After working as a local youth coach in Dundee, Cathro became the head of Dundee United's youth academy at the age of 22.[3] During his time with Dundee United, he also worked for the Scottish Football Association's local youth programme.[3]Ryan Gauld has cited Cathro as one of the biggest influences on his career.[4][5]
Assistant manager
In 2012, he became the assistant manager of Portuguese club Rio Ave.[3] In 2014, he followed Nuno, his manager at Rio Ave, to Spanish club Valencia, where he also became assistant manager.[1][6] The two had first met at an SFA coaching course in Scotland in 2009.[1][6] He resigned his Valencia post on 11 June 2015.[7]
A fortnight later, he agreed to join Premier League side Newcastle United as assistant to Steve McClaren, the recently appointed manager.[8] When McClaren was sacked by Newcastle United in March 2016 and replaced by Rafa Benítez,[9] Cathro was thought highly enough of to be retained as assistant manager.[9]
Heart of Midlothian
Cathro was appointed head coach of Scottish Premiership club Heart of Midlothian on 5 December 2016.[10] The appointment caused some debate within Scottish football. Kilmarnock player Kris Boyd questioned whether such a young manager, with limited playing experience, could command the respect of the squad.[11] Hearts performed poorly in the second half of the 2016–17 season, winning 5 of 22 league games after Cathro was appointed.[12] They fell to fifth place in the league and were knocked out of the 2016–17 Scottish Cup by their Edinburgh derby rivals Hibernian.[12] After Hearts failed to qualify from the 2017–18 Scottish League Cup group stage,[13] Cathro was sacked.[12][14]Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers said that there appeared to be a "confused" approach at Hearts, with a mismatch between the style of play Cathro wanted to implement and the type of players signed by the club.[15][16] After Cathro left, Hearts interim manager Jon Daly and player Cole Stockton claimed that the physical training under Cathro had lacked intensity.[17]
Assistant to Nuno
After almost a year out of football, Cathro was appointed first-team coach at Wolverhampton Wanderers in June 2018, linking up again with Nuno, who Cathro worked with in Portugal and Spain.[18]
On 3 July 2021, Cathro followed former-Wolves manager Nuno to Tottenham Hotspur, after being appointed assistant head coach.[19]
Cathro again followed Nuno when in the summer of 2022 the later was appointed as manager of Saudi club Al-Ittihad, with Cathro becoming First Team coach.[20]
