHAZLETT: “I don’t blame him for everything wrong at Hearts and wish him all the best.”

@flitch: “We may need a new manager but we definitely need new players, he brought a lot of mediocre rubbish to the club in the past couple of years and has to take a whole lot of the blame for appalling recruitment.”

@annewitha_e: “I wish him well in whatever he does next, as long as he never gets near Hearts again. Football legends should never become their club manager.”

@jambotillidie12: “Unfortunately Hearts lost that final, everything could have turned out differently and Craig would have been remembered. But he brought so many rubbish players. The style of play was not very good. Ann should have sacked him earlier.”

@bobbypringle1: “He’s gone. End of story. An unsavoury end to an otherwise splendid hearts career. Out of his depth in the end and ran out of deflection tactics which appear to be at the fore again.”

@smithcw33: “Still bleeting on about the injuries and when they cleared up we would be fine. We had been terrible for 12 months and he didn’t know how to stop the rot. Absolute joke. Hearts should be top 4 every season with the resources we have and he didn’t even come close.”

@jambof3tornado: “He's gone and its time to move on.”

@Amoruso1998: “Craig Levein was allowed to talk about certain players lacking the character to play for the club. Why was he not challenged properly about recruitment today. That squad had 0 balance for all the quality it may have shown on paper. For example starting season with Bozanic, Irving and Clare being your three main central midfielders or Morrison and Mulraney your two main out and out wide men. And one left sided central defender who was nearing end of career.”

@BornheimerHang: “Quite evident from that interview that he knew he had signed players who hid when the going got tough. Which is in direct opposition to the claim at the beginning of the Budge era that we would only be signing players of the right character.”

@grantak51: “He makes a valid point about the injuries to key players but to suggest that the others did not have the necessary character, when as DOF, he recruited them is staggering. We’re also still left with those spineless players. Cheers Craig.”

Liam Mackenzie: “Absolutely no responsibility taken. Your players, your tactics and we were rank for 18 months. Absolutely no chance you were turning that around. Yes we had injuries but we had about a 33 player squad so they should have been of equal quality to step in. If you ever walk back into Tynecastle in a working capacity I will never be back through the turnstiles.”

Craig Sibbald: “We had more coaches than the fleet at Charlie Irons and Levein felt he may have bit off more than he could chew? This is the same Craig Levein that said he had the same role at Tannadice and done it very well. Horrendous mis-management of a sizeable budget, horrendous recruitment and horrendous fitba.”