The former Barnsley and Leeds boss claimed more lenient refereeing in Scotland has maintained the derby edge which has largely disappeared on the pitch south of the border.

But Levein fears SFA compliance officer Clare Whyte is leading Scottish football in the same direction.

Levein, who expects to have Michael Smith and Uche Ikpeazu back from injury against Hibs, said: "It's very difficult to get as close as you can to the edge so you are competing to a very high level but not overstepping the mark.

"And my view on how these things are viewed by the compliance officer is that people in Scotland like to see competitive football, and this derby match will be competitive.

"And God forbid there will ever be a day where we take that out of this fixture.

"We just have to be careful that we don't sanitise the football so much in Scotland that it becomes what the supporters don't want to see.

"Scottish people like to see competitive edge in the games and I think the compliance officer at times is in a hurry to dilute that. I don't think it's necessary."

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