Ian Cathro on Newcastle’s pull, lessons from Rafa and Nuno, and building a fearless Estoril

Ian Cathro has worked across several corners of the modern game, but one club still stands out when he looks back on the path that shaped him.

Now in charge of Estoril Praia in Portugal’s top division, the Scottish coach says Newcastle United remains the place that made one of the strongest impressions on him, even though his time there came during a painful period for the club.

Cathro, who turns 40 later this year, is currently earning praise for his work in the Primeira Liga. Estoril’s progress brought him the league’s Coach of the Month award for January, recognition that underlined his growing reputation after years spent learning in support roles and navigating a varied coaching journey through Scotland, Portugal, Spain and England.

Why Newcastle still resonates

For Cathro, Newcastle is remembered not only for the football but for the ritual that surrounds it.

He recalled the walk from Newcastle Central Station to St James’ Park as one of the most distinctive matchday experiences in English football. Moving through the city toward the stadium in the early morning, he felt the sense that something significant was building long before kickoff.

That memory has stayed with him for years. Even though Newcastle’s 2015-16 campaign ended in relegation, Cathro still speaks warmly about the club, its supporters and the emotional weight football carries in the city.

He described that season as a failure in competitive terms, but not one that erased his affection for the place. Of all the clubs he has worked at, Newcastle is the one he says left the biggest mark. He also expressed delight at the different atmosphere around the club now, pointing to the renewed optimism under Eddie Howe.

Working under Rafa Benitez

Cathro’s spell on Tyneside also gave him the chance to work closely with Rafa Benitez, an experience he regards as highly valuable.

He portrays Benitez as a coach who lives and breathes football conversation, someone whose focus on the game is relentless and whose detail, particularly in defensive structure, made a lasting impact. Cathro’s takeaway from that time was not flashy or abstract. It was the value of simplicity executed with precision.

That lesson remains relevant in modern coaching, where systems can easily become overcomplicated. In Benitez, Cathro saw a manager able to reduce defensive work to clear principles while still demanding exact standards in how those principles were applied.

Nuno’s influence on and off the pitch

If Benitez sharpened one side of Cathro’s football thinking, Nuno Espirito Santo helped shape the wider arc of his career.

The two first connected on a Scottish FA coaching course at Largs in 2009, and that relationship became one of the defining partnerships of Cathro’s professional life. It opened the door for him to leave Scotland, work abroad and develop in new football cultures.

Cathro had been coaching in Dundee United’s academy and running his own coaching school before joining Nuno. He would go on to assist him at Rio Ave and Valencia, and later reconnect with him in England at Wolves and Tottenham.

He credits Nuno not just for tactical or technical guidance, but for personal support and trust at key moments. Cathro sees their partnership as a natural fit. Early on, he brought extensive training-ground coaching experience, while Nuno offered elite-level dressing-room authority, broad life experience and strong leadership. Each supplied qualities the other lacked.

That balance, in Cathro’s view, was central to their success together.

He also offered an insight into when Nuno tends to thrive most: in environments where the club’s leadership, structure and football ideas are aligned. Cathro’s assessment is that whenever Nuno has had that support and clarity around him, positive results have followed.

A brief and difficult Tottenham spell

The move to Tottenham did not last long. Nuno and his staff were only in place for 17 matches, a short-lived chapter that Cathro still sees as part of a broader identity struggle at the club.

His reading of Tottenham is that the club has been trying to redefine itself since Mauricio Pochettino’s departure in 2019. Pochettino, he suggested, represented more than a coach. He came to embody the style, spirit and image of what many supporters wanted Tottenham to be.

That has left a lingering question for the club: what exactly counts as success?

Cathro’s point is not merely about trophies versus league position. It is about clarity. Should Spurs judge themselves by regular Champions League qualification? By top-six finishes? By silverware at any cost? And if the ambition is to compete with the wealthiest clubs, can they do so without matching those clubs financially?

In his view, Tottenham still need to define their football identity with greater conviction and then make difficult decisions to follow that path consistently. For a club of that size, he believes the challenge is not a lack of tradition, but the need to commit firmly to what the next version of Tottenham should be.

Estoril and a different mindset

While Tottenham continue to wrestle with those bigger-picture questions, Cathro’s attention is fixed on a very different kind of project.

At Estoril Praia, he is working with a club that does not operate with the financial power or visibility of Portugal’s biggest teams. That reality makes outside recognition harder to earn, which is why his recent Coach of the Month award carried extra significance.

Yet Cathro’s philosophy is not built around merely surviving in the division.

He wants Estoril to play without fear. That, more than aesthetic ideals, is the foundation of his work. He believes the club had become too accustomed to the psychology of relegation battles, where every performance is shaped by anxiety and caution. His mission has been to break that habit.

The style he is trying to install is proactive and bold. Cathro makes clear that he has little appetite for passive football built on sitting deep for long periods and waiting for a set-piece or counterattack. He wants initiative, pressure and bravery.

That does not mean football for football’s sake. Rather, it is an attempt to create a competitive identity that frees players from the burden of playing simply not to lose.

In a league where smaller clubs can often become defined by restraint, Cathro is trying to make Estoril stand for something more assertive.

Feeling at home in Portugal

There is also a personal dimension to his current satisfaction.

Cathro says he feels accepted in Portugal now, a point of pride after a coaching career that has demanded adaptability and persistence. He speaks with gratitude, but also with the belief that such acceptance has been earned through hard work and years of experience in different environments.

Off the pitch, life has settled in a way that clearly matters to him. With his young family alongside him, Portugal offers a lifestyle he appreciates deeply, from the language and culture to the simple rhythm of family days near the beach.

That sense of balance appears to have strengthened his commitment to the present rather than pushing him toward an immediate return to British football.

No rush to head back

For now, Cathro is not actively looking for a move back to the UK. He admits he cannot control how long any coaching job lasts, but there is no sign he is itching to leave Portugal in the near future.

That feels significant for a coach whose career has often involved movement, adaptation and taking on different challenges. At Estoril, he seems to have found a project that matches both his football ideas and his stage of life.

His story is still evolving, and coaching can change quickly. But at this moment, Cathro comes across as a manager shaped by demanding experiences at clubs with very different pressures, and one now intent on building something authentic in his own way.

Newcastle gave him a feeling he has never forgotten. Benitez offered structure. Nuno opened doors and broadened his world. Tottenham provided a close-up look at how difficult identity can be for a major club. And Estoril, perhaps, is where those lessons are being tested most clearly.

For Cathro, the destination is not yet fixed. The direction, however, looks increasingly clear.