Craig Levein opens up on Hearts strain as second Tynecastle stint left him knackered and having 'no fun'

Craig Levein admits taking on too much responsibility at Hearts left him knackered as he vowed not to repeat the “horrendous mistake” at St Johnstone.

The 59-year-old has returned to top level management in Perth four years after being axed from his second stint at Tynecastle. Levein was already the Jambos’ director of football when he was appointed manager following Ian Cathro’s sacking in August 2017. But two big jobs proved too much and the former Scotland boss admits the fun had gone out the job before he was eventually given his jotters by Ann Budge.

Levein will take charge of St Johnstone for the first time tomorrow against Motherwell. And, reflecting on his time at Hearts, he insists he will never again spread himself too thinly. He said: “If you take into consideration everything a manager has to do, nowadays I think it’s impossible.

“That’s what I learned from Hearts, 100 per cent. I keep talking about having the energy to cope with the demands of the job. I think coming back into the Premiership and trying to do everything would be a horrendous mistake.

“I enjoyed going out on a Sunday watching the U16s and U14s and all that stuff. But once you’ve had a game on the Saturday, away all day up to Aberdeen or in Glasgow, then on a Sunday you’re somewhere watching kids games.

“Then you start it all again on a Monday with the first-team training. I had the director of football stuff on top of it, it all just became nowhere near as enjoyable as I wanted it to be.

“That was probably the biggest lesson for me. I was thinking to myself ‘this is supposed to be fun’ but I was knackered and I couldn’t deal with the situation.

“I was stretched too thin, doing too many things and when things are going wrong the pressure