Craig Levein

He was the first manager to take Hearts into Europe in successive seasons since the 1960s.

Craig William Levein (born 22 October 1964) is a Scottish professional football manager and former player who is currently the manager of Scottish Premiership club St Johnstone.

During his playing career he played for Cowdenbeath and Heart of Midlothian, making over 300 league appearances for Hearts until he was forced to retire due to injury.

Levein subsequently signed for Lochore and after trials with several senior clubs he finally joined Cowdenbeath in 1981.

He quickly established himself in the first team and soon became a target for larger clubs.

In 1983, he moved to Heart of Midlothian for a fee of £40,000 and soon found himself a regular place in their first team.

Levein won the SPFA Young Player of the Year award in 1985 and 1986, becoming the first player to retain the title.

In the latter season Hearts chased a league and cup double.

Two goals in the last 10 minutes of the season by Albert Kidd gave Hearts their first league defeat in 31 games, which handed the league title to Celtic.

Levein missed that game through illness.

He returned to the Hearts team the following week in the 1986 Scottish Cup Final, which Hearts lost 3–0 to Aberdeen.

1986 brought further woe for the young Levein when he picked up a serious knee injury in a reserve team game against Hibernian.

The injury was to change his life.

He had a recurrence of the injury in 1988 when he collapsed unchallenged in a game against Rangers and spent a second year out of the game.

It was not just injuries that kept Levein from playing during his time at Hearts: he was given a 12-game ban after punching, and breaking the nose of, Hearts teammate Graeme Hogg during a pre-season friendly against Raith Rovers.

He also won 16 caps for Scotland and was part of their 1990 FIFA World Cup squad.

After retiring as a player Levein became a manager, working at club level for Cowdenbeath, Heart of Midlothian, Leicester City, Raith Rovers and Dundee United.

He made his Scotland debut in March 1990, a 1–0 win against reigning world champions, Argentina, at Hampden Park and played well enough to earn a place in Scotland's 1990 World Cup squad.

Levein won 16 caps for the Scotland national team.

After being forced into retirement as a player, Levein had coaching positions at Hearts and at Livingston.

Levein was forced to retire from playing in 1997, due to another serious knee injury.

He made 401 appearances for Hearts.

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 successful, where he guided them to third place in the SPL in two successive seasons and thus into European competition.

His impressive record in Scotland caught the attention of Leicester City, who appointed Levein as manager on 29 October 2004.

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

Levein was appointed as manager of his boyhood heroes, Scottish Second Division club Raith Rovers, on 5 September 2006, on a non-contract basis.

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.

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.

In August 2008, he was fined £5000 by the SFA for accusing a referee (Mike McCurry) of bias after a game against Rangers.

Levein was appointed Scotland manager in 2009, but he left this position after the team failed to win any of its first four matches in 2014 FIFA World Cup qualification.

He returned to Hearts in 2014 as director of football, then served as their manager from August 2017 to October 2019.

After a spell advising Brechin City, Levein was appointed St Johnstone manager in November 2023.

Levein was born in Dunfermline and attended Inverkeithing High School, where he was in the football team alongside another future Scottish international footballer, Gordon Durie.

He was a supporter of Raith Rovers.

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.