Fans target Hearts owner

By Roddy Forsyth at Tynecastle

Heart of Midlothian (0) 0 Rangers (1) 1

Heart of Midlothian's defeat by Rangers yesterday was probably the most sedate event in the troubled Tynecastle club's week, but it soured the rapidly curdling mood of their fans. About 200 staged a demonstration outside the main entrance, for the first time turning their wrath against the club's autocratic owner, Vladimir Romanov.

For every Jambo the crucial question beforehand concerned Steven Pressley, who walked out of the team hotel prior to Monday's 1-1 draw at Falkirk when he discovered that an attempt had been made by the Romanov camp to strip him of the captaincy.

Pressley was on the bench because, according to Alex Koslovsky, Hearts' sporting director: "We analysed Monday's game against Falkirk on the computer and saw that every defender played well." So, the long-standing club captain was excluded because, for the first time in football, the computer said no.
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As soon as the teams were announced the home crowd began singing "There's only one Steven Pressley". Afterwards, the demonstrators sang "We want our captain back" and "Vladimir b****r off". Whether Pressley would have been able to prevent Nacho Novo's 78th-minute winner, which deflected off Christophe Berra, is moot.

As Paul Hartley, captain for the day, put it: "There's only one captain at this club. Steven's a fantastic leader and the sooner he's back, the better. The confidence isn't that good and the fans have a right to make their feelings come across.

"They don't like what's going on – a lot of us don't like what's going on. One thing about them is that they didn't get on our backs."

When Koslovsky put in another appearance he begged to differ, claiming the Hearts fans were racist because they had jeered Nerijus Barasa. "I think it's a little bit of discrimination. It's because he's Lithuanian people chanted at him."

The possibility that Barasa was booed because he was poor in right midfield did not appear to cross Koslovsky's mind.

Romanov's incessant meddling in every aspect of team affairs has seen Hearts slip to fifth place in the Scottish Premier League, three points adrift of Rangers and even behind Edinburgh rivals Hibernian on goal difference, following the resurgent Easter Road side's 6-1 thrashing of Motherwell at Fir Park on Saturday.

Hearts' record since their last win on Oct 1 is now four defeats and two draws. For Rangers, this win represented the extraordinary achievement of their first back-to-back victories of the season after last week's defeat of Dunfermline.

Elsewhere, Celtic are concerned about the fitness of Kenny Miller and Gary Caldwell prior to tomorrow night's Champions League qualifier against Manchester United. Miller did not play because of an ankle injury in Saturday's 3-0 home victory over Inverness Caley Thistle – Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink scored twice and Jiri Jarosik got Celtic's third – while Caldwell was replaced after damaging his knee.

However, Celtic captain Neil Lennon believes they will cope. "We have players coming in when needed. The squad is a good size."

Taken from telegraph.co.uk