CRAIG Levin believes Scottish football is in a far healthier state than when he first became Hearts manager in 2000,” writes Neil Cameron

And he predicted his club’s academy boasts the best young players in Scotland and the rest of the country will knows this within a few years.

Hearts have gone through more difficult times than most and Levein, who has been director of football for three years, insisted life at Tynecastle now is so much easier than before.

He said: “All the clubs are in better places. In 2000, we had a huge wage bill. The Bank of Scotland were lending all the money.

“I last played in 1995 and left in 1997. In 1995, the top wage was £1000 a week. When I came back in 2000, there were four players earning £10,000 a week. In five years, the wage bill just went: ‘Boom.’

“The reason I got the Hearts job then was to try and get the wage bill back down again. The club was in a serious amount of debt and talking about moving to Murrayfield. There was a lot of turmoil about the place and every club found themselves in a similar spot.

“This time, I feel the place is calm and stable. We’ve got wage caps and we’re not spending a fortune on the playing squad just now. But, when I look outside and see that new stand going up, and there’s going to be an extra 3000 people with more hospitality, then we can start investing again in the first-team squad.

“We have been investing hugely in the academy, spending money which has significantly changed what we’re doing.

“We’ll soon see the benefits. Trust me, we’ll have the best kids in Scotland.”