FAN REACTION

FANS’ chief Steve Kilgour admits Craig Levein had to carry the can for Hearts’ woes but insists the players must also shoulder the blame.

Levein has paid the price for a dismal run of form that has seen the Jambos win just one league game this season, with Wednesday’s 1-0 defeat to St Johnstone the final straw for owner Ann Budge.

And general secretary of the Federation of Hearts Supporters’ Clubs Kilgour said: “I’m really sorry for Craig that it’s not worked out for him because if Craig had been successful then Hearts would have been successful.

“But for whatever reasons it’s just not worked for him.

“Injuries have been horrendous, that’s certainly hampered him, but even with the players we’ve got available to us we should still be beating the likes of St Johnstone, Hamilton and Ross County.

“The performances have been consistently poor.

“They’ve been shocking. I get that confidence is low but nobody is taking responsibility on the pitch.

“The players individually have to take a long, hard look at themselves as well, because the effort and some of the performances they’ve been putting in just haven’t been good enough.

“They’ve let the manager down as well.

“They seem to be able to lift themselves for the bigger games. I thought the performance against Celtic was reasonable, against Aberdeen in the League Cup, we raised our game against Hibs, we raised our game against Rangers there.

“But the manager always carries the can. No matter what line of work you’re in, he leads the team and if the performance isn’t good enough the manager’s got to take the blame.

“I’m sorry it’s come to this as Craig has done so much for the club down the years and has helped so much in the revival of the club in recent years. “But I think it had got to the point where it had to happen.”