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One former Newcastle United assistant manager is reportedly on the brink of losing his current job.
A former Newcastle United coach has been told he has one game to save his job after his currently club made an abysmal start to the season.
Just over nine years have passed since former Valencia coach Ian Cathro was named as assistant manager by then-Magpies boss Steve McClaren after forging a strong reputation for himself during his time with the La Liga outfit. The Scot remained at St James Park when McClaren was replaced by Rafa Benitez but stepped into the lead role in the dugout in December 2016 when he accepted a position as head coach of Scottish Premiership club Hearts.
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After an unsuccessful spell at Tynecastle, Cathro was reunited with former Valencia head coach Nuno Espirito Santo when he was named as first-team coach at Wolverhampton Wanderers before following the Portuguese boss to Tottenham Hotspur and Saudi Pro League club Al-Ittihad. However, Cathro struck out on his own once again when he landed a managerial role with Portuguese club Estoril during the summer.
Cathro’s new side scored just one goal in their opening four games of the season as they fell to defeats against Santa Clara and Vitoria Guimaraes before battling to goalless draws against Gil Vicente and Boavista. There seemed to be a positive upturn when Cathro earned the first win of his reign as a first-half goal from Joao Carvalho helped his side to a 1-0 home victory against Nacional and the former Magpies coach admitted there were still improvements to be made in the aftermath of the game.
He said: "Just like us, the fans also want to see us playing better, and that is what we always strive for – to play as well as possible and improve every day. There are moments in football when we must prioritize certain aspects. A victory in the early stages of the league is very important, and I prefer to value our understanding of the moment and the commitment of the players during the match. We can say it wasn't pretty, but we achieved our goal, which was to win."
However, a 2-2 draw at Cathro’s former club Rio Ave and consecutive defeats against Sporting CP and Farense have reportedly left the Scot at risk of losing his job after his side slipped to just one point and one place above the Primeira Liga relegation zone. Matters went from bad to worse for Cathro when his side laboured to a goalless draw in a Portuguese Cup tie with fourth tier club Lusitano Evora before being dumped out of the competition with a penalty shoot-out defeat.
Portuguese news outlet A Bola have now claimed the Estoril board of directors are now considering Cathro’s future and have suggested anything other than a win against Arouca this weekend would see the Scot’s short-lived managerial reign brought to an end.