Hearts realise Paulo Sergio's British ambition

Sergio met the Hearts players at training on Tuesday morning

Paulo Sergio says he is realising an ambition to work in Britain ahead of being presented to the media for the first time as Hearts' new manager.

The former Sporting Lisbon coach replaced veteran Jim Jefferies in a swift shift of tenure on Monday.

"I had an ambition to come and work in British football," Sergio told Hearts' website. "I'm happy.

"I'm very much excited and proud to be at Hearts. I hope to get good results and good football for the club."

Sergio will speak to the media for the first time at Hearts' pre-match Wednesday conference ahead of the second leg of their Europa League qualifier against Paksi.

And, after seeing the players in training, he expected to make only subtle changes to tactics ahead of that game.

"I really liked the first contact with the group, with the players, with all the people here working for Hearts," said the man who was sacked as Sporting coach in February.

"We're not going to change a lot of things the team has been doing.

"We're going to try to begin to pass our ideas to the players from the first moment.

"We know it's an important game for us and we're just thinking about winning the game."

Sergio stressed that taking charge of Hearts was part of his own learning process.

"I respect a lot the work of Jim, his past, but now the directors have invited me to work at the club," he said.

"It's an honour for me and I'm going to do all my best to be successful at Tynecastle.

"I don't think that I know everything. I am a humble guy and I sure am going to learn too."