Hearts go down dark and desperate road

Hearts fans were not the only ones stunned by the appointment. The man who has been described as Romanov’s official spokesman last weekend laughed off the suggestion that Rix, a convicted sex offender, was to be appointed as coach, describing the speculation as far-fetched but merely serving to demonstrate how far he is out of the Lithuanian loop running the club. While the Scots continue to be the patsies, power now resides with Romanov and his son Roman but questions that call them to account for their actions tend to be deflected by references to the confidentiality clauses brokered with Burley and Anderton or inane Russian proverbs.

Roman Romanov, currently filling the roles vacated by Anderton and Foulkes, kept repeating one in reference to Rix: “One man beaten is worth two unbeaten”. Yet the appointment smacked of desperation on both sides. A cut-price option after all the big talk of Bobby Robson, Ottmar Hitzfeld or Claudio Ranieri. Top managers would have shunned Hearts because of the way they treated Burley, while leading clubs would have been nervous of unveiling Rix because of his criminal record.

Do we judge Graham Rix on his description of himself as a “football man” or simply as we would any other man? Do we separate the seduction established during his conviction for indecently assaulting a 15-year-old girl and having unlawful sex with her from the person he currently is? Morality in football has never been black and white, yet this surely is a darker shade of grey than most the Scottish game has previously been forced to confront.

For all his credibility as a coach, there is no escaping the evidence given to a hearing in March 1999 at Knightsbridge crown court. It showed that this was not a one-off encounter in the dark of a nightclub but a pursuit of a girl over a period of time and several encounters, including one where a sexual act took place initiated by Rix. Finally, in February 1998, he invited her to a hotel in west London where Chelsea were staying in preparation for a match with Manchester United. Later, fearing an unwanted pregnancy, the girl sought the morning-after pill before contacting him to end the relationship and telling her parents. Rix also confessed to them before walking into a police station to admit all.

The girl’s father said his daughter’s life had “fallen apart” as a result of the case and judge Timothy Pontius, in his summing up, said Rix had been determined to have sex with her. “There is no evidence in this case at all to suggest, let alone to establish, that this girl deliberately set out to get you,” he said. “No evidence that she was the one that made all the running and no evidence of her initiating any sexual activity, merely the response of the teenage girl to your flattery.”

He served six months of a year’s sentence in Wandsworth prison, spending his time painting cells for £8 a week, the same wage he had taken as an apprentice at Arsenal, and keeping a diary in which he wrote ‘What on earth am I doing here?’. When he had served his time, Gianluca Vialli, Chelsea’s manager, was waiting outside at 7 o’clock on a September morning to whisk him away for a “big breakfast and a glass of Guinness” and the club kept his job open, although he would later lose it in November 2000 after Claudio Ranieri succeeded Vialli. Rix has now recommended Vialli to Vladimir Romanov for the post of Hearts’ director of football but Athole Still, Burley’s agent, also represents Vialli and such an appointment would seem unlikely. Expect another let-down when that post is filled, creating a structure which has seldom worked well in Britain.

Rix’s star as a coach rose initially under Glenn Hoddle at Stamford Bridge. He later took an England under-20 team including David Beckham to the Toulon tournament in 1996 and would have been drafted into the senior set-up on a part-time basis by Hoddle had Ruud Gullit not refused to release him. He contributed to Chelsea winning five trophies under three managers, most directly the 1998 Cup Winners’ Cup final against Stuttgart when Vialli, the player-manager, told his assistant at half-time ‘if you want to make a change, make one, just don’t take me off’. Rix brought on Gianfranco Zola for Tore Andre Flo and 17 seconds later the little Italian scored the winner.

One previous experience of an eastern European owner and management structure came at Portsmouth where he was fired by Milan Mandaric in March 2002 after 13 months in which the club won only 16 games and were beaten 4-1 at home by Leyton Orient in the FA Cup.

Rix was overshadowed by the appointment of Harry Redknapp as director of football and the latter later replaced him as manager. Fans and players felt Rix wasn’t given a fair chance. Paddy Thomas, of the supporters club, said Rix “had been undermined by people behind the scenes” but Redknapp said “it was the worst year of my life, working with Graham Rix. Graham didn’t want me, I didn’t want to be with him”. Judging by the look on Rix’s face at the mention of Redknapp’s name last week, the feeling was indeed mutual. Six months as manager of Oxford ended last November, after another FA Cup exit, at Rochdale, and a takeover by a consortium led by Ramon Diaz, the former Argentina international forward. “I learned a lot when I was at Portsmouth. I learned a lot when I was at Oxford. You don’t stop learning, not just football-wise but politically,” reflected Rix.

