Romanov turns to young Scots to tip balance of power

The man who has spent the past two years turning Tynecastle into a Tower of Babel now believes that going Scottish is Heart of Midlothian’s best chance of wresting power from Celtic and Rangers. It was not Scotland’s 2-1 European Championship success over his own country last Wednesday that convinced the Lithuanian millionaire — he had already cast his judgment 24 hours before Walter Smith’s side triumphed at the St Darius and St Gireno Stadium, which is named in honour of two pilots who gave up their lives in the Second World War and whose faces adorn the giant obelisk overlooking Lithuania’s national stadium that also serves as the home ground of FBK Kaunas, Romanov’s other team.

Romanov entertained the Scottish media the night before the game, many of whom he had publicly criticised as Old Firm “puppets.”

Whether it was an olive branch or simply a public relations move to keep Hearts in the public consciousness in a week without club coverage, is not certain. However, once the canapes had been polished off, the Hearts owner sat in Kaunas’s best Italian restaurant and told reporters that his taste in football is now definitely Scottish.

Romanov reiterated that there is no chance of selling Craig Gordon or Paul Hartley, even though both are highly coveted elsewhere. And on that now habitual subject of whether he picks the Hearts team or not, Romanov admitted that Valdas Ivanauskas has been ordered to find a place for the Tynecastle youngsters in his team.

If it was up to him, Romanov said, then two of the emerging talents, Christophe Berra and Andrew Driver, would have been in the side a year ago — but he claimed that George Burley and Graham Rix resisted him.

Both are likely to be in the side today when St Mirren come to Tynecastle on Bank of Scotland Premierleague duty.

They will line up alongside the four Scotland players who were on duty in Kaunas — Gordon, Hartley, Steven Pressley and Robbie Neilson — as well as Saulius Mikoliunas, who was on the losing Lithuanian side. Mikoliunas was in the first wave of imports to come to Hearts two years ago but now has seven compatriots for company, along with ten other nationalities in Hearts’ huge squad. Almost all the acquisitions — with the exception of Neil McCann — were non-Scots.

Now, though, Romanov would prefer to see home-grown players and even insists that he would forego the title this season if it meant that Hearts were far stronger next term to challenge the Old Firm.

“From the moment I took over Hearts the target has been to become Scottish champions,” Romanov said. “We are still working towards that goal. But being champions would not be enough. I want to build a club at a high level in the game.

“However, I don’t want title after title if that means we neglect building up the club itself. That is why I also want to see the development of young players at the club. I want to see at least five more Scottish players in the team and for that reason I’ve appointed more youth coaching staff.

“I want us to have at least five home-produced young players on the bench rather than three. The five players I have in mind are Lee Wallace, Andrew Driver, Jamie Mole, Christophe Berra and Calum Elliot, who we loaned to Motherwell. That is a risk, letting Calum leave, but it will help him to develop through playing more games. I think we can risk developing the youngsters this season because Celtic and Rangers are not that strong. They may be stronger again a year from now. I might lose the chance to play the young players.

“I’ve not instructed Valdas to play young players but I have increased the number of coaches we have to work with these emerging talents, so they are ready quicker. So to become champions of the Premierleague is very important but it is not the main goal. I’m not talking about an all-Scottish team. We will still have other players as well. We must have a proper Scottish accent, though.

“And we want the others to fear the strength of Hearts. It is a task trying to fulfil that and there will be foreigners to help as well, but I would like most positions to be filled by Scots.”

The one Scot that Romanov is happy to do without is Andy Webster. The Scotland defender won his freedom from Tynecastle last week when Fifa ruled in his favour in allowing him to move to Wigan Athletic by exploiting a loophole if he found a club outwith the Premierleague. Romanov claims he is happy to see the back of the 24-year-old international because he held back the development of Scotland under-21 cap Berra.

“Last year it was a crime not to play Berra more often and the reason for that was Webster,” Romanov declared. “We also had Ibrahim Tall and José Goncalves, who needed to play more often. Therefore, Webster couldn’t play properly when we had stronger options than him. Please understand me, Berra is on the same level as Webster. The time came for Christophe to play so that he would develop. I can’t say to Pressley to step down because he is in his last years and he plays well in every game, so Webster had to step down.

“Some of the other players we brought in [such as Samuel Cammazola, Martin Petras and several others who have now left the club] did not develop as we had hoped. It is a normal situation for some to do well and others not. Unfortunately, I followed Rix’s advice on one or two and they were not good at all. I tried to meet the coach’s requests.”

However, there is no chance of Gordon or Hartley going out the door along with Webster. Palermo, of Italy, tried to buy the Scotland goalkeeper last season, while Celtic had a bid for Hartley, the midfield player, 18 months ago.

“I would never try to stop a player moving to the right club if he has the right offer,” Romanov said. “If it is a chance to really improve his life and his career, I would say ‘good luck’ and let the man go. There was some interest in Gordon. We had a chat and decided that for both parties it was better if he remained at Hearts.

“He needs to play more games for his club and for Scotland. There was definite interest and offers, and one club wanted to steal him away from Tynecastle. So we had to have long chats explaining to Craig what we want to do for Hearts and for him. He wanted to stay and keep playing first-team football. I hope now that he stays for five more years.

“When I came here I had no desire to beat Rangers and Celtic, I just wanted to build up Hearts. We are not at the stage where we beat them all the time but give us a bit more time. The Old Firm want to kill Hearts. They are too late now to do that.”

Asked if he picked the team, Romanov just replied: “I did and I will.”

The Hearts owner explained that his input came after listening to medical advice about the fitness of his players, as well as Ivanauskas, or any other coach, about the technical side. “To be able to pick the team, you should be at the training ground twice a day. And I am not as you can see. To pick the team it is not enough to just be a coach.You need to talk to the medical staff and get information from the club doctors on the individual condition of the players.

“Sometimes, there are situations when I ask the coach some searching questions about the make-up of the team. I will ask Valdas why a particular player has been selected — like Takis Fyssas or Lee Wallace. The coach will say, ‘During the training session, Fyssas was stronger and better.’ Then I will ask, ‘But did he have a proper medical test before the game?’ If I see that the coach is in any doubt about his answer, then there is a doubt about if it should be Takis or Wallace. Then I ask the club doctor about the two players and if they had fitness tests. That is my level of involvement — I want to know how much the coach knows about each and every player. Last season I was telling them ‘Why is Driver not playing more often?’ And they were laughing at me. But now we can see what this player can bring to the Hearts team. When Burley was in charge I asked him why Elliot did not play in the CIS Cup at Livingston. We went out of the cup because Elliot did not make the team. Look how Elliot played after that.”

The debate of Romanov’s excessive influence at Hearts is unlikely to die down. The only way that he can be proved right is for his team — or the one he suggests to Ivanauskas — to keep delivering at home and abroad. Three points today and success against Sparta Prague in the Uefa Cup on Thursday will convince the Lithuanian of the soundness of his own judgment and the lack of it in his critics. However, it may be an argument that takes on an increasingly Scottish voice.

Taken from timesonline.co.uk