Hearts chairman launches tirade against 'fixed' Scottish league

Roman Romanov's ramblings at the club's AGM left onlookers unsure whether to laugh or cry

Ewan Murray

Any thoughts that recent silence from the Romanov family meant they had toned down their conspiracy theories on the reason for Hearts' demise were spectacularly banished today at the club's Annual General Meeting.

Speaking in front of around 400 shareholders at Tynecastle, the Hearts chairman and owner's son, Roman Romanov, issued his latest bullish defence of the management regime at the Edinburgh club. Hearts have struggled on the field recently and debts to the financial year ending July 2007 sat at more than £36m. To halt the slide, Romanov Sr announced that a manager with experience of the British game would be appointed. His son, however, remains unconvinced.

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"Most managers are already out of work or ready to jump from the clubs they are working at," claimed the chairman, who fails to exhibit the charm of his father. "They are seeking to profit or steal players.

"We will not have a manager who says to players not to sign a new contract at our club because he tells the player he is moving and will take him with him. There are examples of this out there." The chairman initially strongly suggested that Stephen Frail, the caretaker boss at Tynecastle, would remain in office beyond the end of the season, although he later attempted to backtrack.

Such a move is unlikely to pacify disillusioned supporters. A shortlist of potential replacements, compiled by the managing director Campbell Ogilvie, has been submitted but Romanov said he is "not sure if we want to go for those targets."

Romanov, openly challenging those from the floor, pointed to the apparent dark forces that he believes exist within Scottish football as a reason for Hearts' problems.

"It is news to you that this is a fixed league?" he asked. "Rangers and Celtic win titles by 30 points. How many times this season have we been screwed by referees? We ask you to help us to fight this system that doesn't allow a smaller club to grow. If a club starts to grow, they use all mechanisms to pull it down."

While the chairman's comments met with approval from a section of the audience - non-Old Firm fans have complained for years about a supposed bias towards the Glasgow duo - they would have carried considerably more weight were Hearts not in such a dismal position on the field. A string of dreadful performances this season has plunged them into the SPL's bottom six for the first time, scant reward for a club that bestowed £12.5m on wages in the last financial year.

"A man [my father] came in and won everything," said Romanov, pointing to Hearts' Scottish Cup success and Champions League qualification in 2006. "The whole system got down on him. This man has brought a Scottish Cup and people say he has no clue."

Romanov stressed that the days of "Hearts selling players to Rangers and Celtic for £100,000 are gone" but was vague on how borrowing can be reduced. Work on a new £51m main stand is scheduled to start at Tynecastle in a year's time.

The chairman was unable to explain whether or not Roman Bednar, the striker on loan at West Bromich Albion, was a registered Hearts player or on a permanent contract with FBK Kaunas, the Lithuanian team that Romanov sponsors, and then even shouted "Provocator" at one dissenter.

"There has to be a combination, an understanding between the manager and the owner," replied Romanov to suggestions that his father exerts undue influence on team selection. "If the manager understands that this player has to play because he has got potential, if he has the same view [as the owner] he gets full control. He will select players if we agree. It's team work."

Apparently in jest, Romanov said: "You think Vladimir wants to pick the team? He doesn't. He has to sometimes. There is a question here: what happens if Vladimir dies? I'll give you the answer; he won't pick the team any more." Not for the first time, onlookers were unsure whether to laugh or cry.

Taken from the Guardian/Observer