Arsenal legend Martin Keown has savagely labelled Craig Levein’s time at Leicester City as “torture” and claimed his training sessions were “absolutely useless”.
The former England international hasn’t missed the former Scotland national coach in his stinging new biography ‘On the Edge’. The veteran defender played under Levein when he moved from Hearts to Leicester City in 2004 but was left far from impressed.
Keown said: “The (Leicester) board made the decision to make the change. Craig Levein was the next man through the door. He had done well managing Hearts in Scotland and I was determined to give him a chance, but it was torture. After each match, the next day before training, he would take the whole squad into the video room and sit for an hour watching the weekend match back again. That was fine in theory but he would just batter everybody for their poor performances.
“He was very good at telling us what we couldn’t do. He was a black belt in finding fault but absolutely useless at putting on a training session to develop a style he was looking for.”
Keown claimed the basis of Levein’s approach was to run and if he didn’t like it then you knew where the door was. The treble-winning Premier League star added: “We needed to improve with constructive coaching but it never arrived. We just ran our bollocks off.
“There were no intense sessions with the ball. Just repetitive runs backwards and forwards, full doggies. There was never a concession for anybody who was 38 or 39. Everybody was running the same distance. If you couldn’t keep up then off you go, we don’t want you here.”
Keown also claimed that Levein forced him out the door in bizarre circumstances when he tried to get him to play when he had taken a head knock and was suffering from double vision. The experienced defender insisted: “I didn’t give him any trouble. I just bit my lip, through all the criticism, put my head down and worked.
“Then an incident around a game at Blackpool was my point of no return. I played in a league match at Preston. I was making lots of headers and I started to get double vision and was feeling dizzy. It wasn’t the first time in my career where the ball had caught me at an awkward angle on my head.
“I had an MRI scan, which I assume found nothing serious, but afterwards I still didn’t feel right. A few days later we were playing at Blackpool in the FA Cup and I told the physio I wasn’t fit to play.
“I assumed he would relay that to Levein but I was told the boss wanted me to travel. I was told he needed me on the bench for my influence on the players, but I wouldn’t be coming on. It seemed ridiculous but I got on the team bus like I was told.
“Then, guess what? “Half-time came and Levein said: ‘Martin, you are coming on.’ I reminded him about the dizzy spells and he looked at me with total disdain. Maybe the physio hadn’t told him I was suffering with double vision.
That proved to be the beginning of the end of Keown’s time at Leicester and the next morning Levein, who left St Johnstone earlier this season, told him he would be leaving. The Englishman recalled: “‘Right’, he said and the next morning Levein sat me down in his office and told me he wanted me out of the club. Head injuries weren’t taken all that seriously back then. Maybe, he thought I wasn’t committed to the club.
“When you look back now and the problems the game is having with dementia and concussion. It is incredible really. I am so pleased that I stood my ground and never went on because when I was younger I might have done what I was told and put myself at risk.”
Keown argued that Leicester would be better with him in their ranks but Levein was having none of it. The former Aston Villa and Everton star claimed: “To get rid of me they were going to have to buy out my contract. It seemed mad to me.
“I could have helped them and wanted to but Levein wanted to show the board that he needed younger players to help with their promotion push, not old pros. He wanted a new direction.
“I tried to tell him I was the sort of player he needed at the club. He was saying, if I could get rid of you and get somebody else in we could make the play-offs. I said if I went then you might struggle to avoid relegation.
“He won and I left at Christmas. Leicester went on a run with one win in 14 league games, only staying up by grabbing a handful of wins in the last few games.”
The television pundit refused to end his career on that note and moved on for a swansong at Reading. He acknowledged: “You might wonder why I didn’t retire then. Up to that point, I had been playing every week and I didn’t want my career to end on a sour note.”