Saints close in on ex-Scotland boss Levein as new manager
Former Scotland boss Craig Levein is set to be appointed the new St Johnstone manager.
It is understood Brechin City head coach Andy Kirk is the frontrunner to be his assistant.
St Johnstone currently sit bottom of the Premiership table and parted company with Steven MacLean following last weekend’s 4-0 hammering at St Mirren.
The Perth team rallied midweek, picking up their first win of the season – 2-1 at home to Kilmarnock.
Levein was at that game, and it would appear the former Hearts and Dundee United manager saw enough to convince him he could keep the Saints in the top tier despite their faltering start to the league campaign.
The 59-year-old, who cut his managerial teeth at Cowdenbeath in the late 1990s, last managed four years ago at Hearts – his second spell at the Tynecastle club.
Levein has emerged as the firm frontrunner for the McDiarmid Park hotseat after Livingston released a statement denying permission for St Johnstone to approach their manager David Martindale.
Taking the reins at the national team in 2009 following a stint at Dundee United, Levein infamously selected an ultra-defensive 4-6-0 formation for a match against the Czech Republic.
He faced strong criticism as Scotland lost the game 1-0.
He stayed at Scotland for three years before being relieved of his duties by the SFA in 2012.
A further spell at Hearts followed, and more recently Levein has worked as pundit with BBC Scotland while also joining Brechin City as an adviser to their board of directors.
The man hotly tipped to be his deputy at St Johnstone, Andy Kirk, was an academy coach with Hearts and Rangers before moving to Brechin, with whom he won the Highland League last season.