Cathro set for Toon assistant role

Ian Cathro is set to be appointed as Newcastle head coach Steve McClaren's assistant. Press Association Sport understands the 28-year-old Scot, who left a similar post at Valencia at the end of last season, has accepted the Magpies' offer to join McClaren's staff after a lengthy search.Cathro, who started coaching in his teens after injury ended his fledgling playing career, has emerged as a target in recent days and while the club is yet to confirm his appointment, it is understood a deal is now in place.McClaren turned to the former Dundee United coach after struggling in his efforts to bring in a successful former player in the early years of a new phase of his career, with Phil Neville and Bolo Zenden among the men sounded out about the vacancy.The former England manager's need is pressing with the start of pre-season a little more than a week away and his staff team still to be assembled in the wake of the departures of John Carver and Steve Stone.Fitness guru Steve Black has also been linked with a role at St James' Park as the club prepares to embark upon a new era after a dreadful 2014-15 campaign.Confirmation of Cathro's appointment will provide a boost for both McClaren and managing director Lee Charnley with the latter desperately trying to land the players identified as targets for a major summer recruitment drive at the same time as securing additions to the coaching team.The Tyneside-bound coach, who was linked with the manager's job at Rangers earlier this year, enjoys a blossoming reputation within the game, and his comments in a recent interview may strike a chord with fans left disgruntled by last season's struggles.Cathro told BBC Sport in March: "You project forward to the types of job you want to do. I want to fill a stadium and make people excited about coming, feeling that as an enjoyable thing to watch and embrace, whilst being able to do something of significance at a club that leaves a structure and a system so that it continues to profit from beyond my period of time."That's the types of jobs that are more appealing and more natural to me. You're paid a lot of money, football gives you a lot of good things, and it's the club's position in society that gives you that. It's important that the club gets its value from you."

Source: PA