Boothroyd enters the race to be Hearts boss
ENGLAND Under-21s manager Aidy Boothroyd has joined Steve McClaren and Owen Coyle in the running for the Hearts job.
Dougie Freedman has also touted himself for the role, but former Tynecastle skipper Steven Pressley is now unlikely to feature on a shortlist drawn up by Ann Budge and director of football Craig Levein.
While chief executive Budge and Levein have yet to make contact with any of the names mentioned in connection with the job, the pair did spend most of yesterday whittling down the army of applicants to a workable list of genuine contenders.
Sportsmail understands McClaren is under consideration, with his standing as a former England manager — as well as
the league title he lifted in the Netherlands with FC Twente — giving him star appeal. But his less-than-stellar recent record, including a disastrous spell at Newcastle, is believed to be a cause for concern. McClaren was sacked by Newcastle in March following a horror run of just six wins from 28 Premier League games. The ex-Wolfsburg boss was reported to have been troubled by a lack of influence in the transfer market — with Newcastle said to have relied more on their scouting department than the head coach. If that might prove a red flag for Hearts, given the structure of their footballing set-up, McClaren has, nonetheless, worked under a director of football during his European travels. Meanwhile, Boothroyd has also expressed an interest. The former defender, who had a largely forgettable spell as a Hearts player in the early 1990s, has just led his Young Lions to the semi-finals of the European Under-21 Championship, losing to Germany. A play-off winner as manager of Watford, having also taken them to the FA Cup semi-finals, the 46-year-old is believed to be keen on a return to the club game. Coyle, out of work since being sacked by Blackburn in February, has also applied for the post left vacant by Ian Cathro’s dismissal last week. And former Nottingham Forest boss Freedman would also love the job. He said: ‘The influence of Craig Levein would encourage me.’
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