Hearts: Jon Daly will remain in charge for weekend visit to Motherwell

Hearts interim head coach Jon Daly has overseen one win, one draw and one defeat this season

Interim head coach Jon Daly will take charge of Hearts for this weekend's Premiership trip to Motherwell.

The club has been interviewing candidates to succeed Ian Cathro in the past fortnight, but will not make any announcement until next week.

Hearts have also been reviewing the football operations - headed by director of football Craig Levein.

"The board will not rush the new management appointment," owner Ann Budge told the Hearts website.

"We did receive lots of interest and we have conducted a number of interviews.

"The calibre of interviewee was very high and every candidate was worthy of very serious consideration.

"As well as interviewing short-listed candidates, we have also conducted a review of our football operation both against our initial three-year plan and importantly, against our new three-year plan, to confirm the suitability of our current management model as the club continues to progress."

'Jon Daly has stepped up brilliantly'

A four-person panel, headed by Budge, has interviewed Steven Pressley, Paul Hartley, Daly and Dougie Freedman, although the latter has since joined Crystal Palace as sporting director.

Former England manager Steve McClaren was on the shortlist, while a conversation about the vacancy also took place between the club and former Derby and Nottingham Forest manager Billy Davis.

McClaren has since joined Maccabi Tel Aviv as a coaching consultant, while Davis says he is no longer in contention.

"While this has been going on, Jon Daly, supported by the other members of the coaching staff, has stepped up to the mark brilliantly and filled the role of interim head coach admirably," Budge said.

"An announcement will be made regarding a permanent appointment next week."

Hearts owner Ann Budge praised chief operating officer Scot Gardiner for his 'advice and guidance'

Hearts also confirmed the departure of chief operating officer Scot Gardiner, who is leaving at the end of the month for personal reasons.

"Scot joined us three years ago on a fixed-term contract to advise me and my newly appointed board and executive team - none of whom had any experience of running a football club - on all matters relating to Scottish football business operations," Budge said.

"When the decision to build the new [main] stand went ahead, I extended Scot's contract in order to benefit from his knowledge of football stadia to provide input to the design of the new stand.

"We all now know considerably more about running a football business and the design of the new stand is effectively complete. The time has, therefore, come for Scot to move on, particularly in light of the fact that he has recently had a health scare to deal with and needs some personal time.

"Scot's advice and guidance to me, and to this club, has been invaluable and he goes with our very best wishes for his future success.

"In terms of the new stand development, I am delighted to say that it remains on schedule for opening on 5 November."