Impulsive regime set Hearts a flutter

Question: who said this? "Many people talk about the rollercoaster ride that Hearts have had this season…at this stage, however, we're satisfied with the progress being made - we're placed second in the league…and we're in the quarter-finals of the country's premier cup competition."

Answer: Roman Romanov, the Tynecastle chairman and son of Hearts' owner, Vladimir, in the match programme for the Scottish Cup meeting with Partick Thistle on Feb 25.

One month later Hearts are still second in the league and are Scottish Cup semi-finalists, but Graham Rix and Jim Duffy have been axed.

Rix, the first-team coach, and Duffy, the director of football, were presumably the men Roman Romanov had in mind when he wrote, also in the programme for the Thistle match: "There is still much work to be done but we have a good structure in place, backed by a team of top-class professionals, and the outlook is very positive."

Of course, there have been changes in the outlook since Romanov the younger penned his assessment four weeks ago. Hearts' lead over Rangers in the SPL table has thinned from eight points with 11 games remaining to six points with eight games left to play.

It can be argued that, with the runners-up spot and - depending on fortune in the Champions League qualifiers - a £10 million place in the group stage of the competition at stake, the Romanovs calculated that if points continued to be shed then a possible cash bounty could evaporate in front of their eyes.

Yet only a week ago today, Romanov Jr declared repeatedly and separately - to the broadcast media, daily papers, Sunday press and Edinburgh's evening publication - that Rix and Duffy would stay until the end of the season.

The obvious conclusion, the casual observer would suppose, is that the Rangers game was the tipping point for Vladimir Romanov - but that throws up more questions than it answers.

For a start, although the Hearts players were disappointed at being held to a draw at home, they knew they had maintained a psychological advantage over Rangers, who beforehand had closed to within six points with two games between the clubs still to play.

After Sunday the gap was as wide, but Rangers had lost one of their main opportunities to close it and Hearts still have the major say in who will finish second.

Moreover, it was Roman Romanov who chose the timing of last week's briefing, a somewhat flustered affair because of delayed flights as he returned, late on Friday afternoon, from business in Bosnia.

If Sunday's game was felt to be pivotal, common sense should have insisted that the Hearts chairman wait until the result was known - and the future of Rix and Duffy was decided - before assessing prospects for the rest of the season.

Once again, as so frequently is the case with this Hearts regime, the evidence points to major decisions made on the spur of the moment - and a pattern seems to be emerging. The rushes of blood to Romanov's head come when the team are settled and prospering.

The row about George Burley's drinking habits led to the manager being sacked when Hearts were top of the SPL. The fact that Romanov then suggested to Burley that he could come back indicates second thoughts that could have been addressed initially by a calmer temperament.

Vladimir's interference with team selection in February came just after Hearts had demolished Hibs in the league, had also beaten Aberdeen decisively in the Scottish Cup and eaten back into Celtic's lead in the table.

Last week, incidentally, Vladimir's team tampering was a "misunderstanding" according to his son - yesterday it was "information".

No wonder the Tynecastle captain, Steven Pressley, has pleaded the need for stability in the dressing room.

It is an unprecedented and astonishing fact that when Hearts next play Hibs it will be under the fifth Tynecastle coach in as many derby games - John Robertson, Burley, John McGlynn, Rix and now Valdas Ivanauskas.

Taken from telegraph.co.uk