Levein: I don't need to talk the talk before my lads walk the walk

Aug 10 2008 By Gordon Waddell

CRAIG LEVEIN has revealed he trusts his Dundee United side to perform so much he never bothers giving them a team talk.

And the Arabs gaffer - who spends the first half of every game watching from the stand - admits he's ready to bin his dugout duties completely because he's not sure he does any good on the touchline.

In an intriguing eve-of-season interview the 43-year-old took MailSport behind the dressing-room door of the team bookies rate hot favourites to push the Old Firm hardest.

And as Levein prepared United for their opener against First Division champs Hamilton tomorrow night he vowed they will be ready to mount a challenge without him delivering a paint-off-the-walls rallying cry.

Levein said: "We do our work during the week with a view to the Saturday or the Monday night, whenever we're playing.

"So when we get to the game I don't do a team talk. I'll go into the dressing-room occasionally if I have to change things.

"But everyone knows exactly what they're doing so I don't even travel on the team bus. I just go directly to the game.

"I might be around the dressing-room making one or two individual points and very occasionally might do a team talk if I feel there's a real need.

"Otherwise I just wish them all the best because I know they have done the work.

"At Leicester I ended up doing more and more - team meetings, video analysis, team talks at half-time, before the game, pre-match meals.

"That dilutes what you have to say.

"The harder it became the more I did. I ended up thinking to myself: Shut up!

"Then when I first came back up from Leicester I got people together before the start of the game and it wasn't a team talk.

"It was more about 'Relax, don't worry about the result, trust each other to work hard and play well'.

"The only time I've done that recently was in the CIS Cup Final or away to the big teams where you need a certain level of calmness and belief. But right before a game I don't want to fill their heads with anything else - there's no banging on doors.

"I might go in and try and influence a match at half-time, which I feel strongly you can do, but that's about it."

Another Levein quirk is his absence from pitchside for the first 45 minutes, instead taking his seat in the top tier of the stand behind the goal at Tannadice.

Now he's considering extending that ploy to the full 90.

He confessed: "I'll maybe end up there permanently - I've thought about it hard.

"In the stand I have a game plan and can see perfectly if we're doing well.

"If I know exactly what I'm looking for then I'm better watching it rather than someone else.

"And I'm not convinced by the merits of being on the touchline. You cannot get players going from there. If anything it's the opposite - you can have a calming effect."

The biggest surprise of the week was Levein didn't have a spell in the stand imposed on him, along with his £5000 fine, when the SFA heard the case for his outburst against Mike McCurry.

Levein blasted the ref after he wrongly disallowed Danny Swanson's goal, denied United a stonewall penalty and ignored Daniel Cousin's headbutt during his side's 3-1 defeat at Ibrox inMay.

But he still insists the process rather than the punishment is a scandal.

He said: "I made my points as forcibly as I could. The rules are a nonsense because it's not about what you say and if it's true or not.

"If you say something, whether it's true or not, you are guilty. As soon as you open your mouth, you're in breach of their articles even if what you say is 100 per cent accurate.

"Time has moved on from when these rules were made. These days people air their opinions."

Despite that it hasn't dampened Levein's enthusiasm for the season ahead.

He said: "I'm excited. It always feels good when you have new players and there's a nervousness among them about who will be playing, who won't.

"It's aggressive and competitive when the ball comes out.

"Our only target is to be better than we were last year. That shows you're making progress."