There will be no clash of cultures with Levein. People might well be disappointed to hear it but there is no radical aspect to all of this

ONE is Scottish football’s arch-pragmatist, the other a young innovator with a track record of encouraging freedom of expression. It will be fascinating to see how much leeway Hearts director of football Craig Levein affords the club’s new head coach Ian Cathro.

Despite that paradox, and for all the talk of a left-field move, Cathro’s arrival at Tynecastle actually qualifies as one of the most obvious Scottish football appointments in a long time.

The choice of a 30-year-old with no playing history to replace Robbie Neilson represents a gamble for sure, but the ascension of this particular coach has been in Levein’s mind for the best part of a decade.

The Cathro project commenced in earnest in 2008 when Levein, smitten by the then 22-year-old’s Box Soccer training programme for kids, appointed the local lad head of Dundee United’s youth academy.

Although Cathro subsequently broke away to fill the assistant manager role at Portugal’s Rio Ave under his second mentor, Nuno Espirito Santo, Levein remained close. As Cathro went on to serve Santo at Valencia and then Steve McClaren at Newcastle, Levein retained a link and even introduced Box Soccer to the Hearts youth system last year.

Now the pair are working together again and, like Neilson before him, Cathro is bound to face questions on just how much control he has over team affairs. By his own admission, Levein thrives on control but Cathro has stated categorically that he will pick the team.

Interestingly, he also disputes that his own style of play will clash with that of his superior. At Hearts, Levein gained success with a direct, physical style of play, a philosophy that endured into his last frontline job with the Scottish national team where he infamously deployed a 4-6-0 formation against the Czech Republic.

Prior to yesterday’s game at Ibrox, no one has seen a Cathro-led team in action but, if he holds true to the touch-and-pass philosophy that launched his career, then there could be a conflict of ideas.

‘How do you know?’ he retorted when the thought is put to him. ‘Box Soccer is for kids. What Craig does in his position is find the best person to do my job. That’s what he has done.

‘The “how” and the “what that is” is delivered on ground level.

‘I might be disappointing people but there’s no radical aspect to this. I get that it’s intriguing because it’s different and it’s unexpected. There’s going to be a reaction to that. But I honestly don’t consider myself as being particularly radical.

‘Evolving things through time — definitely. I may have some ideas about where we’d like to be able to get to, but I’m very aware that certain things have to happen before that.

‘So it’s a calm thing. It’s an evolution of ideas. There is no book: “From hereon in thou shalt…” No. Easy, easy.’

Levein shunned the limelight at the press conference to parade Cathro and assistant Austin MacPhee last Tuesday, instead choosing to watch from the back of the room with his old friend and former team-mate John Colquhoun, now an agent and also a director of the Box Soccer programme.

It was left to club owner Ann Budge to explain the rationale for appointing Cathro but, make no mistake, this was a Levein appointment. If Neilson was partly motivated by a desire to spread his own wings at his new club MK Dons, Cathro admits he will lean heavily on the man above.

‘We are more or less in the same building,’ he mused. ‘We do different things, but our paths will cross, so it will be a natural thing. ‘We’ll have conversations about a variety of topics — how good breakfast was, to a player in here. It’s a natural relationship.’ As far as Budge is concerned, the appointment of Cathro makes perfect sense when set in the wider model for how Hearts intend to progress as a club. Nevertheless, she concedes to being thrown when it became apparent that Neilson’s time was drawing to a close. She said: ‘When I first heard Robbie was thinking of moving on, I thought: “Oh dear, does it have to be now?” ‘We always knew it would happen and wanted it to happen because that means he has achieved something and is developing his career. The timing, I thought: “Oh my goodness”. ‘We are just embarking on the stadium work and it’s change on the pitch as well but, hey, we’re set up to do that. That’s why we have a director of football. We have

What Craig does in his position is find the best person to do the job

a broad and good management team here, we can cope with it.’

The former IT entrepreneur believes that by taking calculated risks — and fast-tracking young talent where possible — the club can punch above its weight.

‘There’s nothing gives you greater satisfaction than watching someone you’ve helped give an opportunity to go on and do something better,’ she said. ‘I have seen that many times in my career, so I have no fears about giving young people opportunities. That’s what it’s all about.

‘It’s almost a mantra for me to never be frightened to move out of your comfort zone. If you have an opportunity that you think is worth taking, don’t let fear hold you back. There probably would have been safer appointments, just as there were two and a half years ago (with Neilson).

‘I certainly don’t worry about taking risk, so long as it’s managed risk. This, to me, is the right thing to do.

‘Okay, it’s a bit different but I think it fits in with our overall plan. I am relaxed and really excited about what the next few months and years are going to bring.’

Cathro has spoken of having ‘no limits’ in terms of his ambitions for Hearts. Budge agrees that the club should aspire to win trophies but insists there will be no repeat of the largesse that landed the club in administration prior to her takeover in conjunction with the Foundation of Hearts.

‘There’s no way we would attempt to compete financially, using the models that have run in the past — that’s an absolute no-no,’ she said. ‘Therefore we have to look at what can we do, whether it’s thinking differently, or putting in a different structure.

‘It sounds a bit trite but it’s so much about people and management skill all the way through the club.

‘I met Ian and Austin individually. Then all of us had a meeting together and, when I left that meeting, I felt excited about what’s possible, moving forward. They are both ambitious but realists, too. They are going to fit in really well, of that I have no doubt.’