Ian Cathro lands his first management job since leaving Hearts seven years ago

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Ian Cathro is poised to return to front-line management for the first time since leaving Hearts seven years ago. The Scot has agreed terms with Portuguese Primeira Liga club Estoril and is set to take over as head coach once the departure of current coach Vasco Seabra is finalised.

Estoril officials reached a quick decision to change manager and are now in talks with Seabra about a severance package. Cathro, 37, is the man they identified as his replacement and discussions progressed quickly. Cathro was most recently working as an assistant coach at the Saudi Arabian club Al-Ittihad.

He has not been a head coach or manager since an ill-fated spell in charge of Hearts during 2016 and 2017. He replaced Robbie Neilson in December 2016 but lasted only eight months before being sacked when the Edinburgh club failed to progress from the League Cup group stage.

Cathro speaks Portuguese and previously worked as an assistant at Rio Ave under Nuno Espirito Santo between 2012 and 2014. He followed Santo to Valencia before becoming part of Steve McClaren’s coaching staff at Newcastle United in 2015. He was lured from there to Hearts by the club’s then-director of football Craig Levein.

Cathro and Santo were reunited in 2018 when the Scot again became one of the Portuguese coach’s assistants, this time at Wolverhampton Wanderers. The pair then moved on to Tottenham Hotspur and on to Al-Ittihad in 2022.