Daniel Stendel led Barnsley to promotion from England's League One

Hearts "firmly believe" Daniel Stendel can "take the club forward" after ending their five-week search for a manager by appointing the German on a two-and-a-half-year deal.

Stendal will take charge on Tuesday, replacing Austin MacPhee who has overseen six games as caretaker since Craig Levein was sacked on 31 October.

Only goal difference is keeping Hearts off the bottom of the Premiership after they suffered a third defeat in four games against Motherwell on Saturday, losing 1-0.

Stendel left Barnsley in October and previously had a year in charge of Hannover 96.

He steered the Yorkshire club to promotion from English League One in the first season of his 16-month tenure - finishing second above a Sunderland side led by new Hibernian head coach Jack Ross, as Hearts pointed out while announcing his appointment.

But Stendel was sacked after poor start to the Championship left them winless in 10 games and second-bottom.

"With our number one target now on board, everyone at Tynecastle welcomes Daniel and hopes his appointment heralds an exciting new era," added the Hearts statement.

What can Hearts expect from Stendel?

BBC Sheffield sports editor Andy Giddings

Stendel is a manager whose teams play with a very high press, a great deal of energy. He's a manager who likes his teams to be adaptable as well. During his time at Barnsley, in part enforced by the football club but also because of his own free will, he wanted to try to focus on youth. He came into a club that had just been relegated, and relegated pretty spectacularly.

And for all that there was quite a significant period of time between the end of the season and Stendel's ultimate appointment, within a week people were speaking very positively about him, how he conducted himself and how things were being addressed within the team. So he had an immediate impact, and 10 months later he managed to put together a team that got promoted back to the Championship at the first time of asking.

He was a very popular manager at Barnsley and there was a lot of shock and anger when he was sacked. One of the things that Barnsley as a club, and the fans, like is for a manager to invest in the club and the town as well. A lot of football people are passing ships in the night at Barnsley and generally live in the Manchester area, Leeds or Sheffield. But Stendel lived in the area and frequented a few of the bars in town. So while he was successful, he would go and have a beer with supporters along the way.

So some of the things he did in the pub, on social media, and what he said through the media as well fostered a kind of togetherness between the manager, players and fan base. They really bought into him, after first thinking 'Daniel who?'