National coach Craig Levein says Dundee United's Peter Houston - his former assistant - would be his choice for Scotland's manager of the year.

Houston took over at Tannadice after Levein replaced George Burley with the national team in December.

"Houstie would be my number one choice obviously," said Levein.

"I was at the game last night against Hibs and the one against Motherwell and that's two fantastic results against teams they are challenging for third."

United are now just five points behind second-top Celtic in the Scottish Premier League and have also reached the Scottish Cup semi-finals under Houston.

And Levein does not see any reason why a manager who has only been in charge for half a season could not win the PFA Scotland award.

I think Derek McInnes has done a wonderful job at St Johnstone and Motherwell have done fantastically well Scotland coach Craig Levein

Indeed, he believes that the way his former assistant has handled the United side since Levein's departure - and even made the team he assembled at Tannadice better - is part of the reason for that.

"It's to the credit of everybody at the club, in particular Peter," said the Scotland coach.

"Things were starting to slip a bit, understandably because of the turmoil, and he has managed to pull that back.

"Not just that, but I think they have improved since then."

Levein also thought Houston had been "very clever" by saying, to begin with, that he did not want the United job on a permanent basis as that took some of the pressure off himself and the players.

The Scotland boss thought, however, that there were a number of other possible candidates for manager of the year, including Rangers' Walter Smith, St Johnstone's Derek McInnes and Motherwell's Craig Brown in the SPL and Terry Butcher, who has steered Inverness Caledonian Thistle to the top of Division One.

"I always think that it's quite difficult at this time of the year to pick somebody because so much can change between now and the end of the season," said Levein before alluding to the financial constraints at debt-struck leaders Rangers.

"I don't think there is any other manager who would have been able to do the job Walter Smith has done with all the problems at Rangers.

"It would have been easy to make the problems an excuse for not winning the league.

MY SPORT: DEBATE Give your thoughts on manager of the year

"He has not won the league yet, but at this moment in time they are strong favourites.

"He has used his experience to keep the players focused completely on the job in hand and I know how difficult it is to keep players who are coming out of contract focused."

Under McInnes, St Johnstone are challenging for a top-six place in their first season back in the SPL, while Motherwell have had an excellent run of results since former Scotland boss Brown succeeded Jim Gannon in December.

"I think Derek McInnes has done a wonderful job at St Johnstone and Motherwell have done fantastically well," said Levein.

"They went on an amazing run of losing one goal in nine games.

"There are so many people who could be considered, but between now and the end of the season will be the telling period."

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