Mcphee to decide on Hearts future

Austin Macphee will wait until Sunday before making a decision on whether to take over as manager of Indian Super League side FC Pune, writes Alan Pattullo.

The Hearts assistant manager has seen off the challenge of rivals including former Rangers manager Paul Le Guen to be offered the post.

The 38-year-old held productive talks with the Indian club’s officials yesterday. FC Pune have already agreed to meet the compensation figure set by Hearts for his services.

But Macphee wants time to think about such a significant career decision and will speak withheartsownerannbudge on Sunday. Budge is currently in Russia at the World Cup and is scheduled to attend tomorrow’s third place playoff match between England and Belgium in St Petersburg.

Macphee will seek assurances about his long-term career prospects at Tynecastle. He turned down the technical director role at the Scottish Football Association to take the post of assistant to former Hearts head coach Ian Cathro in December 2016.

Cathro was sacked just nine months later but Macphee, who is also assistant manager of Northern Ireland, was retained by Levein. Hearts’ first competitive fixture of the season is against Cove Rangers on Wednesday in the Betfred Cup.