Romanov in 'fixing' claim

The Lithuanian millionaire, who has never been far from controversy in his tenure at Tynecastle, is alleged to have said that his team’s 1-1 draw at Celtic Park last October, was a result of match-fixing, according to George Foulkes, the former Hearts chairman.

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Foulkes, a former Labour minister, makes the claim in a documentary to be screened on BBC Two called Romanov: King of Hearts, stating that the result brought the downfall of George Burley, one of two managers sacked by Romanov last term. “He [Romanov] believed that the match was fixed,” Foulkes said.

It was Burley’s last game in charge. He abruptly departed Hearts just a week later, with his team at the top of the Bank of Scotland Premierleague after ten games in which they had yet to taste defeat. Hearts went on to finish the season in second place, to qualify for the Champions League and win the Tennent’s Scottish Cup, though not before Burley’s replacement, Graham Rix, was also sacked by Romanov.

Burley has yet to receive a compensation settlement with Hearts for his contract being terminated. The BBC programme said that the affair was “still under legal scrutiny”. Remarkably, in the access-all-areas documentary filmed over six months, Romanov made no comment about Burley.

Foulkes resigned as chairman over Romanov’s treatment of Burley. “The genesis of the concern that Vladimir Romanov had [with Burley] was the 1-1 draw with Celtic at Parkhead,” Foulkes told the programme. “We were apparently set for a win and ended up with a draw. Romanov was convinced, somehow, that [result] could be contrived. He was suspicious about that. It was so fantastic and unbelievable” Foulkes was asked if Romanov had voiced this suspicion to him. “Yes,” Foulkes said. “He was fuming. He believed that that match had been fixed” The Scottish Football Association are now certain to investigate the affair, not least because Romanov is already on a collision course with the ruling body for an outburst against David Taylor, the chief executive.

The SFA closed a loophole last week that allowed Romanov — who does not hold an official position at the club he owns — to escape censure for previous public condemnations of those whom he feels are blocking Hearts’ way. “If you exercise control over a club, you will not escape our jurisdiction,” Taylor said.

Romanov responded with a tirade in which he railed against referees he claims are Celtic fans and condemned the SFA for issuing Paul Hartley with a three-match suspension after the Scotland midfield player was caught on camera kicking Ross Wallace, of Celtic, in an off-the-ball incident in a 3-2 defeat suffered by Hearts on January 1.

While that game was laced with controversy, after the dismissal of Takis Fyssas, the Hearts defender, the 1-1 draw at Celtic Park contained little obvious evidence for the accusations laid at Romanov’s door by Foulkes. Contrary to the former Tynecastle chairman’s recollections, Hearts came from behind to draw thanks to Rudi Skacel cancelling out a goal from Craig Beattie: match statistics showed that Celtic had ten corners and 14 shots on target to seven and three for Burley’s side.

There have been numerous instances of match-fixing in eastern Europe, particularly Lithuania where Romanov owns FBK Kaunas. There is little credence given to such theories in British football and the obvious question that emerges is if Romanov genuinely believed the outcome of the game at Celtic Park was influenced, then why did he remain silent? Going quietly has not been Romanov’s way since arriving in Scotland 20 months ago.

Indeed, in the BBC documentary Tynecastle’s maverick owner was less circumspect about Rix and admitted to taking team selection out of the former England player’s hands before a game with Dundee United at Tannadice in February and handing Rix an ultimatum: win or be sacked. Rix was only spared after the subsequent 1-1 draw by a deputation of players pleading on his behalf, though Romanov told the players they were wrong. Romanov admitted that he had been “rude” to Rix to “provoke a reaction” and blamed the former Chelsea assistant manager for the recuitment of 11 players during the January transfer window. He also delivered a crude character assessment of Jim Duffy, the former Dundee manager and friend of Rix who was hired as a coach in January, then made director of football, only to be sacked with Rix in April.

“I liked Rix in the beginning because he was chased by the media and I thought he liked me. But he had a secret adviser. I thought, we should let this secret adviser take responsibility for the decisions instead of sitting like a rat in a hole,” Romanov said.

In the documentary, Romanov claimed to have files on 5,000 Brazilian players and met with an agent over the purchase of a player reputed to be worth £2 million. The negotiations then collapsed the next day with Romanov calling the Brazilian agent’s techniques “vulgar and primitive” and insisting he no longer wanted to pay a transfer fee, “just salary”.

Romanov: King of Hearts will be shown on BBC Two Scotland at 9pm tonight.

Taken from timesonline.co.uk