Cathro: ‘I’m the boss, not Levein’
IAN CATHRO hit back at claims of interference in Hearts’ first-team affairs by Craig Levein, insisting: “I’m the boss.”
The Jam Tarts’ director of football was captured by cameras relaying a tactical message to Under-20s coach Jon Daly during the first half of yesterday’s defeat in Aberdeen.
Levein’s insight was then relayed to assistant head coach Austin MacPhee in the dugout.
News quickly followed that Levein had made his way into the Hearts dressing room at half-time.
But head coach Cathro insisted there was nothing unusual about his boss’ intervention, and accused the media of whipping up “directed hysteria”.
He said: “First of all, one of the positive things about the work with the club and the work with the staff is that there are a lot of people engaged, we have good staff, we have good coaches.
“I involve them in our work during the week, I am someone who wants to train with a lot of coaches.
“We have good staff with the Under-20s, and Jon Daly, and Andy Kirk, and Liam Fox who has recently joined us.
“We work together. I have always worked in a situation where we have one member of our technical staff in the stand who understands the game plan.
“That person has the responsibility to me to keep the dialogue active on certain things I have asked them to look at.
“I know there’s a historical aspect to this that turns it into a story. Trust me, it’s completely normal.”
He added: “It would be remiss not to rely on the experience of everyone involved in the situation.
“It’s one of the positive things that we work collectively.
“Now, I can’t discuss too many positive things right now, but, if we are talking generally about this to try and stop some sort of directed hysteria, it’s entirely normal that we work together.
“More specifically a coach sits in the stand, which we vary through my decision.
“They work for me. They are doing things asked of them by me, for me.”