Romanov faces judgment day

Hearts started the season with eight straight wins and a good chance of breaking the Old Firm duopoly, but now they are a club in crisis after yet another week of strange events at Tynecastle.

Sunday March 26, 2006
The Observer

As the victims of a bombardment of unimaginably bizarre events, Hearts supporters have no rivals for the title of most tormented of this absurd season.

Bewilderment and, in many cases, a certain disaffection have caused serious erosion of the ebullience and optimism that had spread through followers of the Tynecastle club during those heady opening weeks, when eight successive victories made George Burley's team credible contenders for the league title.

Astonishingly, however, the widespread depression is attributable in only a relatively small way to the fact that the team have only once achieved back-to back league victories since Burley's abrupt departure in October.

Most of the present brooding is the consequence of the eccentric actions of the club's owner, Vladimir Romanov. The sudden removal of Graham Rix as head coach and Jim Duffy as director of football last week was a reprise of the sacking of Burley and the chief executive, Phil Anderton (followed quickly by the resignation on principle of chairman George Foulkes) five months earlier.

In the course of flexing his muscles, Romanov, the Lithuanian banker and industrialist, appears to have undermined much of the goodwill he had fostered during his acquisition of a majority shareholding. Much of the acclaim sprang from the fans' joy at being rid of the unpopular former chief executive and majority shareholder, Chris Robinson.

Messianic status was virtually guaranteed for Romanov the moment he gave an assurance that Hearts, so deeply in debt that they could not trade their way out of trouble, would not be forced to sell Tynecastle Stadium.

Robinson had incurred virtually universal wrath by insisting that offloading the club's most valuable asset - a prime site, close to the centre of Edinburgh that would have fetched more than £20m - would have been the only solution to their difficulties.

Most of Hearts' liabilities have been absorbed by Romanov's Lithuania-based UIK Bank,and the owner's coup de grace was to make money available to acquire a standard of player that would make the team genuine challengers to the Old Firm's championship duopoly.

His price, however, seems to have been nothing less than winning the title. The reasons for the dismissals of Burley and Anderton remain clouded, with observers left to infer that a collision of personalities, rather than the standard of their work, may have been the root cause.

Whatever the background to the affair, their departures brought the first rumblings of uncertainty among followers who had previously been convinced of Romanov's worth. The discontent deepened when, a week after Burley left, the team lost for the first time in the league. It did not help that the match was the derby against Hibernian at Easter Road.

The appointment of Rix as Burley's successor was another contentious issue, the former England midfielder having been convicted of having sex with a minor some years before. Vladimir's son, Roman, who had succeeded Foulkes as chairman, made a spirited public defence of the new manager.

Rix came nowhere close to Burley in the matter of the supporters' admiration and affections, but that did not lessen the shock of the events of 7 February, the day Hearts were scheduled to play Dundee United at Tannadice.

In his address to the players, Rix revealed that he was no longer in charge of team selection, that the duty would henceforth be executed by Vladimir Romanov. It was a player's agent who gave the story to the press and a bad day became much worse when a clearly offcolour Hearts were fortunate to secure a 1-1 draw with United, thanks to a late equaliser.

This development left no one in any doubt that Rix's contract, which was due to expire at the end of the season, would not be extended. But the announcement of his and Duffy's ejection on Wednesday again seemed to be the short route to destabilisation within the club.

Unlike Burley, Rix had the reasons for his eviction more specifically explained. These included unsatisfactory results, the leaking of the story on 7 February (not his doing) and, curiously, the recruitment of too many substandard players during the transfer window in January.

The last item was laughable because Rix signed only two of the 11 players involved, the others all being obtained on the recommendation of the Romanovs and their associates. All of this has led to a potentially dangerous mood swing among the supporters.

Some have threatened to tear up their season-tickets if Hearts fail to beat Hibs in next Sunday's Scottish Cup semi-final. There is also concern over the likelihood of securing the second place in the Premierleague that would secure Champions League football next season. But even more significant than the fans' disenchantment is the unmissable impression that the players have been unsettled by the unprecedented series of strange happenings. They are no longer recognisable as the effervescent, self-assured unit who rampaged through the first quarter of the league campaign.

The swagger is gone and each match now seems to be more like hard work than a labour of love. If the remaining objectives are not achieved and previous ecstasy turns to agony, no one is likely to blame the players or the former managers. Romanov may be made to feel that he is about to keep an appointment with Pontius Pilate.

Taken from the Guardian/Observer