Hearts make Hogmo their preferred head coach target

Former Norway boss Per-Mathias Hogmo has been identified by Heart of Midlothian as the preferred candidate to be their new head coach.

The 64-year-old Norwegian, who led Rosenborg and Sweden's Hacken to league titles, is out of work after leaving J-League club Uruwa Red Diamonds in August.

Hogmo is not in Scotland but could arrive over the weekend if a deal can be agreed with the Scottish Premiership club.

B-team coach Liam Fox has been in interim charge of Hearts since former striker Steven Naismith was sacked last month following a run of eight successive defeats.

Chief executive Andrew McKinlay told BBC Scotland last week they had received close to 100 notes of interest in the job and that he expected to hold talks with "seven or eight" candidates before narrowing down the list.

Now they have targeted the only person in world football to have managed both the men's and women's squads of a single country at international level and who led the latter to Olympic gold in 2000.

Former Tromso midfielder Hogmo, who left Urawa Reds in August after only 28 games in charge, first turned to coaching as Gratangen player-boss in 1989 and has been in almost constant employment since.

He has had three spells in charge of Tromso, has also managed Tromsdalen, Fossum, Moss, Rosenborg and Fredrikstad in his homeland, as well as Djurgardens in Sweden, and has coached at all age levels with his national association.