CRAIG LEVEIN has broken silence on his shock departure from St Johnstone.
The former Scotland boss was sacked by the Perth club just five league games into the season – just hours before the club’s new US owner Adam Webb revealed that he is suffering from cancer.
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Asked about the affair on BBC Sportsound, Levein said: “Can I tell you why? No, not really.
“I do think that performances have been good, results haven’t been as good as the performances. We’ve also had some difficulties – five sendings off, which doesn’t help. And we’ve had a few injuries. I still think the team is competing in every match we’ve played.
“But it’s Adam’s club, he’s come in, he’s calling the shots and he’s decided that it is time for me to go.
“It was a surprise but I’ve been here in this movie before and I dare say if I get back in I will be in it again.
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“I actually got on all right with him. The priorities for me were just about trying to improve the squad and get results. I think Adam was looking at the bigger picture.
“But listen I got on okay with him, there weren’t issues on that front. And I’ve been in the game long enough to know how it works.
“If you don’t get results then the chances are you will lose your job and I guess that is what has happened.
“I don’t think [there was any particular moment]. There was nothing in the conversations that indicated that.
“But obviously it came after the loss late on against Motherwell, Adam has been thinking about it and has decided to pull the trigger.
“I’ve been here hundreds of times.
“The only think I’m little bit disappointed as I think we had a good squad this season certainly in the front line with lots of options and lots of goalscorers and I was looking forward to him but unfortunately that is not going to happen now.
“Not getting results is the most obvious reason there is. But I think there’s more to it than that. There were good signs that the team were better than they were last season.
“We were playing much better football, creating more chances. Those things are facts, easy to research, and I think with the firepower we had we had a good chance of getting into the top six this season.
“It’s Adam’s decision. He bought the club from Geoff and he makes the decision.
“I’m hoping Andy Kirk gets the benefit of that and gets to work with the guys.
“If it goes the same way as other clubs with American owners have got I don’t think Andy stands a chance, they always want to bring their own guys in.
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“I feel better leaving this job than I did leaving Hearts. I think I’ve made progress and we’ve got the semblance of a good mid table team. “
“I feel like I’ve done a decent job at St Johnstone – certainly last season staying up – and I think the signings I’ve made improved the team but we’ll see.”
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