Let him have it, romanov

Not an especially original tune, nor has it cottoned on with any real venom around Gorgie yet, but its mere conception represents the firm backing amongst Hearts fans for their interim head coach.

The results of an Evening News poll today confirm that an astonishing 98 per cent of supporters want majority shareholder Vladimir Romanov to formally place Valdas Ivanauskas in permanent charge of Hearts. Now.

The song was first heard in the immediate aftermath of victory over Aberdeen earlier this month, the match which confirmed a place for the club in the qualifying rounds of next season's Champions League.

As Ivanauskas and the players celebrated in the dressing-room, so the packed bars that surround Tynecastle Stadium bounced to their new chorus.

Indeed, the fans' hefty endorsement of Ivanauskas as the best candidate open to Romanov leads to comparisons with their affection for George Burley, a man who is still revered in all quarters at Tynecastle for overseeing the domineering start to last season's campaign.

It is debatable, even, if Craig Levein was as comprehensively admired by supporters during his successful tenure in the early part of this decade.

Ivanauskas, though, can already claim the power of the people. People who must have wondered whether they would ever love again the way they did with Burley in charge.

What's more, this eulogising has occurred after just ten games with the Lithuanian in charge.

That the Hearts public have voted so overwhelmingly in his favour is testament to his achievements in the ten weeks since Graham Rix was sacked in March. His mannerisms have endeared him, the players respect and identify with him, and ultimately the community wants him.

Under Ivanauskas, Hearts have secured second spot in the SPL along with an unprecedented place which sees them, if not quite at Europe's top table, then at least in the queue by the door waiting to be seated.

Participation in the Champions League group phase is what Romanov craves for the club, so any progress through two qualifying rounds in their first flirtation with the competition will, at best, be jitter-filled.

With that in mind and senior players like Steven Pressley crying out for stability at the club, justification for more managerial upheaval would be difficult to find regardless of what interest folk like Nevio Scala, Billy Davies or Lothar Matthaus might hold in the position at Hearts.

Ivanauskas stepped up to the breach when Rix was emptied, he embraced the challenge of withstanding Rangers' push and guiding Hearts into the Champions League, and then he followed that up with a Scottish Cup final triumph, albeit a needlessly tense one. Ultimately, he succeeded.

"I am ready for the future and this challenge but it is down to Mr Romanov," Ivanauskas told the Evening News recently. "I am very happy working with this club and these players."

He will, naturally, be conscious of his extremely impressive record of seven victories from ten which has nurtured his standing amongst Hearts supporters.

Their sway has been garnered, almost to the point of devotion judging by our poll results, by emphatic triumphs like the 4-0 demolition of Hibs in the Scottish Cup semi-final, a match which was merely the second Hearts had played under Ivanauskas' command.

Defeating Celtic 3-0 at Tynecastle in late April was Hearts' most comprehensive defeat of the Parkhead side since the inception of the Premier League in 1975.

Then there was the accumulation of a season's exhausting efforts when Aberdeen were beaten to secure second place.

Concurrently, Ivanauskas has had to contend with a barrage or suspicion surrounding exactly how much influence Romanov has over team affairs at Hearts, which was never more apparent than when Edgaras Jankauskas, Takis Fyssas and Rudi Skacel all sat out the 2-1 defeat to Hibs at Easter Road last month. He has batted away the rumours impassively and continued to garner results, showing perhaps a unique skill in being able to relate to and facilitate the demands of his principle employer. Given that Romanov claimed three weeks ago that he is willing to grant supporters their wish and appoint Ivanauskas in his most high- profile post to date, the delay is difficult to comprehend.

"Valdas has a big chance now, I will say that," said the banker on the night of May 3, just hours after the Champions League spot had been secured. "At the moment, he is bringing us a lot of luck and is doing very well. I am very pleased with him. For the Champions League, perhaps I would like to see someone here with more experience but we are going to see how we go with Valdas."

Why not confirm him, then? Surely he deserves the opportunity to lead Hearts into Europe?

Perhaps the club owner was talking whilst in the grip of euphoria that night given the magnitude of Hearts' achievement, but in cold sobriety the views of the fans have remained unshakeable.

The people have spoken. Now it's over to Romanov ...

IVANAUSKAS' RECORD

Played: 10 Won: 7 Drawn: 0 Lost: 3
March 25, 2006: SPL: Falkirk 1, Hearts 2
April 2, 2006: Scottish Cup: Hibs 0 Hearts 4
April 5, 2006: SPL: Celtic 1, Hearts 0.
April 8, 2006: SPL: Hearts 4, Dunfermline 0
April 15, 2006: SPL: Hearts 2, Kilmarnock 0.
April 22, 2006: SPL: Hibs 2, Hearts 1.
April 30, 2006: SPL: Hearts 3, Celtic 0.
May 3, 2006: SPL: Hearts 1, Aberdeen 0.
May 7, 2006: SPL: Rangers 2, Hearts 0.
May 13, 2006: Scottish Cup final: Hearts 1, Gretna 1 (aet, Hearts won 4-2 on pens)

Taken from the Scotsman