Craig Levein has been relieved of his duties as Hearts first-team manager, the club have confirmed, meaning there’s a managerial vacancy in Gorgie.
The ex-Scotland manager leaves his second Jambos stint with the club in 11th place after one win in their opening 11 games.
The Tynecastle club are in danger of being embroiled in a relegation fight. Before that happens, who could take over from Levein at the Jambos?
Jack Ross
A likely favourite for the position, Ross was a former coach at Hearts and recently left his position as manager at Sunderland.
His first season at the Black Cats wasn’t bad. He did, however, fail to get them back to the Championship following a play-off defeat to Charlton. He was relieved of his duties despite the Stadium of Light club being well in the mix for promotion.
Ross has had success north of the border though. He managed to get St Mirren promoted to the Premiership before his Sunderland switch.
St Mirren taught him what it’s like to scrap at the bottom and Sunderland showed him what’s required to fight at the top of the table for a big club. Ross is still a young manager, but he now has the experience to handle a team like Hearts too.
Stephen Robinson
A man who was linked with the Hearts job only a matter of weeks ago (Scottish Sun), Motherwell boss Robinson is one man Hearts could look at.
Whilst he is currently thriving at the other end of the Premiership table, more funds, better quality players and a promising academy could persuade Robinson to switch Fir Park for Tynecastle.
He’s took the Well to two cup finals plus he’s brought in an expansive style of football with academy players at the heart of it.
With the amount of young academy prospects at Hearts, they may look at the Well boss as a man with qualities to push the current crop of Jambos youngsters to the next level.
Robinson fits the Hearts model and would be an excellent appointment, although it would take a lot of convincing to persuade him to leave Lanarkshire.
Neil Harris
Harris is coming off the back of a spell with Millwall, who he served for four years as manager. In that time, he managed to guide the Lions back to the Championship and stabilised them in that division.
He’s now on the hunt for a new job after leaving at the start of October. In a recent interview (Talksport via NewsShopper), the Englishman said he’s ‘ready to go again.’
With a 21st place Millwall finish last term, it’s fair to say the past year hasn’t been great for Harris. Finishing eighth the season prior though shows Harris can guide a team up the table.