Puppet show's fatal flaw

The defeat last Wednesday intensifies the scrutiny on the position of head coach Valdas Ivanauskas ahead of today’s Premierleague visit to Motherwell. Yet it is not who is in charge that should be reviewed, but how much they are. Romanov’s input into the team is no longer a source of conjecture. He never forgave Graham Rix for disclosing his involvement to the players ahead of a fixture at Tannadice last February, but earlier this month in Lithuania he confirmed to the media that he remains active if not in making all the decisions, then certainly in questioning them. Ivanauskas might be deemed to be under pressure, but his apparent acceptance of Romanov’s methods means the Hearts owner would be reluctant to remove him. Why would he? In Romanov’s eyes, the arrangement is working. What he doesn’t see, but what he can no longer afford to be blind to, is that its logic is flawed.

What Romanov fails to appreciate is that there is a selection decision that every chairman or owner does get to make. The most important one, in fact. And that is who manages the club. It is not who plays left midfield that should be Romanov’s concern, but, instead, picking somebody he trusts to decide that. When Roman Abramovich took over at Chelsea, and money was no object, he bought himself one of the best managers in Europe in Jose Mourinho. If you get that right, there should be no more need to intervene in team affairs. Since George Burley, Romanov has not permitted anyone else that responsibility. Perhaps he never will.

Even the ever diplomatic Steven Pressley, the Hearts captain, seemed dejected in the aftermath of midweek. “We’ve given some excellent performances in Europe in my time, but that’s probably the most disappointing I’ve experienced,” he admitted. “I think with success comes a higher level of expectation. I said prior to the season that we had to show we could handle that. The Old Firm do it year after year, but in recent weeks we’ve not really and it’s going to take some big performances now. It’s been tough over the past couple of weeks for ourselves and we need players out there that want to fight for this football club.”

The frustrating aspect of Romanov is that what he says and does can often be two different things. When Burley departed, he said, rightly, that better managers and coaches were out there and claimed he would find a manager with more European experience to take Hearts to their next level. Among those he interviewed, and an upgrade on Burley, was Claudio Ranieri. What happened next, however, was that Romanov couldn’t, or wouldn’t, pay what Ranieri wanted. The search was abandoned and, in a surreal twist, out of work for a reason Graham Rix was appointed. Romanov has since castigated Rix while cheerfully overlooking that he alone thought him suitable in the first instance.

It is a common phenomenon: a Romanov statement that makes sense only to be followed by actions which contradict it. He emphasised the need for youth development, no complaint there, but then overdid it with a splurge of unnecessary five-year contracts and letting the club’s best prospect, Calum Elliot, go on loan to Motherwell. During the summer, Romanov constantly spoke about bringing ‘World Cup stars’ to the club. Again, who could argue with that? With pressure to somehow better a second-placed Premierleague finish and prosper in Europe that kind of ability was needed. Only it didn’t even come close to arriving. The standard of the Hearts side that lost in midweek was no higher than it ever was under Craig Levein’s charge in much leaner financial times. The team has been two or three quality players short for too long now. There was a confusing influx of quantity last January, but the club now has too many players in the squad and yet, and this is almost an achievement, they still need more.

Too often Romanov relies on populist nonsense in his increasingly random communications with supporters. He knows the Hearts fans, fiercely protective of their club, are bound to be riled by official word of conspiracy theories. That everyone is out to get them; the national association, the west coast press, even the odd Russian ref, it is what they want to hear because it explains everything. It suits Romanov to have the real issues obscured by the often imaginary.

Ivanauskas was in sanguine mood last Friday. He declined to answer any questions without the aid of an interpreter, but was earlier seen conversing with his assistant, John McGlynn, in English. In Lithuanian, he described the pressure on him as “very very strong”. He managed some rare humour, but it was of the gallows type. When asked if whenever he leaves Hearts it will be as a better coach, he quipped: “You have got rid of me already?”

On the subject of selection policy, his mood altered and he snapped: “Who else is picking the team?” At mention of Romanov, he ignored the question entirely, something of a habit, albeit for his own preservation probably a necessary one, and mumbled something about “everyone who goes out on the field gets valuable experience”. Exaggerating his lack of fluency in the language was an easy get-out, but he was less evasive when it came to the importance of today’s Fir Park fixture. “The psychological pressure is very high,” he said. Asked if he could remember another build-up like it, he nodded. When pushed for which game, he retorted: “What do you think?” The Scottish Cup final against Gretna at Hampden Park last season was the correct answer. “That’s when everything was to be won,” he explained.

And everything is still there to be won for Hearts. Romanov’s assertions about the Old Firm’s weaknesses are broadly justified: they are arguably at as low a level as they have been for a decade. Romanov has been proved correct, too, about the untapped potential of the Edinburgh club’s fanbase, more than 27,000 attended in midweek in dire conditions. Something big could be created. The problem is it will be nothing like as huge as Romanov seems to want it and this is the crux of the matter. Hearts’ European showings against AEK Athens and now Sparta Prague are only disastrous by the unrealistic standards that Romanov himself has set for them.

Pressley spoke of the club needing “big characters at this moment in time”. The most dominant character at Hearts, though, is Romanov when it should be the manager.

Taken from timesonline.co.uk