The Romanian-born coach has concluded negotiations with club officials after arriving in Edinburgh yesterday.

Hearts had earlier received permission to speak to Laszlo from the Ugandan FA, where the former Ferencvaros manager worked as national team coach.

mfl

The 44-year-old, who also held coaching roles with Borussia Monchengladbach and Hungary, has signed a three-year contract.

Hearts say Laszlo, who will be unveiled at a media conference this afternoon, will work with sport director Anatoly Korobochka on all first-team matters.

mfl

Hearts began looking for a new boss on January 1 when they ended an unsuccessful experiment with a coaching triumvirate of Korobochka and assistants Angel Chervenkov and Stephen Frail.

Frail was appointed caretaker as Hearts announced they were looking for a manager with experience of British football.

However, majority shareholder Vladimir Romanov cast his net wider after being rejected by number one choice Mark McGhee, who opted to remain at Motherwell.

Talks with Slovakian Vladimir Weiss and German Jurgen Rober did nor prove fruitful, while initial interest in former Stoke boss Gudjon Thordarsson and former Leicester manager Ian Holloway was not followed up.

Frail left the club this week after being put on gardening leave as fitness coach Tom Ritchie took pre-season training in the presence of Korobochka and the recalled Chervenkov.

Romanov has now settled on a manager with no experience of British football, but one who impressed the people of Uganda.

He led their team from 167th to their current position of 97th in the FIFA world rankings, with the help of victory over Nigeria during their unsuccessful but much-improved bid to qualify for their first African Nations Cup finals.

Uganda now sit two points behind group leaders Benin as they bid to reach the next stage of the World Cup qualifiers.

Laszlo is best known to Hearts fans as the man who clashed with Tynecastle head coach John Robertson during a UEFA Cup tie between Ferencvaros and the Edinburgh club in 2004.

He claimed Robertson kicked him after the match, while the Hearts boss said his opposite number had stood on his foot and he was trying to free himself.

The match came in the group stages of the competition, with both sides being knocked out at that round.

Laszlo faces the demanding task of meeting the expectations of Romanov, who has now removed seven head coaches, the first being Robertson in 2005.

The Hungarian-speaking coach is likely to see the team perform for the first time on Monday when they face Glentoran in a testimonial in Belfast.