Romanov to reinforce Hearts for Europe

If Roman Romanov were to promise to put a Hearts player on the moon by the end of next season, the delirious Tynecastle support would probably believe him and start placing orders for replica spacesuits, such is the euphoria that has overtaken the club in the aftermath of securing a qualifying place in the Champions League.

As it is, the Hearts chairman will gratify the fans with his pledge to sign players in the summer who are capable of advancing the club's European ambitions.

"We need to strengthen in some positions as some of our players are good enough for the Scottish Premier League but not good enough for Europe, and we have to bring in two or three players because of that," he said. "We are looking forward to playing in the Champions League qualifying matches and to make the group stage would be fantastic.

"That will take a lot of work and concentration, but Rangers did well in the competition and sometimes we have played better than them this season."

Certainly reaching the group stage would be a bonus topping for Hearts, who have more immediate celebrations on their minds. They travel to Ibrox on Sunday with the proud distinction of never having been out of the top two in the SPL this season.

Six days later they return to Glasgow, this time to savour their Scottish Cup final appearance against Gretna, whose own fortunes have been massively enhanced by Hearts' status as runners-up, because the Borders minnows will go into the Uefa Cup next season.

Gretna have never endured the turmoil characteristic of Hearts' campaign during which two coaches, George Burley and Graham Rix, were jettisoned amid substantiated accusations that Romanov's father, Vladimir, the club's owner, meddled frequently in team selection.

"It has been a stressful season and Rangers kept putting pressure on us, but the players managed to pull through and the fans carried us through this difficult time," Romanov Jnr said. "I would stress that we are not illogical people who make decisions without any reason.

"There are reasons for such decisions [the sackings of Burley and Rix] and we could not act in any other way. The cheap press is unfair to us but good newspapers and good radio stations don't hit us below the belt.

"You have to understand that we are still in the building process and we didn't have the right people in management at first. When Vladimir came in he said his goal was to take on Celtic and Rangers, but I do not think we expected to do it so quickly.

"I think we caught some Scottish clubs off guard - it was a good season to punish them. Celtic and Rangers will strengthen because they know now that there are three teams in Scotland.

"Of course we will be underdogs in the Champions League, as we are not as big as other clubs, but that will make it easier for us. The fact that we beat Celtic 3-0 the last time we played them gives us confidence for doing well in the Scottish Premier League next season.

"I don't think it will just be a three-horse race. Hibs are not a bad team and if they strengthen a couple of positions up front, they will be very competitive.

"Aberdeen are also a good team and, hopefully, we have shown a good example to them and they will look up to us and compete with Celtic and Rangers. I hope so, because when we first came here and looked at what was happening in Scotland, it was very depressing to see only two teams in the country.

"We have only a third of the income and crowds that they get at Celtic and Rangers, and that is why we want to rebuild the main stand at Tynecastle so that we get crowds of 25,000."

Taken from telegraph.co.uk