Has Romanov seen sense at last?

Well, well, well... quite incredible! Vladimir Romanov, Hearts’ loose cannon of an owner, has finally seen fit to search for a football manager in the traditional sense, ie, someone who will actually be allowed to select his own team and decide on the tactics.

What’s this? Has the earth fallen off its axis? They’ll be telling me Mr Romanov is taking up professional dancing next.

Yesterday’s announcement from Tynecastle that the Hearts board is to start searching for a manager with a real feel for the British game will surely end months of pent-up frustration amid a Gorgie faithful who have been forced to watch their shambolic team slump. Dire has not been the word for it. The precise tragedy of Hearts in recent years – and I use the word “tragedy” purely in its football sense – is that Romanov, while having the means to make Hearts a genuine force in Scottish football, had always chosen not to execute that power appropriately.

Had I been a Hearts fan in recent times, it would have driven me to distraction thinking about what my club might have been under Romanov, but wasn’t. Hopefully, it is a state of affairs that is about to end.

Romanov has always been a likeable character. Strangely, nor has his investment in Hearts ever been one to be fully deplored, because he did rescue the club, much like Fergus McCann once did at Celtic. The frustration has been in Romanov’s almost whimsical style of tyranny.

This latest development may at least mean some well-deserved dignity being cast back in the direction of Stevie Frail, an able, likeable and articulate coach, who has been forced into the role of playing front-of-house before the media while the Romanov panto has gone on up on the stage Strangely, Frail has grown in stature and admiration every time he has stepped forth in front of us to explain decisions which weren’t his, though it is a chore he could do without. On the basis of his recent experience, this is one man I truly wish well in the Scottish game.

Taken from timesonline.co.uk