We Don't Need A Hampden Road Test

Mar 9 2008 By Gordon Waddell

CRAIG LEVEIN will resist taking his cup final rookies for some Hampden homework next week - and tell them to learn big-game lessons at Celtic Park instead.

More than half the Dundee United squad will never have set foot in the national stadium before they face Rangers in next Sunday's CIS showdown.

But gaffer Levein has knocked back the chance to give them a flavour of the Mount Florida feeling ahead of the big day.

And he has told them if they can deal with the pressure of a crucial SPL clash in front of 60,000 at Parkhead on Wednesday night it will tell him more about how ready they are to handle the Hampden heat.

Levein said: "It's my first trip to Hampden in a suit as well so I'm looking forward to it.

"And we maybe only have four or five players who have been there. I did think about taking some of the inexperienced lads along to see the place next week but ultimately it's an empty stadium.

"You'll never get a real feel for what it's like when full. So I'll learn more about them against Celtic in front of a full house.

"A few of them played there for the first time this season and when you've done it once it serves you well for next time.

"Some players can handle it straight away, others will learn to cope.

"But you have to be mentally strong to cope. I'm still learning about these players because some are young and have progressed so quickly - the final will tell me more."

Levein's success this season has been built on a rock-solid defence and the energy of his midfield.

The emergence of quality kids like Morgaro Gomis, Prince Buaben, Danny Grainger and Danny Swanson has taken even him by surprise.

But despite their inexperience the former Hearts and Leicester gaffer said: "We're not just going to Hampden to make up the numbers.

"Some of these young lads have played more games than I thought they would - but they're in the team because they're good enough.

"And I have no thought in my mind other than coming back up that road with the cup.

"I want the lads to realise this is special. It's not just another 90 minutes."

Levein insists he can barely remember his only experience of a Hampden final - maybe because he has chosen to wipe it out.

It came in 1986when Hearts - fresh from blowing the title on that infamous final day at Dens Park - crashed 3-0 to Alex Ferguson's Aberdeen. Levein sighed: "It's hard to put into words how that day felt.

"It's impossible to measure how deep an effect the league thing had on us. And then half the squad went down with a bug before the game.

"We all believed if we'd won the title we would have done the double. But back then I'd never have thought that would be our only final.

"I'm convinced we'd have been up there the next season if Graeme Souness hadn't come in at Rangers and changed everything."