Football: Levein blasts Mackay boycott.

Byline: ROBERT MARTIN 

CRAIG Levein last night launched a bitter attack on former Hearts team-mate Gary Mackay after he urged fans to stay away from Tynecastle next season.

And he claimed the comments, appealing to supporters to boycott home matches while chief executive Chris Robinson remains at the club, were 'disgraceful'.

Levein has so far tried to stay out of the controversy involved with the Edinburgh club's on-off move to Murrayfield.

But he fears Mackay's comments may hurt his own budget further if fans do stay away, a situation he finds unacceptable.

Levein said: "I sat for a long time and didn't get involved in the off-field politics. It doesn't matter to me or the players who's in charge of Hearts, whether it's Chris Robinson, George Foulkes or Gary Mackay.

"All I'm trying to do is put the best team out on the park and now I've seen a copy of a newspaper where

Gary Mackay is encouraging fans not to buy season tickets.

"I've known Gary for a long time and I don't know if he's being naive, but if the income is down there's only one place where there will be cuts and that's the football department.

"So I'd like to take Gary Mackay into my office when I've got to tell young players that they haven't got a contract at Hearts because of the money situation. It's not a nice thing to do. I don't know what he's thinking, to be honest.

"Gary was a player himself at one time, he had a family, a mortgage and I think it's disgraceful that he is doing something like this that could affect my budget."

Ironically, Mackay, who is also a football agent, could be hit first, with one of his clients, Graham Weir, set to discuss a new deal.

Levein added: "I don't know what I would think if I was Graham because his contract is up next year."

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