Craig Levein has backed Hearts head coach Wouter Vrancken to turn things around at Tynecastle, insisting the Belgian needs time despite a run of heavy defeats.
The Jambos sit fourth in the Premiership but were thrashed 5-2 at home by Falkirk last weekend, following substantial losses to Celtic and Thun in the Europa Conference League. Levein, a Hearts legend with 14 years as a player and two spells as manager, has urged patience with Vrancken, who is dealing with a severe injury crisis that has decimated the squad.
Injury crisis leaves Hearts down to the bare bones
Wide man Calvin Miller has joined the likes of Craig Halkett, Stephen Kingsley, Harry Milne, Blair Spittal, Oisin McEntee and Tomas Magnusson on the treatment table, leaving the head coach with limited options.
Levein said: “I think he needs to be given time. It’s not his fault that so many players have broken down. Some in training, some in impact injuries, some muscle injuries. It’s not like it’s just one specific set of injuries. It’s a mixture of a whole load of things.
“When you go to a new club and you want to get off to a flying start, the last thing you need is to be looking around and you’ve got four of your centre-backs sitting behind the dugout. It’s tough.”
Levein criticises modern impatience in football
The former Hearts and St Johnstone manager also criticised the growing demand for immediate success in the modern game, pointing to a shift in managerial tenure.
“There is an impatience in the game these days. I feel, certainly when I started out, it wasn’t there. I think when I started out, a manager was in situ for nearly three years or just over three years. What is it now? 12 months?”
Levein added that the transfer window system compounds the pressure on managers, limiting their ability to reshape squads quickly. “Of course, the window system doesn’t help because you can’t make changes other than inside the windows. You can take over a team that’s not been doing particularly well and you’ve got a whole load of players who might have half a dozen that are out of contract next summer.
“Most teams don’t have huge amounts of money to go in and just get new players but still keep these guys and wait for their contracts to run out. There aren’t very many clubs that are in that position. So, a manager needs time.”
