Hearts bank on President Romanov and all his men

Despite owning an 80.1 per cent shareholding in the club, through his Ukio Bankas Investment Group, Romanov is not on the board at Hearts. He is not listed as an official of the club, which has prompted the Scottish Football Association to write to Hearts requesting clarification on Romanov’s influence at the club.

Romanov, who divides his time between Vilnius, Moscow and Edinburgh, because of his diverse business commitments, will now become Hearts’ official figurehead and in the process fend off the investigations of the SFA.

“We feel more than anything that we need a president of the club, somebody who represents Hearts,” Roman Romanov, the millionaire’s son, who became chairman after the departure of George Foulkes last November, said. “We will decide who it is soon, but it is true that it could be Vladimir. We will announce a decision on it by the summer time, although we haven’t ruled out the possibility of it being someone else.”

The Romanovs are preparing for boardroom restructuring in the summer that will also include Campbell Ogilvie, the former Rangers director, being given a similar title at Tynecastle. At present, the Hearts board contains only Lithuanains in Romanov Jnr, his cousin Julija Groncaruk and Sergejus Fedotovas, who is a non-executive director. Earlier this year Stewart Fraser, the finance director, resigned his directorship. Ogilvie holds the title of general secretary and operations director with Hearts and conducts the day-to-day running of affairs at the club in the absence of Romanov Jnr. The chief executive title, which is also held by Roman Romanov after the sacking of Phil Anderton last year, will be dispensed with.

“I still have the chief executive title but we have an operating director in Campbell Ogilvie, who we believe is doing a good job at the moment,” Romanov said. “As for the chief executive position, you could say that the job is being done by Campbell Ogilvie.

“We plan to bring more Scottish people on to the board because we recognise that area needs addressed, however we don’t wish to rock the boat just now. The club has had many changes this season so we will wait to the end of the season.”

Romanov insisted that Champions League qualification could lead to more new players joining Hearts. He also defended his father’s policy of signing 21 players over the past year, many of them loaned from Romanov’s other club, FBK Kaunas, of Lithuania.

“We will do everything possible to keep the ones we feel are key, and if we qualify for the Champions League then of course we will need to strengthen. We aren’t here to let players go. I think at every club, chairmen want to know why this player is playing, why this strategy was chosen for a game, or why another player is not being played. We just want to listen because we have to know what’s going on,” he said.

Romanov saw no problem with players such as Edgaras Jankauskas coming from FC Porto and going on loan to Hearts from Kaunas despite never setting foot there. “Maybe we do it because if Kaunas approaches an agent for a player the price they are given will not be as high. But if Hearts made the approach clubs and agents might ask for more,” he said.

Taken from timesonline.co.uk