Craig Levein fails to rule himself out of running for Celtic job

Craig Levein, the Scotland manager, has turned down the chance to rule himself out of the running for the vacant position at Celtic, despite having moved into international football only in December. It remains highly unlikely that Levein would be tempted back into the club game as soon as this summer as Celtic seek Tony Mowbray's replacement. The public reaction to such a move would not be the least of his considerations. Nonetheless, Levein today passed up the opportunity to dismiss categorically such a move. He maintained he has never spoken publicly about other jobs at any stage in his managerial career. "I can't have any influence on that but what I can have an influence on is whether I talk about it or not," Levein said of a link to Celtic. "I have been through this numerous times in my career. I would never at any point say: 'I am not wanting that job,' or 'I am not wanting this job.' I would never say that. What I am saying to you is that I have a job to do here with Scotland, which I have just started. So let me concentrate on this job." Pressed on why he wished to remain silent rather than dismiss the notion entirely, Levein added: "The reason I don't want to talk about it is that I have just taken the job here. I am not interested in anything else. That's why I don't want to talk about it. "I am sensitive to things that I think are important. I understand how these things work. If I start talking about this then someone else will ask about it." Levein is known to have admirers in high levels at both halves of the Old Firm and would be among the clear front-runners to succeed the sacked Mowbray had he not left Dundee United for Scotland four months ago. As it stands, Neil Lennon and Mark Hughes are uppermost in the thoughts of Celtic's directors. Levein has issued a staunch defence of Scottish football, which he believes compares favourably to its counterpart in England. The attraction of English clubs to Scottish Premier League players, he claimed, is an illustration of that. "I have been down watching a lot of games in England and I have watched a lot of games in Scotland," Levein said. "And I am telling you I have watched a lot of crap, seriously, a lot of really poor games; and not up here [in Scotland]. "There's a lot of negativity and a lot of it comes from people who don't understand what we have up here. Look at teams down south; they have been coming up here and taking our players for the last two or three years now."