Ex-Hearts and Newcastle United coach told he’s on his ‘last life’ with European club after eight league games

Former Hearts manager Ian Cathro has reportedly been told that he has just one game remaining to save his job as manager of Estoril after a disastrous start to the new season.

The Portuguese outfit, who are based near the capital city of Lisbon, only appointed Cathro this summer after a seven-year hiatus from management.

His only previous experience in the dugout came at Tynecastle between 5 December 2016 and 1 August 2017 where he was sacked after a shock League Cup exit.

In his time in the capital, he managed seven wins, eight draws and was defeated 15 times in a disappointing seven-month stint.

Prior to arriving in Edinburgh, he had been regarded as one of the best up and coming young British coaches that the game had to offer. 

He worked as Newcastle United assistant boss under Steve McClaren and Rafael Benitez and had also worked in the same role at Valencia and Rio Ave as well as working as the youth team coach at Dundee United.

He rebuilt his reputation in the coaching world by working with Nuno Espirito Santo at Wolverhampton Wanderers, Tottenham Hotspur and Al-Ittihad before deciding to go solo once again in Portugal over the summer.

However, Estoril are already considering another change in the dugout after a disastrous start in the league, which has seen them win just one of their opening eight matches.

The Canaries, who compete in the top-flight of Portugal, played out a 0-0 draw with fourth division side Lusitano and failed to break down the team even when they went down to 10-men for the entirety of extra time before falling to a shock penalty shoot-out defeat.

Portuguese outlet A Bola understands that the Estoril board are quickly beginning to lose patience with the Scotsman and claim that nothing less than a win against Arouca will keep the young coach in the dugout any longer at the António Coimbra da Mota Stadium.

Estoril are 15th in the league and one point above the relegation zone with six points from eight games. Arouca are 13th position with seven points, having played the same amount of matches.