Craig William Levein (born 22 October 1964 in Dunfermline) is a Scottish former professional footballer and current football manager and Director of Football of Scottish Premier League club Dundee United. During his playing career he played for Cowdenbeath, Heart of Midlothian and won 16 caps for the Scotland national team.

[edit] Playing career

As a youth, Levein attended Inverkeithing High School, where he was in the football team alongside another future Scottish international footballer, Gordon Durie. His early football career saw him turn out for Dalgety Bay, Leven Royals and Inverkeithing under-16s. At the age of 15, however, he gave up football for a year, only resuming when his brother, who played for junior club Lochore Welfare invited him to training there. Levein subsequently signed for Lochore and after trials with several senior clubs he finally joined Cowdenbeath in 1981.^[1]

Levein quickly established himself in the first team at Central Park and soon became a target for larger clubs than Cowdenbeath. In 1983 he moved to Heart of Midlothian for a fee of £40,000 and soon found himself a regular place in the Hearts first team. Levein won the SPFA Young Player of the Year award in 1985 and 1986. He made his Scotland debut in March 1990, a 1-0 win against Argentina at Hampden Park and played well enough to earn a place in Scotland's 1990 World Cup squad.

His playing career was punctuated by two separate serious knee ligament injuries, which eventually forced him into early retirement in 1995. However, it was not just injuries that kept Levein from playing during his time at Hearts; he was once given a 12-game ban after punching, and breaking the nose of, Hearts teammate Graeme Hogg during a pre-season friendly against Raith Rovers.

[edit] Coaching and managerial career

After being forced into retirement as a player, Levein had coaching positions at Hearts and at Livingston. In November 1997 he was appointed as manager of Cowdenbeath and turned a struggling team into one that could challenge for promotion. Cowdenbeath were promoted in 2001, but Levein had left in December 2000 to take over as manager at Hearts.

His time in charge of Hearts was highly successful, where he guided them to third place in the SPL in two successive seasons and thus guided them into European competition. His impressive record in Scotland caught the attention of Leicester City who appointed him as manager on 19 October 2004.^[2]

However after a poor start to the 2005-06 season, which left the club languishing third from bottom in the Championship relegation zone, he was sacked as manager on 25 January 2006.^[3]

Levein was appointed as manager of Scottish Second Division club Raith Rovers on 5 September 2006, on a non-contract basis.^[4] However, after Dundee United parted company with Craig Brewster, Levein left his non-contract role at Raith Rovers to take up the job at Tannadice. He was unveiled to the press on 30 October 2006.^[5]

Levein guided United to four successive home victories, earning him 'Manager of the Month' for November 2006, later repeating the award in March 2007 and again in October 2007.

On 21 January 2008 he was appointed Director of Football at Dundee United, giving him a seat on the Board of Directors in addition to his existing responsibilities.

[edit] Career statistics

[edit] Managerial record

Up to 05 December 2009 (League matches only):

[edit] Honours

[edit] Player

[edit] Hearts

• Scottish Cup Runner-up: 1
  

1985-86

• Scottish PFA Young Player of the Year: 2
  

1985, 1986

[edit] Manager

[edit] Hearts

• SPL Manager of the Month: 2
  

Dec 2001, Apr 2003

[edit] Dundee United

• SPL Manager of the Month: 4
  

Nov 2006, Mar 2007, Oct 2007, Nov 2009

• Scottish League Cup Runner-up: 1
  

2007-08

[edit] External links

• Official website profile
• Craig Levein management career stats at Soccerbase
• Craig Levein career stats at Soccerbase
• Profile at londonhearts.com

[edit] References

v • d • e Scotland squad – 1990 FIFA World Cup 1 Leighton • 2 McLeish • 3 Aitken • 4 Gough • 5 McStay • 6 Malpas • 7 Johnston • 8 Bett • 9 McCoist • 10 MacLeod • 11 Gillespie • 12 Goram • 13 Durie • 14 McInally • 15 Levein • 16 McCall • 17 McKimmie • 18 Collins • 19 McPherson • 20 McAllister • 21 Fleck • 22 Gunn • Coach: Roxburgh