Foulkes departure confirms Romanov has gone too far

GRAHAM BEAN

AFTER a ten-day period during which Hearts have lost their manager, chief executive and chairman, it is the departure of George Foulkes from the latter post which should set alarm bells ringing most loudly amongst the club's supporters.

Since becoming chairman in April 2004, the former Labour MP has served as an honest broker while steering the club through some of the most turbulent times in their history.

Having been a Tynecastle regular for the last 20 years, his love of the club was never in doubt. Just as important were his skills as a master negotiator and diplomat as he set about tackling the problems which threatened to see the club turfed out their home of over a century.

With Hearts' debt spiralling out of control under then chief executive Chris Robinson, the fans had turned on the old board whose doomsday solution was to sell Tynecastle for housing and use the cash to clear the debt. Unpaid, and sometimes, unappreciated, Foulkes used all his political wiles to unite a Hearts family riven by strife.

On his first day as chairman he declared that the proposed move to Murrayfield was at best premature. He said he would seek to persuade the Hearts board to postpone the sale of Tynecastle and halt the plan to ground-share with the Scottish Rugby Union, and within weeks, despite the misgivings of Robinson, he had achieved his goal.

As an MP of 25 years, his connections with institutions such as the Bank of Scotland allowed him to buy breathing space for a club saddled with financial problems.

He brought the supporters back onside at a time when their trust in the board was at an all-time low. He worked closely with the Save our Hearts pressure group which lobbied to keep the club in Gorgie and agitated for Robinson's removal for the board.

Money, though, remained the root of Hearts' problems and Foulkes actively began courting potential investors and thought he had found his white knight when Vladimir Romanov rode into town. The naturalised Lithuanian bought a 10.3 per cent stake in Hearts from former chairman Leslie Deans and when a deal was struck in September 2004 for Romanov to buy out Robinson's 19.6 per cent share it looked as if the club's future was secure.

It was announced Hearts would be staying at Tynecastle for the immediate future and Romanov promised investment in new players for Craig Levein. The head coach had other ideas and fulfilled a long-term ambition to work in England when he left Edinburgh to manage Leicester City. His replacement, John Robertson, lasted less than six months before Romanov decided another change was required. Hearts turned to George Burley, the former Ipswich Town and Derby County manager, but his reign was to be even shorter. After ten league matches, eight of which were won, Burley was shown the door.

Throughout the turmoil Foulkes has been a staunch supporter of Romanov but cracks in their relationship began to appear last weekend as news of Burley's dismissal emerged. After the announcement last Friday that Romanov had increased his stake in the Edinburgh club to 55 per cent, Foulkes went on radio to hail the deal, adding that in Burley the club had "the best manager in Scotland".

At lunchtime the following day it emerged that the manager had gone and it was left to Foulkes to read out the official statement which cited "irreconcilable differences" between Burley and the Tynecastle club despite the fact that Hearts were leading the league and were unbeaten under the former Scotland defender.

The chairman's position had clearly been compromised but he battled on as Hearts began searching for their fourth manager in under a year. Having previously described Burley and Anderton as "two of Hearts' best ever signings", Foulkes found the ground beneath him giving way when first one then the other was shown the door by Romanov.

It's not clear what Foulkes' legacy will be. While fans will always be grateful for his part in keeping the club at Tynecastle, the uncertainty now surrounding Romanov's reign means the jury remains out on the benefits or otherwise of helping bringing the Lithuanian banker to the club.

One of Foulkes' original aims was to broaden the powerbase at Hearts. An admirer of supporters' trusts, he wanted to bring fans on to the board. Instead the club is now in the hands of one person, with Romanov able to run Hearts as a dictatorship.

As Burley, Anderton and Foulkes have all found to their cost, it is proving to be a ruthless regime.

Roman has been father's eyes and ears at Tynecastle

THE son of majority shareholder Vladimir Romanov, Roman Romanov, 29, became a non-executive Hearts director on 1 February this year, and is one of four Lithuanians on the Tynecastle board which was dramatically reduced from seven directors to five yesterday.

When the dust had settled, a statement issued by Hearts last night confirmed Romanov junior as the club's new chairman and acting chief executive in succession to George Foulkes and Phil Anderton, the former having resigned in protest at the latter's dismissal.

Previously a low-profile member of the Tynecastle board, Roman Romanov has nevertheless enjoyed a powerful influence at the club in recent months. He has been his father's eyes and ears in Edinburgh while Vladimir has been otherwise engaged.

He was reportedly at the centre of a bust-up with former manager George Burley after last month's game with Celtic when he is believed to have questioned Burley's team selection and criticised him for Hearts' failure to win the game. One report claimed the decision not to introduce Lithuanian international Saulius Mikoliunas as a substitute in the second half was a source of conflict between manager and director.

The match in Glasgow finished 1-1, a result which kept the Edinburgh side three points above Celtic at the top of the Premierleague. It turned out to be Burley's last in charge.

While his father's wealth has been estimated at £200million, Roman Romanov has been encouraged to prove himself in his own right.

Educated at a university in the United States, Roman had his passport confiscated by his father while he was a student so he wouldn't succumb to homesickness. Most recently he studied international economics at Moscow State University from 2002-2004.

He has worked for his father from a young age. In a bid to establish whether his son was made of the right stuff, Vladimir thrust Roman into running his aluminium plant in Yugoslavia. It was, said Romanov senior, "like throwing a puppy into water to see if it sinks or swims".

Roman quickly proved his worth and became a trusted lieutenant of his father's. Most recently he has been working for an investment group in Lithuania and Russia, among other places. It's safe to assume much of his work in the near future will be centred in Edinburgh.

Taken from the Scotsman