Hearts bleed as football's white knight wields knife

STEPHEN MCGINTY

HE WAS the shining knight, laden with saddlebags of gold, who arrived in Hearts' darkest hour. The hero who saved Tynecastle Stadium from being sold off, swallowed the 130-year-old club's £20 million debt and, until last week, had pushed the club to the top of the Scottish Premier League.

But yesterday the reputation of Vladimir Romanov, the Lithuanian multi-millionaire, was more than just tarnished by the swift sacking of Phil Anderton, the club's chief executive and the enforced resignation of George Foulkes, Hearts' popular chairman.

Fears are now growing that Mr Romanov may be less a shining knight than a Trojan horse, intent on obtaining complete control of an old Scottish institution.

Yesterday Mr Foulkes, the former government minister, accused Mr Romanov of being a "dictator" and one he regretted ever having introduced to the club. He said: "I brought in Vladimir Romanov and I am very much regretting that now.

"Vladimir Romanov is behaving like a dictator and if he continues to do that there will be a revolution against him."

But he admitted salvation would not come any time soon.

"I hope that someone else in the longer term might come in and take over, but at the moment Vladimir Romanov is the only option."

The problem is that Mr Romanov, who as a businessman in Lithuania experienced the peaceful revolution that saw the Baltic state free itself from Russian control, is the one with the upper hand.

Yesterday at Tynecastle stadium, his son, Roman Romanov, who has replaced Mr Foulkes and Mr Robinson as both chairman and acting chief executive, appealed to angry fans for calm and to have faith in his father's promise to transform Hearts into winners of the Champions League - a vision even the most diehard Jambo may struggle to truly believe.

Roman Romanov said: "Despite the events of the last ten days and suggestions otherwise, I would like to assure all Hearts fans that we are still entirely resolute in delivering the success that we have spoken about throughout our involvement with this great club.

"We would ask fans to look back 12 months ago and judge where we were then and where we are now, in terms of where we play, our position in the league and the undoubted quality of our players. That is why we are keen that people do not view us on the next 12 hours, 12 days, 12 weeks but rather judge us on the next 12 months."

His words appeared to steady the ship, but there is only one man who knows in which direction it is heading. For Mr Romanov has executed a stunning putsch firing George Burley, the manager, ten days ago and toppling Mr Anderton which, like one domino hitting another, took out Mr Foulkes.

The senior Mr Romanov has displayed a pattern of swiftly ejecting those who fail to share his vision. In November 2004, he appointed John Robertson as the club manager. He was fired seven months later.

Today the board has only one Scot, Stewart Fraser, who sits beside a raft of Lithuanians. As well as his son, Mr Romanov has appointed his niece, Julija Groncaruk, who is a non-executive director, Sergejus Fedotovas, who served as acting chief executive, and Liutauras Varanavicius, who is also a non-executive director.

In terms of financial control he has already reached the tipping point: his purchase of 20 per cent of Hearts shares from SMG, at one fifth of what they paid for them, and 5.7 per cent from Halifax Bank of Scotland, has taken his control to a majority of 55 per cent. Yesterday Trafalgar Asset Management sold 50,000 Hearts shares for 37p each to an anonymous buyer, almost certainly Mr Romanov.

A majority of shares could, in effect, allow him to do as he pleased, even sell the stadium, which last year attracted an offer of £20.5 million. A choice such as this would require a special resolution to be passed. Yet he currently seeks even greater financial control over a club he already dominates. If he obtains a 75 per cent share of the company, he could effectively do with the club as he wants. He has indicated he would remove the club from the stock market and return it to private ownership, thereby reducing the financial scrutiny the company currently comes under.

If Mr Romanov increases his share to 90 per cent he would automatically trigger a compulsory purchase that would force the remaining 10 per cent of share owners to sell.

Only two groups stand in his way. The first is Leslie Deans, a former club chairman, and his business partner, Robert McGrail, who control 18 per cent of the remaining shares. Mr Deans yesterday made it clear that he was deeply concerned by Mr Romanov's behaviour and had demanded an immediate meeting. He said: "It is very important for me to find out all the facts and I want to do that as soon as possible."

The remaining 22 per cent are made up of small shareholders, mainly fans, who will be reluctant, in the current climate of uncertainty, to accept Mr Romanov's current offer, which will be issued tomorrow , to purchase their shares at 35p each. Last night Derek Watson, of Hearts Supporters Trust, said fans were deeply concerned. "The situation is very disturbing and fans are not happy."

If Mr Romanov has plans other than his publicly stated goal to turn Hearts into a club to rival Celtic and Rangers, he will keep them close to his chest. One suggested reason for the sacking of Mr Anderton is that he was asking too many questions about the financial foundations of the club.

According to Roman Romanov, Mr Anderton "ticked most of the boxes, but not all".

Frontline Scotland, the BBC's current affairs documentary team, are reportedly digging into Mr Romanov's business dealings, but it is not yet known what, if anything, has been uncovered.

Yesterday, David Glen, of PriceWaterhouseCoopers, presented the annual review of Scottish football teams which showed that Hearts had a debt of £19.5 million, similar to Celtic, but while the Glasgow Club had a turnover of £65 million, Hearts earned just £7 million. The figures were a picture of the club, pre-Romanov. What next year will bring is unknown.

Taken from the Scotsman