Don't blame Ivanauskas

HEARTS fans today united in support of their beleaguered head coach Valdas Ivanauskas, laying the blame for recent erratic team performances firmly at the feet of majority shareholder Vladimir Romanov.

Following on from Saturday's 2-0 home defeat by Kilmarnock, Ivanauskas has returned to Lithuania for a critical meeting with Romanov that was due to take place this afternoon and may ordain the head coach's future at the club. It is understood Ivanauskas is content with the arrangement given that a face-to-face discussion will allow him to put his views and those of the Hearts players to Romanov.

Supporters have become disillusioned at the Russian banker's interference in team selection, but are calling for Ivanauskas to remain in place and be allowed to run team affairs by himself.

Ivanauskas and senior members of his side have grown increasingly frustrated in recent weeks due to the meddling from above. Sources close to the Lithuanian described him being "almost like a broken man" at Tynecastle on Saturday evening as he spent more than four hours pouring over footage of the Kilmarnock match and discussing the situation in a series of meetings with his coaching staff.

After it was decided he would return to Lithuania to put his case to Romanov, leaving Eduard Malofeev in charge of training and team affairs, supporters spoke out in defence of Ivanauskas.

John Borthwick, secretary of the Federation of Hearts Supporters Clubs, told the Evening News: "If Valdas was to go it would be unfair. Normally when a manager is sacked he is taking the blame for results but, if he hasn't been picking the team recently, then I don't think you can apportion all the blame to him.

"The feeling is that Romanov has a major influence on team selection and I think the Hearts supporters are becoming fed up with the squad rotation system. We want to see a settled side because we have lost a lot of points recently because the squad is being rotated. There are players playing on a Saturday who, on the evidence of their performance the previous week, should not be in the team. I think that's where the interference comes in.

"I think the supporters are quite happy with Valdas. If he was left to pick the team on his own then the fans would soon decide if they felt he was the right man for the job or not. The fans appreciate that it's not totally his decision."

Borthwick wants Ivanauskas to be given sole control of the side and feels that if drastic action is required to get that message across then so be it. He says he would even support another posse of senior Hearts players approaching Romanov, as happened earlier this year when Steven Pressley, Paul Hartley, Takis Fyssas, Neil McCann and Rudi Skacel confronted the majority shareholder.

"There were a group of players who had a meeting with Mr Romanov to iron out one or two things. Perhaps that's what is needed again," he suggested.

Rumours that Ivanauskas could take a four-week sabbatical from affairs at Hearts are without foundation, although Malofeev remains in charge until further notice, assisted by John McGlynn and sporting director Anatoli Korobochka. "We have a lot of players so the usual drill on a Sunday would be a recovery session," said McGlynn. "All the players were in yesterday and showed a good attitude in the training session. We were all disappointed with Saturday's result and the outcome of it. We didn't play well and that aspect was bothering the players, so it was a day when everybody was on a downer anyway."

Taken from the Scotsman