We can spring surprise, chairman insists

"I think we caught Rangers and Celtic by surprise this season," said the son of club owner Vladimir.

"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.

"This season I do not think [the Old Firm] were ready for us and it was a good year to catch them off guard but credit to Celtic who managed to pull away and did a great job under pressure."

Romanov said new players will be signed in time for the start of the start of their Champions League qualifying campaign.

"We need to strengthen in some positions as some of our players are good enough for the Scottish league but are 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."

The Lithuanian said he felt Hearts would be challenging Rangers and Celtic for the league title next season although he thought Aberdeen and Hibernian would also be near the top of the table.

"The fact we beat Celtic 3-0 the last time we played them gives us confidence for doing well in the league next season," said Romanov.

"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."

He also defended his father's decision to get rid of managers George Burley and Graham Rix and claimed the moves were done for the benefit of the club.

"I would stress to people we are not illogical people who do not make decisions without any reason," said Romanov. "There are reasons for such decisions and we could not act in any other way."

Taken from the Herald