It has been a harsh lesson for Levein, but he has bowed to the inevitable with grace

Hugh Macdonald

Chief Sports Writer

Wednesday 3 October 2012

C RAIG LEVEIN is both manager and punter.

Craig Levein gives the impression of accepting he was wrong

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Hugh MacDonald

He likes a bet, but on Monday night he made the best call of a turbulent year. He picked up the telephone and spoke to Steven Fletcher, who is an odds-on choice to score for Sunderland every time he plays.

It was the right decision but a difficult one. Levein had become besieged, but the demands of his personality ensured that any escape would be painful. The thrawnness of Levein is hardly unique, and his strength of mind is, frankly, a requisite of top-class management but these traits had conspired to place him in an absurd position. His original decision to exclude Fletcher from a squad came from a desire to maintain a strong discipline. The subsequent exclusions were made after the infamous text was sent from the striker. Levein could argue then, with some authority, that the player had thus made a decision that the manager would not challenge.There should have been no disclosure of the snub by text, a quiet but not desperate hope expressed that the player might some day change his mind and a brisk statement about moving on.Instead, Levein was condemned to wince every time Jeff Stelling said of a Saturday: ''And there has been a goal for Sunderland . . ."He was in that most awful position for a manager. He was at the mercy of events over which he had no control. Fletcher, in the cliched parlance, could not stop scoring and journalists could not stop asking about it. Levein has bowed to the inevitable with some grace. He pointed out his stubbornness yesterday and was honest about his processes of thought. The lesson had been learned by the manager, though privately he may feel that his hardline stance was justified. It may have been in the early chapters of this saga but Levein had to be flexible as it progressed. Finally, he has accepted that reality.Fletcher will now play for Scotland and that may cause some friction within the squad. However, professional footballers adapt quickly to the imperatives of their employment. It would be mean-spirited to suggest that Levein has acted to save his job. The impression, rather, is of a man who has accepted he was wrong and tried to make a right. Fletcher may improve results, but many punters feel that the World Cup race has already been run. And Levein and the rest of us are not waiting in the queue to be paid out.

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It has been a harsh lesson for Levein, but he has bowed to the inevitable with grace

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