Hearts: Paul Hartley happy to speak to club about vacant head coach post

As boss of Dundee Paul Hartley guided the club to promotion in the 2013-14 season

Paul Hartley is interested in becoming Hearts' new head coach, following the sacking of Ian Cathro.

Hartley, who played for the Jambos from 2003-07, was sacked by Dundee in April after three years as their manager.

The 40-year-old replied "of course" when asked on BBC Sportsound if he was interested in the vacant Hearts post.

"If Hearts were willing to speak to me, of course I would because of the affinity I have with the club," he added.

The Gorgie outfit have put coach Jon Daly in interim charge ahead of their Premiership opener at Celtic on Saturday.

With the club having signed several new faces in the summer, including Kyle Lafferty and Christophe Berra, and in the process of building a new main stand, Hartley reckons it is a job that will appeal to many.

Hartley won the Scottish Cup with Hearts during his four years as a player at Tynecastle

"The structure is there, they have a terrific fan base, a training ground and a good squad of players, it's a brilliant club," he said.

"I spent four years there and loved my time there, they've got a brilliant fan base and brilliant people who work at the club.

"It's such a wonderful club, a new stand built there and they belong at the top-end of the Premiership."

The former midfielder, who won promotion to the Premiership while manager of Dundee and back-to-back promotions from League Two to the Championship as Alloa manager, said he would also be comfortable working under director of football Craig Levein.

"You can always work with people," he added. "Whoever gets that job, you can always work with people above you, director of football or whatever you want to call it.

'Maybe he made too many changes'

"Any football manager will tell you they want to have the final say. There's no problem speaking to whoever it is, director of football, whenever it is.

"The results are down to the manager, they pick the team and we know what can happen - it's a results-driven business."

Cathro, 31, was sacked on Tuesday following the Tynecastle club's shock exit from the League Cup and on the back of a fifth-place Premiership finish last season.

Hearts started the League Cup group stage format with wins over Elgin City and East Fife but lost at Peterhead and drew 2-2 with Dunfermline on Saturday, losing the resulting penalty shootout and crashing out of the tournament.

"You feel the pain with a young Scottish manager losing their job, that's not something you want to see," Hartley said of Cathro's sacking.

"Sometimes you want to try to stamp your own authority when you go into a club. Sometimes you change things for the right reasons. Maybe he made too many changes, but he was a young coach and he was under massive pressure straight away.

"Probably 75% of it is man-management, you need to have a rapport with the players. It's good being on the pitch coaching, but you have to manage players now."