Craig Burley: Players must voice dissent

I’m not surprised that this was bought by a fair chunk of a support desperate for it to be true. Followers of football clubs are among the easiest groups of people to mislead in that respect. However, after another manager was fired, after another obstacle was put in their path to success, I can’t believe the players are still lining up behind the owner.

Several players have now spoken in the media since Rix and Duffy left the club and all have sounded almost exactly as they did in the aftermath of George Burley’s sacking in October. I have heard them talk of the shock of losing their manager, some have called for stability while making sure they mention the good things that Romanov has done. That is not the conversation they are having with their friends and family when they go home, nor, I’m sure, is it what is being said inside the changing room. It’s time one of them came out and spoke their mind. ‘What’s going on? We’re all as stunned as you! I liked George Burley and Graham Rix and we were doing fine!’ Sometimes you have to tell it like it is and face the consequences. They are all under contract, they cannot be fired for telling the truth. It’s freedom of speech and if Romanov wants to oust all dissenters he is going to lose some good players and he is going to have to pay a lot of money to do it. There comes a point when you cannot bite your tongue.

I got there several times during my career, including when Wim Jansen was allowed to leave Celtic. It wasn’t right that we had won the title and lost our manager and, when I was asked the question, that’s what I said. Perhaps there is fear at Hearts that whoever speaks up will be next in line, but the players are in a strong position and they must be hurt by what is happening. They want to achieve and at key points in the season they have had the rug whipped from under them. The manager was sacked when they were top of the league. The new guy informed them he was being told who to play. Eleven new players arrived without strengthening the starting XI. Another manager was sacked 11 days before a Scottish Cup semi-final and in the middle of a fight for a Champions League place. And the angriest the Hearts players got was: “We need stability.” They do need stability, though, they got that right. I can’t recall a team that has developed in these circumstances.

Romanov likes working with puppets, however, and maybe the players are playing safe by not criticising their boss. It seems to be working for Ivanauskas, who takes control of the first team until the end of the season. The former Soviet Union international has been in the shadows since the start of Romanov’s involvement, hanging on the shoulder of John Robertson, Burley and Rix, one ear to what they were saying, one to his mobile phone, a direct link to the boss. Now the spy in the camp is the man in charge.

Who will follow Ivanauskas in the summer? When Burley was sacked I wrote in these pages that only ‘yes’ men should apply for the job. It was true then and it is true now. The list of top-class applicants will have diminished further after the latest sad chapter in a season that offered so much. There will always be more players, though. We are all mercenaries and if you are earning £5,000 per week and Hearts are paying £10,000 then that is where you go, regardless of who is signing the cheques. But who picks the players and who creates the team? Rix was blamed by Romanov this week for signings that were not appropriate, but most people in the game know that very few of the 11 January arrivals were identified by Rix.

His other crimes were allowing it to get out that Romanov was placing pressure on him over team selection, and that results weren’t good enough. For the first problem there is a simple solution — leave team selection to the manager. That leaves results, and the truth is that Rix’s haven’t been good enough to keep him in the job past the summer, but they haven’t been bad enough to justify such upheaval at a time when everything this team can still achieve is on the line.

Romanov has put his money into Hearts, although I would question how much and for what reasons. He believes that gives him the right to do as he pleases. I disagree and I think there are those within Tynecastle who feel that their owner has short-changed them. I just wish a few of them would tell it like it is.

Taken from timesonline.co.uk