MONEY TALKS
Manchester United youth star cost me £1 a week but he was WORST value I’ve ever had – and it kick started a 20-year feud
He couldn't bring himself to say anything positive
IT's fair to say these two aren't friends.
They've worked together both on the pitch and off it but spend enough time in one or the other's company, and you'll know that Craig Levein and Michael Stewart don't see eye to eye.
3
3
3
Both of them are now pundits for the BBC (Stewart also works for Premier Sports and TNT Sports) but rarely are they on the same panel.
That's because of a long-running feud that stretches back 20 YEARS and still lingers on to this day.
Indeed, it was reignited back in May when Stewart had a pop at Levein while he was feeling the pressure at former club St Johnstone.
Their hostility towards one another stems from Stewart's loan spell at Hearts in the 2004-05 season.
Read more Football stories
It was Levein who brought him to Edinburgh, but the Jambos boss claims he realised that he'd made a mistake almost immediately.
Speaking about their relationship on the Open Goal podcast, Levein recalled how the opportunity came to sign Stewart, who at that time was a trainee at Manchester United.
He joked: "I signed Mikey for an exorbitant fee."
The former Hearts boss was then asked to list the reasons he liked Stewart as a player.
Most read in Football
But he couldn't bring himself to say anything positive other than "he was cheap."
Just how cheap, no-one would believe.
Lawrence Shankland looks UNHAPPY but he's still Scotland's most natural striker, say Bill Leckie & Robert Grieve
Levein continued: "A pound he cost us. A pound a week on loan from Man United.
"They told us Mikey Stewart was available but I told them we had no dough.
"They said we had to put something on the contract, and a pound was the minimum you could put on.
"And, that's how him and I don't get on. I said it was without doubt the worst pound I ever spent. The worst value for money I've ever had in my life."
Stewart made 17 league appearances for Hearts and at the end of the season he was released from Old Trafford, only to be signed by the Jambos' city rivals Hibs on a free transfer.
Levein attests that he didn't gel with the midfielder because, he claims, Stewart lacked accountability.
He said: "He used to come in and everything was somebody else's fault.
"He'd give the ball away but be pointing at other people, you should have done this, you should have done that.
Read more on the Scottish Sun
"I very quickly realised I'd made a blunder here. I need to get my pound back."
"He must have quickly realised that I didn't particularly like him."
Keep up to date with ALL the latest news and transfers at the Scottish Sun football page