I will stand and deliver for Hearts, vows Vlad the builder

VLADIMIR ROMANOV is relaxed in his chair, chatting quietly with his associates. His son, Roman, is sipping champagne and milling around the Tynecastle directors' suite.

It's amazing what a place in the Champions League qualifying rounds can do for the ambience.

This was the scene last night, around an hour after Hearts had effected one of the most memorable nights in their history. Romanov Snr, fresh from his spontaneous leap onto the front wall of the directors' box, moves across the room to greet the only newspaper to obtain exclusive access to Hearts' majority shareholder at such a historic time.

He relocates himself in a quiet corner of the room, ready to chat with the Evening News, however some important business must be addressed before he can begin and he is politely interrupted by his son, who asks about a proposed meeting with Roman Bednar. The Czech striker has just walked through the door.

"Tomorrow," says Vladimir. "Morning. Twelve o'clock." Evidently, the Romanovs were anticipating a heavy night. For that, they cannot be faulted, and it would be a safe assumption that they would not be the only ones connected to Hearts who may have woken with thumping heads and furry tongues this morning.

It isn't every day that you lead a club into a premier footballing tournament in your first full season in control, after all. The tranquility of the boardroom may have given way to something more lively later in the night, but in the immediate aftermath of victory over Aberdeen, Romanov Snr wanted only to digest the events of the evening.

"I am very happy and ecstatic, although I feel that this is not the last of our victories," he said with the kind of ruthless intent that has become his trademark.

"The football is a big part of my life. I consider all of my achievements in life to be like one big wheel. If this achievement [the Champions League place] was not with me now, it would be like one spoke of the wheel was missing. That would mean that the wheel of my life would not turn.

"Heart of Midlothian is a massive part of my life. Next season, we will prepare for the reconstruction of the club. We want to build it from the ground and that begins with a new stand at Tynecastle."

Romanov is a builder by instinct and inclination. Already at Hearts he has constructed a squad the likes of which most supporters probably thought would never don a maroon shirt. Edgaras Jankauskas, Takis Fyssas, Rudi Skacel - were they to up and leave right now and never return to these shores, they, like their employer, would retain their place in history.

With the exception of Skacel, that won't be happening. The Czech midfielder has no wish to participate in the reality of Champions League football coming to Edinburgh for the first time. Although emanating from Romanov's vicinity is the impression that he really couldn't care less.

"The team has got to the stage now where it is well-formed and I think if we were to bring in more new players just for the sake of it then it could cause disruption," he says. "If somebody wants to go I will tell him to go, nobody will be asked to stay if they don't want to.

"If that happens then players would have to be replaced, but at the moment we are near to the correct balance of the team. Many of our players have been made good offers to leave Hearts, and they are scratching their heads at the moment.

"If I can compare it, it is like building a house. If you build four walls and a roof it will not stand up, so for us to achieve all our goals we need proper foundations for Hearts. This is what I am thinking about now and this is what my heart is worrying about."

His heart does ache for more success, and it is for that reason that John Robertson, George Burley and Graham Rix have all been dispensed with since Romanov gained a controlling interest in Hearts. He is not the sort to pander, however, and it is that single-mindedness which has driven him to amass a business empire like Ukio Bankas Investment Group.

Evidence of his purposeful nature can be found in the discarding of central defender Andy Webster. And it was notable from this newspaper's presence in the Hearts directors' suite last night that everyone comes to Vladimir. He goes hunting for nobody.

"There is one common thing for Andy Webster and Rudi Skacel - they must change their agents," says Romanov. "If they want to reach the very top in football they must change their representatives."

A somewhat controversial note on which to finish, but ruffling feathers is a favourite pastime of Vladimir Romanov. And he might just upset a few more on the continent next season.

Taken from the Scotsman