THE manager of the Scotland men’s football team, Craig Levein, is reported to have admitted that he “enjoyed” being at the centre of a media storm, following the tactics he deployed in a crucial defeat by the Czech Republic last month.
A 4-6-0 formation in the qualifying match for the European Championships meant no recognised forward for the ball to be played to and, for all their good and inevitable defensive play, Scotland lost 1-0.
Helping yesterday to launch a book about the art of football management – penned by the Scottish Daily Mail’s Rob Robertson and the The Herald/Sunday Herald’s Michael Grant – he is quoted in The Herald today saying: “What I’ve found fascinating is how this whole [media] thing works. It gave me an insight into what it might be like at [as manager of] either of the Old Firm [of Rangers and Celtic]. The heightened interest is probably something you look at from the outside and think it must be like constant attention. But until you’re actually in it you don’t understand what it’s like.
“It’s really given me an insight into what it would be like to be managing at a club where the media interest and public interest is so intense. From that point of view I think it’s been a really good thing.
“For all you think you’ve been prepared going into the job, until you’ve been there you don’t know. Without a shadow of doubt I learned from those ten days or whatever it was. Looking back I enjoyed it. That seems a bit sick maybe, but I did. Give me that rather than periods of quiet.”
