'Excited': Shelley Kerr breaks silence on new Hearts role as Graeme Jones explains grounbreaking appointment

The 55-year-old former Scotland National Women’s Team boss has been appointed to support the development of players and coaches across the male academy set-up at Hearts. She is the first woman to hold such a role in Scottish football.

Within her new remit, Hearts say that Kerr’s “primary role will be to make the development process from academy to first team more strategic and efficient, implementing a technical and tactical framework to help players and coaches aspire to fulfil their potential at Heart of Midlothian”.

She will also assist Angus Beith with the Hearts B team after his appointment last week to replace Liam Fox in that role.

Kerr managed the SWNT between 2017 and 2020, taking charge of the side for the 2019 World Cup. She has also worked at Arsenal, the English Football Association and University of Stirling during her coaching career and has been a pundit for BBC Scotland.

Kerr’s arrival at Tynecastle coincides with the appointment of Graeme Jones as Hearts’ new sporting director, while the club last week announced a new tie-up with Brighton owner Tony Bloom’s Jamestown Analytics company.

Speaking on her appointment to the official Hearts website, Kerr said: “Firstly, I would like to thank Graeme, the football department and the board at Heart of Midlothian for the opportunity to work in such an important role at the club.

“I am fortunate to have undertaken a variety of leadership roles across men’s and women’s football since I retired as a player and I am excited to bring the accumulation of that knowledge and experience to Heart of Midlothian”

Jones explained the arrival of Kerr, adding: “Shelley’s extensive experience and skill set is ideally suited to this new role at the club and I look forward to working with her to harness the development pathway leading to the first team,” he said.

“She will support Angus from a coaching perspective with the B Team but her remit will be far more wide-ranging, from 18s through to B Team.

“She will have an overview of the talent pipeline – of coaches as well as players – but fundamentally the job of Technical Development Manager is to make the route towards the first team clearer for those on the journey.

“As well as her coaching experience and UEFA Pro Licence, what made Shelley stand out was the work undertaken with the English FA in taking the principle of a high-performance environment and implementing key physical, tactical and technical strategies and objectives.”

Hearts currently sit 11th in the William Hill Scottish Premiership and recently changed head coach, with Neil Critchley replacing Steven Naismith last month.

They are also in the Europa Conference League and take on Cercle Brugge in Belgium on Thursday night, having won two out of the three matches in that competition so far.