 Following Vučević's resignation in October 2008, he was appointed caretaker manager at the club and Hajduk immediately improved performance, with Hajduk winning in all of their next six league fixtures which saw them rise to second place just 1 point behind their fierce rivals Dinamo Zagreb at the winter break.He was sacked as manager at Hajduk Split on 3 August 2009, one day after a 1–0 defeat at home to NK Zadar in their second league match of the 2009–10 season.In May 2010, he was appointed new manager at Istra 1961 in the Croatian first division.