Most recently he has been scouting for Wolves on Hoddle’s behalf, including taking in the talent at his new club. “I have already told Glenn not to bother phoning me because he can’t have any of them,” he quipped. “There are some really good players. I don’t think Hearts would be challenging your Chelsea, Manchester Uniteds and Arsenals but they’d be okay in the Premiership.” He was hardly welcomed in the door at Tynecastle last Tuesday afternoon. There was an element of rent-a-mob about those who gathered outside and Young Girl by Gary Puckett and the Union Gap was blaring out on repeat from the CD of a parked Jaguar. Another fan emptied a binbag of Cossack hats, previously worn in tribute to Romanov, onto the tarmac then trampled on them obligingly for the cameras.

In the Gorgie suite, meanwhile, Roman Romanov and Rix were cool as they dealt with questions about the latter’s criminal and managerial record. Roman Romanov’s almost disconcerting placidity deserted him only briefly when he was asked what the reaction of his female cousin, Julija Goncaruk, a fellow board member, had been to Rix’s appointment. “That’s a provoking question ... I won’t say much more than that,” he replied. Romanov said his father had been impressed by the honesty of the man he referred to as “Grey-ham Rix”. “They had a talk and that’s what Vladimir really liked about him, his honesty and openness. He was not trying to play games or make something more than it is. I think it was also his huge desire to be coach.”

Although they were playing contemporaries at Arsenal and Ipswich, Rix does not know Burley and did not call him before taking the job. “I wanted to come here with an open mind, I like making my own decisions”, he said. “I am a football man and he (Romanov) has judged me on football and given me this opportunity. I am grateful and don’t want to waste it.”

Football does not take place in a vacuum, however, and it is impossible to think that Rix will be allowed to forget his past. “I made a mistake and I have paid for it, quite a heavy price,” he said. “Throughout it all, I have tried to keep a dignified silence. I have never come out and said anything, I have just taken all the flak. There are things I need to say but I can’t say, if you know what I mean.”

Yet if there were mitigating circumstances, it seems incredible that Rix would not have used them to defend himself at the hearing. Dignified silence on the subject is the last thing he will get. Opposition supporters have already been composing derogatory chants for him which will soon be ringing out at Scottish grounds. Rix claims he has heard most of them. “Chelsea played Manchester United at Old Trafford and the story had just broken,” he recalled.

“I was coach with Luca (Vialli) and there was something happening on the pitch and I walked to the touchline, you have to go down the steps and up to the pitch. I wanted to attract Dennis Wise’s attention and it is quite difficult to do that with 67,500 people watching but I just stood there because I thought, ‘You don’t really know me, you don’t really know the full story, so I can understand why you are doing that ’.”

A clear danger in the new set-up is that Rix’s gratitude for the opportunity will make him more pliable to the interference that so disenchanted Burley. Although there were various reassurances from Roman Romanov that Rix will pick the team, proof will be required on the pitch. Julien Brellier, allegedly described as a “3/10 player” by Vladimir Romanov in conversation with Foulkes, has been more of an 8/10 performer in most games this season with his intelligent, forceful play as a holding midfielder.

If they do not actually pick the team, the owner and his son are certainly more opinionated than traditional chairmen. “Vladimir Romanov wants the coach to explain to him what he is doing on the pitch but the final decision is always with the coach,” said his son. “If they cannot explain to him or don’t want to explain, it is very difficult for Vladimir Romanov to make big financial decisions on bringing certain players. The man wants to know what the coach is thinking but Graham Rix picks the team from what he has. The new sporting director will be scouting and it will be the sporting director’s decision who he brings to the team, but the sporting director and Graham Rix will have to explain why they need this player or that player.”

In this respect, Roman Romanov insists Hearts will be no different from any of his father’s other businesses. “If you are going to spend money, you want to understand why you are spending it and I think it’s fair that coaches explain what they are doing. It can be verbally, by phone, on paper.” Rix could not say no to Romanov but in the stormy months that lie ahead he must prove he is not his yes-man.

Taken from timesonline.co.uk