I have been a big proponent of the Director of Football / Head Coach setup and that partly is because I work in Germany a lot and I have seen the successes there.

I have often thought that it would be a positive addition to Scottish football in terms of avoiding the needless ripping up the blueprint scenario when a manager leaves.

You might think that the dismissal of Ian Cathro is a setback to that argument but I don’t really see it that way. One example doesn’t necessarily make a rule.

I am disappointed that Cathro has gone because I had high hopes for him having seen his career in Portugal and Spain.

I met him when he was at Valencia and then in the early days of his Hearts career. I have heard him described as arrogant and aloof, but he didn’t strike me like that. I thought he was a bit shy and retiring, but not unpleasant.

He clearly had his own ideas and wanted to do things his own way but I am not sure he helped himself with the way he handled himself at times or answered questions, which is more and more important now because you are speaking directly to the fans when you are interviewed on television or radio or quoted in newspapers.

I think that is the one area that if he is going to go back to being a Head Coach again where a bit of self-examination is required. You don’t have to be forced or fake, but there is a way of communicating and I think he maybe misunderstood or underestimated that side of the game.

Some will say it is too soon for Cathro to go but I think Hearts were looking for signs that it was going to change and they just weren’t there.

Tynecastle can be a volatile place and once you get the fans offside and not buying into you anymore it becomes very difficult.

To finish third in the Betfred Cup group after a poor second half of the season paints the picture and Hearts have made the change.

Ian has the advantage that his connections are good and it looks like he could land on his feet at Wolves with Nuno Espirito Santo.

That tells you he is a trusted colleague, a good football thinker and that he can be part of a team. There are some people that are better being in the background than running the show themselves.

At most clubs on the continent, it is a collaborative effort. The idea of a strong manager is very much a British one and it doesn’t really apply in Europe where it is more of a team effort and everyone has their role.

We have not heard the last of Ian Cathro, I am convinced of that. I don’t think one bad experience means the end of a career, especially at his stage of life.

What I hope we don’t get into now is chest beating and ‘I told you so’ from people that didn’t fancy him in the first place and that it doesn’t put paid to the idea of a Director of Football / Head Coach setup.

It worked well with Craig Levein and Robbie Neilson and just because Cathro is gone it doesn’t mean that a young manager shouldn’t be given that kind of opportunity again.

Julian Nagelsmann at Hoffenheim is the classic example of a coach with seemingly no gravitas going in and having success.

We have a tendency in Scotland to think that one story is the whole story. People say that we can’t have a non-Scottish manager of the National team because Berti Vogts was deemed a failure.

But if you look at his record now, he wasn’t as much of a failure as some of the people that have followed on from him. Yet we have a tendency to say that it didn’t work then and it will never work again.

I think it is a complex issue this one. There will be people saying that they knew this all along but it is a case of trial and error.

Hearts tried it and it didn’t work. That doesn’t mean that it can’t work in the future.