Personal information | |||
---|---|---|---|
Full name | Craig William Levein | ||
Date of birth | 22 October 1964 | ||
Place of birth | Dunfermline, Scotland | ||
Height | 1.85 m (6 ft 1 in) | ||
Playing position | Defender | ||
Club information | |||
Current club | Scotland (Manager) | ||
Youth career | |||
Lochore Welfare | |||
Senior career* | |||
Years | Team | Apps† | (Gls)† |
1981–1983 | Cowdenbeath | 60 | (0) |
1983–1995 | Heart of Midlothian | 329 | (15) |
National team | |||
1990–1994 | Scotland | 16 | (0) |
Teams managed | |||
1997–2000 | Cowdenbeath | ||
2000–2004 | Heart of Midlothian | ||
2004–2006 | Leicester City | ||
2006 | Raith Rovers | ||
2006–2009 | Dundee United | ||
2009– | Scotland | ||
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. † Appearances (Goals). |
Craig William Levein (born 22 October 1964 in Dunfermline) is a Scottish former professional footballer and manager of the Scotland national team. During his playing career he played for Cowdenbeath and Heart of Midlothian.
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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 his boyhood heroes 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.
International career
Levein won 16 caps for the Scotland national team.
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.
Hearts and Leicester City
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.
Leicester 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]
Raith Rovers
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.
Dundee United
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 the club, giving him a seat on the Board of Directors in addition to his existing managerial responsibilities.
Scotland
On 23 December 2009, Levein left Dundee United to become the new Scotland manager. He agreed a five and a half year deal.[6] In his first match in charge against the Czech Republic, the team they would later face in the UEFA Euro 2012 qualifying Group I, his team posted a 1–0 win over the Czechs, with the goal coming from Celtic F.C. Captain Scott Brown.
Career statistics
Club performance | League | Cup | League Cup | Continental | Total | |||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Season | Club | League | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals |
Scotland | League | Scottish Cup | Scottish League Cup | Europe | Total | |||||||
1981/82 | Cowdenbeath | Scottish Second Division | 60 | 0 | N/A | N/A | - | 60 | 0 | |||
1982/83 | ||||||||||||
1983/84 | ||||||||||||
Heart of Midlothian | Scottish Premier Division | 19 | 0 | 2 | 0 | - | - | 21 | 0 | |||
1984/85 | 36 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 5 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 47 | 2 | ||
1985/86 | 33 | 2 | 5 | 0 | 3 | 0 | - | 41 | 2 | |||
1986/87 | 12 | 0 | - | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 15 | 0 | |||
1987/88 | 21 | 0 | - | - | - | 21 | 0 | |||||
1988/89 | 9 | 0 | 2 | 0 | - | 2 | 0 | 13 | 0 | |||
1989/90 | 35 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 0 | - | 41 | 0 | |||
1990/91 | 33 | 4 | - | 3 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 40 | 4 | |||
1991/92 | 36 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 3 | 0 | - | 43 | 2 | |||
1992/93 | 37 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 46 | 4 | ||
1993/94 | 30 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 37 | 3 | ||
1994/95 | 24 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 0 | - | 30 | 0 | |||
1995/96 | 1 | 0 | - | 2 | 0 | - | 3 | 0 | ||||
Career Total | 384 | 15 | 48 | 0 | 79 | 38 | 60 | 11 | 571 | 17 |
Managerial record
Up to 15 December 2009 (League matches only):
Years | Club | Pld | Won | Drawn | Lost | Pts/game | Win% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1997–2000 | Cowdenbeath | 127 | 46 | 26 | 55 | 1.29 | ||
2000–2004 | Hearts | 170 | 74 | 41 | 55 | 1.55 | ||
2004–2006 | Leicester City | 72 | 20 | 26 | 26 | 1.19 | ||
2006 | Raith Rovers | 7 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 0.86 | ||
2006–2009 | Dundee United | 117 | 43 | 37 | 37 | 1.41 | ||
2009– | Scotland | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3.00 |
Honours
Player
Hearts
- Scottish Cup Runner-up: 1
Manager
Hearts
Dundee United
- Scottish League Cup Runner-up: 1
External links
- Dundee United F.C. profile
- Craig Levein management career stats at Soccerbase
- Craig Levein career stats at Soccerbase
- Profile at londonhearts.com
References
- ^ The Rampant Ballboy Interviews – Craig Levein, article from When the Sun Shines fanzine, reproduced by blue-brazil.co.uk. Retrieved on 1 November 2006
- ^ "Leicester appoint Levein as boss". BBC Sport website. 2004-10-29. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/3960105.stm.
- ^ "Levein and Leicester part company". BBC Sport website. 2006-01-25. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/l/leicester_city/4648436.stm.
- ^ "Raith appoint Levein as manager". BBC Sport website. 2006-09-05. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/r/raith_rovers/5306266.stm.
- ^ "Dundee Utd unveil Levein as boss". BBC Sport website. 2006-10-30. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/d/dundee_utd/6099414.stm.
- ^ "SFA agree Levein deal". The Press Association. 23 December 2009. http://www.google.com/hostednews/ukpress/article/ALeqM5hYKCzJiyf92yt5Vcn_SvcIQgztUA. Retrieved 23 December 2009.
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