Romanov's vision to overtake Old Firm

It was a moment any Hearts supporter – and many others who have watched with fascination since Vladimir Romanov materialised as the near-bankrupt club's saviour in 2004 – would have relished. They might even have blinked in disbelief.

The occasion was the eve of this week's Euro 2008 qualifier between Lithuania and Scotland in Kaunas, the city of Romanov's boyhood. The Hearts owner had taken over the Restaurant Pompeja, a couple of blocks from the prosperous city centre, to throw a reception for, of all people, the Scottish sporting press – whom he recently railed against as ''Glasgow-based media puppets".

The mood, however, was affable as Romanov revealed that the premises backed on to the courtyard of the apartment block where he lived until his late teens. Turning to the subject at hand, he insisted that he welcomed ''dialogue and an open exchange of views".

That done, the man whose autocratic style saw off George Burley and Graham Rix as managers, during last season's roller-coaster progress to second place in the SPL and victory in the Scottish Cup, made himself available for interrogation. So does he, as Rix alleged before his enforced departure, pick the team?

"I did and I will," he said. 'How can I explain? 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, however. You need to talk to the medical staff and get information from the club doctors on the individual condition of the players.

"I have no ability to do this but sometimes there are situations when I ask the coach searching questions about the make-up of the team. I will ask Valdas Ivanauskas [Hearts' manager] 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: 'Did he have a proper medical test before the game?'

"If I see that the coach is in any doubt about his answer, 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."

Throughout the discussion, Romanov repeatedly returned to the subject of youth. "Being champions would not be enough. I want to build a club at a high level in the game, but I don't want title after title if that means we neglect building up the club itself," he said.

"I want to see at least five more Scottish players in the team. The five players I have in mind are Lee Wallace, Andrew Driver, Jamie Mole, Christophe Berra and Calum Elliot, who we loaned to Motherwell. Letting Calum leave is a risk, but it will help him play 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 and I might lose the chance to play the young players.

''I have 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.

''I'm not talking about an all-Scottish team, but we must have a proper Scottish accent – and we want the others to fear the strength of Hearts."

Typically, Romanov threw in a couple of barbed remarks about previous managers. Burley, who lost only one match – a CIS Cup tie to Livingston – would have had a perfect record had he heeded Vlad's advice to play Elliot. As for Burley's successor: "Unfortunately, I followed Rix's advice on one or two transfers and they were not good at all."

For all his apparent openness, Romanov can be elusive and contradictory, partly because he speaks only through a translator. He glossed over Hearts' qualifying round exit from the Champions League and never came close to discussing how much investment might be needed to compete regularly in Europe.

Populist to the last, though, his pay-off was designed to play to the Tynecastle gallery and guarantee attention, even from Glasgow-based media puppets.

"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…"

Taken from telegraph.co.uk