Is there a more bitter individual in all of Scottish football when his team has just been beat than Craig Levein?
I wrote about this pitiful manager earlier in the week when he talked about the “hysteria” that surrounds managers, ostensibly to give his support to Neil Lennon.
Actually, as I said, he was covering his own backside in anticipation of a skelping at Parkhead today.
It happened just as I thought.
And did we get credit for it?
(Laughter in the background.)
No, of course we didn’t.
Praising Celtic? I get the impression this guy would rather cut off one of his limbs.
His team were not at the races today except for a five-minute spell after they scored from the penalty spot and seemed to be infused with a little extra energy.
It came too late and it didn’t last. Celtic dominated them from start to finish that spell aside, and it leaves Hearts second bottom on a single point, alongside Kilmarnock who at least have the excuse of having to bed in a full management team.
Levein has never won a major honour in his career.
Think about that.
That is the definition of a loser.
That man has failure written all over him, yet only this week Ann Budge was expressing her full confidence in him.
To do what? Get them relegated?
His anguish at full-time today would have been a little more tolerable if he didn’t talk such outright nonsense.
Have you ever heard anything like this in your life? He would rather his own defenders took on the ignominy of having scored own goals than grant two of them to our striker making his first starting appearance for the team.
“I am sitting here very frustrated,” Levein whined after the match. “We scored two own goals and gifted Celtic their other goal.” The “gift” he’s referring to is McGregor’s scorching effort, which any other manager might have given the player credit for.
Levein is not going to survive the season. His appointment was a joke, but one which was made to look better by their progression to a cup semi-final and a final last season. They played us both times of course, and lost both times.
On the day he goes I don’t think even the Hearts fans will shed many tears for him.