ERIC NICOLSON: Inside Craig Levein's final interview as Saints boss

Football’s capacity to surprise never ceases to, well, surprise.

Speaking with a manager for 20 minutes at lunchtime on Tuesday and then learning an hour or so later that he was going to be sacked was a new one on me, that’s for sure.

It’s not breaking any confidences to report that Craig Levein did not see this one coming.

You don’t need to be an expert in reading body language to pick up on the fact that he felt it was business as usual this week.

Levein, fresh from an unseasonably hot McDiarmid Park training ground, was in typically good form, on the tapes and off.

Given the turn of events, no Saints fan will have a great appetite for their now former manager’s thoughts on a goalie coach he worked with for all of two days, the continuing saga of finding a centre-half and left-back (Ghana’s Dennis Khorsa, if you’re interested), Graham Carey’s hip, Benji Kimpioka’s shin pads or the reappearance of Sven Sprangler in his starting line-up.

Sven Sprangler played well on his return to the St Johnstone team but was dejected at full-time. Image: SNS.

It does feel pertinent, and ironic, to reflect on one Levein quote, though.

“A lot of bizarre things have happened in a short period,” he said. “Some of them that normally come round once every three or four years…….we’d like to just get a run at it without things going against us.”

For Levein, at least, that run of things going against him has ended. With his removal as St Johnstone boss.

Fan opinion

It’s always a dangerous game trying to lump a fan base together and draw a collective, definitive conclusion on how they feel about their manager.

But it probably would be fair to say that a lot of Saints supporters never truly bonded with Levein from the start.

I found him to be a thoroughly decent guy, with a dry sense of humour and a healthy dose of self-deprecation.

But a football figure nearer 60 than 50, who has been on the scene as long as Levein, arrives to hardened opinions, good and bad.

And, if you believe that the image and PR side of things matters, the fact he has mellowed since what we can now safely say were his peak club management years created an impression of detachment between ‘our club’ and ‘his job’.

I thought that was a bit harsh.

Levein cared about the task he took on, his responsibility to keep St Johnstone in the Premiership and then build a squad that would end the vicious circle of relegation battles.

The ‘not getting each other’ bit may have played a part in Adam Webb deciding to remove his manager from post less than three months into his ownership.

St Johnstone owner Adam Webb. Image: SNS.

He reads emails, he listens to podcasts, he speaks to fans.

But the biggest reason by far will be footballing ones.

The squad rebuild was incomplete.

You can’t put the responsibility for doing without a goalkeeper coach for a month at Levein’s door but it was his call to not recruit an experienced man between the posts.

That, and an overhaul of his backline that has left the team alarmingly susceptible to conceding set-piece goals are significant issues for his successor.

There are undoubtedly more assets in the building than before he took over.

Adama Sidibeh, Aaron Essel and Benji Kimpioka will all make the club money if Saints manage their contracts and the timing of their departures properly.

St Johnstone midfielder, Aaron Essel. Image: SNS.

Had Levein signed a proven goalie and a Premiership-ready centre-back, I suspect he would still be in a job and Saints would be set fair for a season of mid-table safety.

Legacy

Levein would argue that he had to get creative in the transfer market for financial reasons, which is true.

But he also took the risk of padding out his squad with fringe players early in the window.

Ultimately, the manner in which Levein’s team appeared to go under without a fight in the second half of their defeat to a pretty unimpressive Hibs team proved to be as impactive on an Atlanta television screen as it was in the South Stand of Easter Road.

Webb has acted because he believes a pattern of drift has settled and that the idea of his ownership being a brave new world was under threat or erosion.

It will be fascinating to see the direction he turns in appointing Levein’s replacement.

There’s three-quarters of a good squad at McDiarmid, which isn’t the worst legacy, albeit there’s a lot of football to be played before the last quarter can be addressed in January.

Although they never fell in love with the football they saw from a Craig Levein St Johnstone, supporters may end up appreciating the foundations he put in place.