Hearts make move for former Norway boss Per-Mathias Hogmo to replace Steven Naismith

Hearts have identified former Norway boss Per-Mathias Høgmo as their first choice to replace Steven Naismith in the Tynecastle dugout.

STV Sport understands the Edinburgh club have made a move for the 64-year-old who most recently managed Urawa Red Diamonds in Japan.

The experienced Norwegian has been in management since 1989 when he took his first job with Gratangan.

He has since had spells with a string of clubs including Tromso, Rosenborg, Djurgardens and Hacken.

As well as managing the Norway national team between 2013 and 2016 he has also been in charge of his country’s under-15s, under-16s, under-17s, under-19s, under-21s and women’s side.

During his three year spell with the Norway Women’s National Team he reached a World Cup semi-final and won an Olympic gold medal.

He managed in the Champions League group stages with Rosenborg in 2005 when they finished third in a group with Lyon, Real Madrid and Olympiacos.

He also won the Swedish Allsvenskan with Hacken in 2022, which was the club’s first league title, and the national cup in 2023.

Following that he spent eight months in the J-League with Urawa before leaving them in August of this year.

Hearts have been looking for a new manager since Naismith was relieved of his duties last month following a run of eight consecutive defeats across all competitions.

The board are now keen to entice Høgmo to Edinburgh as they look to kick-start their season.

They currently sit bottom of the Premiership with just two points from their first eight games.

However they got their Conference League campaign off to a winning start with victory over Dinamo Minsk last week.