Lithuanian masterplan is ahead of schedule

ALAN PATTULLO

IN THE main reception at Tynecastle the workings of a highly dynamic if slightly surreal club are on display. In one room a woman's voice can be heard directing operations in what one assumes is Lithuanian while at the front desk a member of a parachute display team is seeking access to the stadium roof for a rehearsal.

He is forced to wait as the secretary fields calls from supporters seeking returns for the next day's game, which is the focus of attention for each of these protagonists and thousands - perhaps even millions - more besides.

It's the day before an eagerly awaited clash between Hearts and Rangers and the only place where there is any calm before the storm is in the head of Sergejus Fedotovas, the quietly-spoken but clearly quietly efficient right-hand man to Vladimir Romanov.

He has been in Edinburgh for over a year and a half preparing the way for a revolution that cranks up a gear today with the visit of Rangers, a game set to be piped into the front rooms of Lithuania. The clash is being transmitted live back in the homeland of half the club's board thanks to a deal which Fedotovas helped strike.

Even basketball is taking a back-seat in a country where it is normally a chief obsession, with Lithuania eliminated from European title contention after a defeat against France on Thursday.

So Tango Television, the channel now committed to showing 15 Hearts matches in Lithuania this season, is perhaps thankful for the strange situation whereby a Scottish club has become a potential ratings winner. "Tango TV is the second biggest channel," points out Fedotovas. "It covers 75 per cent of the population and usually shows Champions League football, basketball and Formula 1. We have structured a deal which allows them to show up to 15 games live, or on delayed transmission. That's a first for Hearts."

It's probably a first for Tango TV too, with their commentators not required to brush up on their knowledge of the goings on in Gorgie in the time before Romanov cast an opportunist's eye towards Scotland.

They are not the only ones doing some cramming. Burley has fielded 37 requests for one-on-one interviews in the run-up to this afternoon's match, many from English-based journalists not known for their interest in the SPL scene but craving release from Premiership football ennui. Almost every major national quality paper has carried a piece on Hearts this week, with Burley's profile down south clearly encouraging these sorties to Scotland. Fedotovas has observed the rising level of interest, with Hearts having already featured in two live games this season. When the next television deal is negotiated he will arrive armed with statistics in an attempt to wrestle away at least some of the Old Firm's significantly larger share of the pot.

"I would be a fool not to," he says. "It's a pity that the television deal is quite low compared to other leagues in Europe. But the interest in Scottish football is increasing and this year will be higher again, I think chiefly because of the development at Hearts."

With regard to Lithuania it's impossible to avoid pondering whether there would be an appetite for Hearts games without a Lithuanian representative such as striker Edgar Jankauskas on the pitch. It brings us back to the whole thorny issue of manager Burley's level of autonomy at a club evolving now at a thrilling rate.

"The manager picks the team," Fedotovas says firmly.

But the power chain at Tynecastle has become an intriguing issue. Phil Anderton, the chief executive, is a very public face of the club while Fedotovas works mostly in the background, content to be the vital middleman between Romanov and his Scottish-based employees at base camp.

His strong command of English makes him indispensable. He is the conduit between Burley and Romanov, and therefore the one interpreting the rumoured breakdown in communication between the pair. Again Fedotovas is emphatic: "I have never seen a conflict. It is a working relationship and you can see the results. It is a working relationship between people who want the best for this club."

Big in Lithuania Hearts may soon become, but it's big in Scotland which they most desire to be. Fedotovas admits to a degree of surprise at the rate of progress since Romanov became the major shareholder at Tynecastle last season. "I was sceptical, maybe because I come from a financial services background," says a man whose previous involvement in football didn't amount to much more than two six a-side games a week in Kaunas. "My expectations were quite reserved about what Hearts could achieve on the football pitch and what they could achieve in terms of support. When I came I saw a club torn by various conflicts. I really didn't believe what is happening today could happen.

"But that was my vision. I have to say that Mr Romanov was confident from the beginning. In a lot of discussions I expressed my scepticism but he never agreed with me. He was always sure it would be this way, and now he thinks we can achieve more."

He was originally sent to pave the way for the emergence of Ukio Bankas, Romanov's Kaunas-based bank, in the west. Conscientious as he is, the 29-year-old has found it difficult to keep his mind on the job. His superior keeps phoning up to talk about Hearts.

"My direct responsibilities are to look after the bank here," explains Fedotovas. "I am trying to organise an office for the bank in Edinburgh but in terms of discussions with Mr Romanov there has not been a lot said about the bank. In some ways the club is all he is interested in."

Based in Edinburgh, he is finding the natives generally welcoming although at times displaying some less agreeable traits. Involved in two other stadium building projects, in Minsk and Vilnius, he is an experienced negotiator when it comes to construction proposals but rarely has he met with such resistance as in Edinburgh.

One of four bids currently being considered by the board is a 37,000 capacity stadium on the site of Tynecastle Park, but planning issue concerns continue to dog the club.

"It is easier to develop major football stadiums in Minsk and Lithuania than the country which lives and breathes football," Fedotovas bemoans. "Football clubs here are taken for granted. Football is helping this country economically and internationally. It's okay for a football club to attract a lot of attention and go abroad with their St Andrews flags, but if football needs something extra? They'll only think about that."

It's not all sweetness and light at Tynecastle but then that's the way sceptical Sergejus probably likes it.

Taken from the Scotsman