Hearts set to make historic appointment with former Scotland & Arsenal head coach lined up for key role

Hearts are set to appoint former Scotland women’s national team head coach Shelly Kerr as the club’s Technical Development Manager.

The 55-year old, who was in charge of Scotland between 2017 and 2020 and has also managed the likes of Arsenal and Hibs’ women’s sides, will join the club in the brand new role where she will directly work on developing male players. The appointment is being described as ‘historic’ and a ‘first of its kind’ in Scottish football.

It is understood that one of the key focuses of Kerr’s role will be helping players transition from the academy to first team football. The position will also involve assisting with the men’s B Team and monitoring the progress of coaches.

Hearts are expected to announce Kerr’s arrival before this Thursday’s UEFA Europa Conference League clash with Cercle Brugge in Belgium. The UEFA Pro licence holder represented Hearts as a player early in her career and is also a childhood Jambos supporter.

As well as earning 59 Scotland caps as a player she also turned out for the likes of Kilmarnock and Doncaster Rovers as well as city rivals Hibs and Spartans. On top of several high profile coaching jobs in the women’s game the Broxburn native also took charge of Stirling University’s men’s first team in the Lowland League between 2014 and 2017.

Under Kerr’s management, the Scotland women's national team qualified for the 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup and won the Pinatar Cup in 2020. However, she left the position by mutual consent in December 2020 after the team failed to qualify for UEFA Women's Euro 2021.

Since then Kerr has regularly worked for BBC Scotland as a pundit on both men’s and women’s matches. We will have more on the appointment once it has been officially confirmed by Hearts.