St Johnstone manager Craig Levein is loving life back involved at the sharp end of Scottish football.
But the recently-appointed Perth boss admitted that being thrown into the deep end of a two-game week was an energy-sapping “eye-opener”.
Levein hadn’t been in a dugout on a match-day for over four years until last Tuesday night’s 2-2 draw with Motherwell.
Backing that result up with an even better one against Ross County four days later topped off a superb first week in his new job.
And it also reaffirmed why he decided to delegate training ground duties to his assistant, Andy Kirk.
Asked if he has enjoyed being a Premiership manager again, Levein said: “Yeah, I have.
“I was knackered, though.
“You forget how intense the whole thing is.
“I’d been doing the advising the board stuff at Brechin but the intensity of that is nowhere near what it’s like when you’re on the touchline, carrying the responsibility for what’s going on.
“It’s been a wee bit of an eye-opener to the energy that’s required.
“But it’s definitely been enjoyable.
“It’s in your blood.
“It was always going to take a good job if I got offered one to come back – and this is a good job.”
Will St Johnstone get one more coach?
As well as Kirk, Levein has Alex Cleland to lean on.
But he is contemplating adding one more coach to his backroom team.
“Andy was really keen to come here as well and he’s young enough to handle all the coaching,” said the 59-year-old.
“I’m still assessing everything and whether or not I want one more, we’ll see.
“What I do know is that the people here work really hard.”
This Saints squad now know how to win, having endured a nine-game drought under Steven MacLean.
And there’s no downplaying the significance of proving to yourself you can close out a match.
Take a look back at all the action from our 1-0 win over Ross County at the weekend!#SJFC | Chris Logan 📸 pic.twitter.com/PwhOxaAlwM
— St. Johnstone FC (@StJohnstone) November 13, 2023
“Results lift the place,” said Levein.
“Looking back at the games prior to me coming in, other than the St Mirren one it wasn’t as if we were getting skelped.
“They were pretty close.
“That is wearing. When you’re only just getting beaten a lot you can lose hope sometimes.
“You feel that things are going against you.
‘Couple of wins certainly helps,’ says Craig Levein
“I hate playing well and getting beat – that’s the worst combination of them all.
“It grinds you down.
“You start thinking to yourself: ‘If that happens when we’ve played well, what will happen when we’re bad’.
“You try and stay as positive as you can but when the ‘just missed out’ evidence comes in every week it’s very difficult to recover from.
“There’s a long way to go but a couple of wins certainly helps.
“Getting the players in a positive frame of mind can be more important than results at times.
“Because once you get into that position, you get results.”
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