Hearts coach faces talks with Romanov

HEARTS may be searching for their sixth head coach in two years tonight after Valdas Ivanauskas jetted out to Lithuania for urgent talks with owner Vladimir Romanov.

Coming in the wake of an unimpressive 2-0 league defeat against Kilmarnock at Tynecastle on Saturday, today's meeting between the coach and the owner has posed serious question marks over Ivanauskas' long-term future at a club where upheaval is second nature.

Whether Ivanauskas asked for today's meeting or was summoned to Lithuania by Romanov was unclear. Roman Romanov, the club chairman, said his father had told the manager to report for talks, while other sources suggested it was the coach who seized the initiative.

Either way, it was widely suspected last night that Ivanauskas was considering his own position.

Although he has never publicly criticised Vladimir Romanov's hands-on approach to team matters, it may be that the coach wanted to have talks with the owner about what happens next after criticism mounted of the club's rotation policy.

One bizarre suggestion circulating last night was that Ivanauskas could be invited to take a month-long sabbatical. There have been some baffling moments at Tynecastle since the Romanovs arrived, but this half-baked notion would take the biscuit.

The banker, of course, is not renowned for tolerating shortcomings in his managers, even if Ivanauskas has been a loyal servant over a number of years. If he does part company with Hearts today, it will be the second time Romanov has dispensed with Ivanauskas' services. He was previously dismissed during a spell as manager of Kaunas.

News that Ivanauskas would be flying out of Edinburgh for showdown talks emerged on Sunday morning after the coach didn't take part in a warm-down training session with the first-team players.

Ivanauskas' absence from the session wasn't particularly unusual in itself. But in conjunction with his decision not to attend a post-match press conference on Saturday evening, it inevitably sparked speculation about his job security.

With sporting director Eduard Malofeev left in charge of team matters, it remains to be seen if or when Ivanauskas will return.

Bearing in mind how George Burley was sacked as manager a year ago when Hearts were six points clear at the top of the Premierleague - the coup de grace has also been administered to John Robertson and Graham Rix during Romanov's time in charge of the club while Craig Levein left voluntarily - seasoned Tynecastle observers fear the worst for Ivanauskas.

On the other hand, there's a school of thought that Romanov is still reasonably satisfied with Ivanauskas' performance as manager. His position as head coach was publicly endorsed by Romanov as recently as the away leg of the UEFA Cup tie in Prague at the end of September, when the owner issued a statement confirming the manager was staying in charge. But if a week is a long time in politics, a month is an eternity in Gorgie.

After a mediocre start to the season in which Hearts were eliminated from both the Champions League and the UEFA Cup, it was expected that the opportunity to concentrate on the domestic scene would enable Ivanauskas to close the gap on Celtic at the top of the SPL.

However, a sloppy performance against Hibs in the Edinburgh derby was followed by a 2-0 loss at home to Kilmarnock, noteworthy mainly for the lack of fight shown by the players in the second-half, which enabled Celtic to stretch their advantage at the top of Premierleague to eight points.

Although no meeting took place between the head coach and the captain, Steven Pressley, after the match on Saturday, it is understood that senior players have been concerned about the repercussions of a rotation policy which saw Ivanauskas make 59 changes in Hearts' last 11 games.

While it was denied by Roman Romanov yesterday that Ivanauskas had already been sacked, it's not credible to view today's meeting in Lithuania as simply a run of the mill exchange of views between coach and owner about club affairs.

The men speak on the telephone regularly and Vladimir Romanov is expected in Edinburgh later this week. At today's meeting, the head coach's own position will be the sole topic of conversation.

Only someone suffering from short-term memory loss could already have forgotten the part played by Ivanauskas last season in claiming the club's seventh triumph in the Scottish Cup. After taking charge on a temporary basis following the sackings of Jim Duffy and Rix, Ivanauskas guided Hearts to second place in the SPL as well as success in the penalty shoot-out over Gretna at Hampden.

Only the 25th manager of Hearts in a long history dating back to 1874, the coach's attacking instincts made him the overwhelming choice of club supporters at the start of the season to be installed in the job on a permanent basis.

As yet, according to the chairman, no decisions have been taken over Ivanauskas' future.

While often painted as trigger-happy, it may be the Romanovs are less inclined to dispense with a football man they trust than some might guess. After all, it's reasonable to pose the question that if Vladimir Romanov can't work with someone as compliant as Ivanauskas, then who on earth would fit the bill next at Tynecastle?

Taken from the Scotsman