Players expected the unexpected
BARRY ANDERSON

WHEN Graham Rix arrived at Hearts' Riccarton training ground early yesterday morning, Roman Romanov was already there, waiting. Not quite an ambush, but Rix certainly wasn't going to leave with his job intact.

Romanov asked to speak with the head coach immediately, and proceeded to inform him that he was being relieved of his duties on the grounds of sub-standard results, inadequate signings and the leaking of confidential information relating to team affairs.

When Jim Duffy, below, arrived shortly after, he too was afforded the same fate, for in the eyes of the Romanovs Duffy and Rix come as one, so the Scot paid the price in losing his job as director of football for being a close confidant of Rix. He had been in the post little over a month.

The pair then walked round the training ground bidding their brief farewells to players and staff. There were no tears, for although the timing of their removal was a shock to both, Rix and Duffy are intelligent people who are worldly wise in footballing terms.

They said their goodbyes to each other, Duffy boarding his Jaguar and returning home to Glasgow as Rix got into his Audi and headed to his flat in Colinton to gather his personal belongings. The Englishman set off for his mother's home in Doncaster just after tea-time last night to be greeted by a comforting arm, the kind of human qualities that were strikingly absent from his superiors in Edinburgh.

Today he began the remainder of his 430-mile journey home to his family sanctuary in Southampton. He leaves behind a group of footballers with the weight of the world upon their shoulders. A season of unprecedented off-the field turmoil at Hearts could yet evolve into remarkable success if the players can maintain a necessary certain level of concentration. Impossible, really, but they will nonetheless give it their best under the tutelage of Rix's interim successor, Valdas Ivanauskas.

One unnamed player confided in the Evening News to reveal the squad's morale. "The boys aren't angry. I think they have all come to accept the way things happen at this club. No-one has said, 'I'm really angry' or anything like that. It's just a little bit of shell-shock and then we kick on.

"We arrived at the training ground yesterday as usual, and some of the boys who played in the reserve game on Tuesday had a warm down first thing. Then Graham came in and shook us all by the hand and said: 'Right, me and Duff, we're off.' And that was it.

"We did our training as normal and before long all the press were gathered outside the main entrance at Riccarton, but at that point we only knew what the public knew."

The statement released by Hearts at lunchtime shed a modicum of light on the situation, but not much.

What can definitely be derived from the words of Romanov jnr is that Rix's tenure had become an increasing irritant to his father. "Maybe it was too big a job for him, I don't know," the chairman told Hearts' official website.

But two things would appear to stand out from the reasons given for Rix's dismissal.

Firstly, the standard of players signed by Hearts in January was criticised. Rix recommended only three of the 11 players of varying nationalities that were brought in at the beginning of the year - Lee Johnson, Chris Hackett and Neil McCann - and those three had to be sanctioned by Vladimir Romanov himself before they went ahead.

The other eight were identified and recruited by the Romanovs through their network of football scouts across the globe and thrust upon Rix on transfer deadline day. Given that Romanov snr in particular rarely seems to admit to any fault, one would have to assume that his concern is not over his own "pack of eight".

"We don't know who they're referring to," added the unnamed player. "Whoever they are talking about it would seem to be unfair because everyone in our squad works hard and we have all contributed this season.

"We are all improving as players and everyone wants the opportunity to play and help Hearts win things. At a big club you expect things to happen that are, shall we say, unexpected. That's how it is and that's how they operate.

"Whoever that statement was about, if they even know who they are, will be determined to prove everyone wrong. That's the attitude we have in our dressing room.

"We've seen things in the press so the gaffer's sacking isn't unexpected but it's still a shock. That sort of contradicts itself, but the shock is probably the timing because we have such big games coming up.

"What do we do? We just have to go in every day, keep your head down, try your best in every minute of every training session. Whether that makes a difference or not I'm not sure."

Players would appear to be resigned to the fact that the words "stability" and "Hearts" won't often be found in the same sentence whilst Romanov is in control.

The second issue in the Hearts statement worth a more intense examination concerns the way Romanov's interference in team selection prior to Hearts' visit to Dundee United on February 7 reached the public domain.

"The events which occurred in February when Hearts played Dundee United, including the way in which some information reached the public domain, were disappointing to us," said Romanov jnr.

This would seem to indicate a glaring lack of reality in the minds of the Romanovs.

Basically, they want to pick the side, but nobody is allowed to say anything about it, let alone raise an objection as many supporters did when Andy Webster and Robbie Neilson were dropped at Tannadice.

Romanov snr's opinion on Julien Brellier is well-known, but the value he places on others who have largely been denied first-team exposure in their Hearts careers so far may become clearer in the weeks ahead with Ivanauskas in charge.

"Some of the boys are baffled at not playing when they feel they've done a decent job when they have been on the pitch," said the player. "Some feel they could have been give more of a chance given our suspensions and injuries of late.

"All the guys want to do is play football for Hearts. We want to do it this season for ourselves and the fans. We see how passionate they are and whichever 11 goes out wants to give everything for them."

Graham Rix's time at Hearts, through little fault of his own, was characterised by one uproar after another. But it was all so needless. On October 21 last year, Romanov handed George Burley the same fate as he handed Rix yesterday.

Had the Scot remained, Rix would never even have crossed the Scotland-England border far less made it to in Edinburgh. And Hearts could have been weeks away from a historic and unthinkable title win into the bargain.
Managers' supremo Smith says anyone taking the job would 'have rocks in their head'

ALEX SMITH today admitted he would love to manage Hearts - but not while Vladimir Romanov is in control.

Smith, president of the Scottish Managers and Coaches Association, says Romanov's influence at Tynecastle is such that it makes it virtually impossible to be your own man.

And reports that Romanov picked the Hearts team for last month's SPL match against Dundee United have left Smith convinced that other top coaches will feel the same way.

He said: "I'd love the Hearts job, but here's no way I'd do it under those circumstances.

"There will be someone out there who wants the job, even though they know it's a really vulnerable position. But the real ones, the top-class bosses in Britain, won't want to know.

"Anyone in for this job will need to go in with their eyes open because they're not going to be their own man. They won't be able to sign their own players or pick their own team. They wouldn't be a manager, they would be more like part of the squad.

"There will still be people prepared to take it though, but anyone wanting that job must have rocks in their head.

"Change is normal at every club, every now and then you expect a boss to go and a new one to come in. But it brings out a lot of uncertainty and it's not healthy.

"I don't know how the players will respond to this. They're going to have to deal with all this hassle again and it won't be easy for them."

Taken from the Scotsman