PERHAPS now we know why Craig Levein chose to take a step back from the business of appointing Ian Cathro’s successor as Hearts manager. It would have seemed somewhat strange and narcissistic had the director of football led the search for the new man, sifted through the CVs, and carried out all the interviews….only to then announce at the end of an exhaustive process that the best person for the job was actually, well, himself. Giving himself a stiff interrogation over his suitability for the post would have been veering dangerously close to Fight Club territory.

Hearts will undoubtedly be lampooned for the decision to appoint their director of football as manager. Owner Ann Budge even made a joke about it in her statement announcing Levein’s switch in role, insisting that “for the first time in the last three years…he will indeed be picking the team!” a reference to perceived interference during Cathro’s time in the dug-out.

It is an unusual move to give Levein the job but that doesn’t mean Hearts have got it wrong. They must have analysed the qualities of Steven Pressley, Paul Hartley, Billy Davies and others and decided none were what they were looking for. Similarly, maybe it wasn’t the right time for interim coach Jon Daly or Austin MacPhee, Cathro’s assistant, both of whom will remain as part of the backroom team.

Levein, in situ since Budge took the club out of administration in 2014, delivers continuity. He also offers experience. Some Scotland fans may wince at the recollection of his time in charge of the national team but as an up-and-coming coach of some repute, he enjoyed four fruitful years as Hearts manager.

Trying to compete with Rangers and Celtic at the turn of the century as they carried out their own version of an arms race – stockpiling £6m players as eagerly as a pensioner gets in tins of soup for the winter – wasn’t the easiest of challenges but Levein made a decent fist of it, leading them to successive third-place finishes and into Europe. Memorable derby results against Hibernian also helped further endear him to the supporters. Of course, there are no guarantees that historical success will be replicated second time around. Levein has not managed at club level since 2009 and a lot has changed since then. It may also prove unsustainable and counter-productive to fill the roles of both head coach and director of football for anything other than the short-term.

It also calls into question Hearts’ commitment to the model of a young coach – like Cathro and Robbie Neilson before him – being guided by Levein’s experience. Perhaps he and Budge simply felt Hearts could not afford to take another punt on an untested coach and decided it was time for a safe pair of hands instead.

Budge’s reputation is on the line, too. The Hearts owner has barely put a foot wrong since taking over and has been refreshingly transparent in her dealings with adversity. She has backed Levein during their working relationship and will continue to do so, but perhaps not alighting on someone like Daly as the new head coach was also a tacit observation that the dream of an Anfield boot room-style line of succession was all very well in theory but harder to implement in reality.

Having to play the opening four games of the season on the road due to the construction of the new main stand has not helped Hearts’ cause either. Levein’s first match in charge will be at Murrayfield against Aberdeen on September 9 and Budge cited that as another reason for the club going down this particular road.

“In deciding how best to move forward, the board took into account the fact that we are facing a unique set of circumstances this year, with the first match on our home ground not coming until three months into the season,” she explained in her statement. “Given this situation, we believed it was essential to call on experience. The candidates we interviewed were, without exception, first-class. However, as the interview process progressed, it became clear to the board that the ideal candidate was already with us.”

Hearts need a unified front right now and Budge insisted “everyone [inside the club] is fully behind” Levein. The decision, though, met with mixed reviews among supporters to say the least. After the failure of Cathro’s tenure, there is pressure on Levein to deliver a return to more prosperous times. At least the matter is now in his own hands.