AS his compatriots back in Scotland have struggled to keep warm during the cold snap, Ian Cathro has been dealing with extreme weather conditions of an entirely different kind.
Cathro has been a coach at Al-Ittihad in Saudi Arabia under Nuno Espirito Santo, the Portuguese manager who he worked alongside at Rio Ave, Valencia, Wolves and Spurs, since July.
With temperatures over in the Middle East regularly exceeding 30 degrees Celsius, he has to be careful when he puts on his sessions.
“It’s tough,” he said. “We more or less train once the sun goes down. And when we don’t, if there is half a pitch covered by shade that’s where I’ll be standing. That’s not up for debate. It’s a lifesaver.”
Cathro certainly felt the heat after being named Hearts manager six years ago this month.
The appointment of a 30-year-old with no playing experience in the professional game was questioned by many supporters and pundits. Results thereafter were underwhelming, disaffection steadily grew in the stands and he was sacked after only seven months in charge.
It is, though, fair to say he has put his turbulent stint at Tynecastle firmly behind him since. He spent three-and-a-half seasons working in the Premier League with Wolves, where Santo enjoyed significant success, and then Spurs before moving to Al-Ittihad this summer.
He prefers to look ahead than dwell on past disappointments and admits that becoming a head coach in his own right once again remains an ambition.
However, he is confident that when he does make that step he will be able to draw on the experiences, both positive and negative, which he had in Gorgie.
“I reflect on it as something I am very grateful for,” he said. “My period of time at Hearts was something that was part of the big rollercoaster that I have been on in the 20 years.
“I don’t know many people who get to go through all of those things that I’ve been through and still be able to sit at 36 and have made peace with things they need to make peace with and have taken lessons from the things they need to take lessons from. I don’t specifically mean Hearts, I mean everything.
“Hearts was six years ago. Six years is a long time. I don’t live in the past. I have completely moved on and I’m focused on going forward. I am 36 years old and I have maybe another 36 years of my career ahead of me because I’m not someone who intends to stop working. I love football too much.”
Cathro firmly believes the best days of his coaching career are to come.
“I didn’t even realise this,” he said. “The other day it all of a sudden clicked that I have been doing this for 20 years, right from starting out when I left school. I’ve done a lot and experienced a lot in that period of time.
“Of the last 20 years the last 10 has more or less been at the top level, big highs, big lows, challenges all over the place. I don’t think there are many things left to see or left to feel or left to experience.
“I’m grateful for that. With the fortune of good health, I should have the vast majority of my career ahead of me. I expect that to be as a head coach. That goal has never, ever changed.”
Cathro quickly earned a reputation as an outstanding young coach in his native Dundee during his teens and was made head of the Dundee United academy, where he helped to nurture the embryonic talents of Harry and John Souttar and Ryan Gauld, when he was just 22.
He is adamant he has far more to offer a club now than he did when he was starting out or when he occupied the dugout at Tynecastle because of the high level he has operated at down south.
“No question,” he said. “It’s impossible not to be a better coach because of the environment I’ve worked in. I’ve worked with top, top players and top, top coaches and more importantly against top coaches and against top players. That’s the thing I’ve enjoyed the most. You either function at that level or you’re gone. I’ve taken a helluva lot away from that.”
Cathro has enjoyed being involved at Al-Ittihad too. He has been struck both by the high standard of the Saudi Professional League and the passion which the natives have for the beautiful game – something which was obvious when their national team sprang a major surprise and defeated Argentina in the group stages of the World Cup.
“We were in Dubai on a training camp,” he said. “There was a fair eruption in the hotel when that final whistle went. They even had a national holiday the day after.
“It’s different in a whole number of ways. But the one thing we probably don’t appreciate is how fanatical they are about football. There is a massive, massive love for football in this country. They pack out a 60,000-seater stadium and it feels as raucous as anything. They clearly want to progress and that’s all you can ask for as a player or a coach.”
Cathro is now both a husband and a father - his wife Lana and baby daughter Benedita live in Scotland and travel over to Saudi Arabia with him when they can.
He is perhaps a less intense, more rounded individual than he was in the past and therefore better placed to handle the trials and tribulations of management.
“I’m no longer in a rush in my life,” he said. “That’s a good conclusion to make. It’s pretty peaceful. I can live in the moment and look forward in a calm way knowing the vast majority of my career is ahead of me.
“For the first 10 years I was doing it as if it was 24 hours a day because I was young and I didn’t have a life. Now I have the fortune of being married with a beautiful wife and a beautiful baby girl who’s just turned one. I don’t work 24 hours a day any more and I don’t want to work 24 hours a day. But I do work a lot of them.”
