If that spirit continues to spread throughout a highly cosmopolitan squad of footballers, things may well improve.

That improvement, however, is likely to be marginal. The coach is working with a squad of footballers over whose signings he had no influence; his attempts to pull a team together – one which might be capable of producing consistency of performance from week to week – must be fraught with problems. Looking at the gulf between Hearts and Rangers on Wednesday night, as well as the dreadful lack of input from the top of the club, there are still some pretty dark clouds hanging over Tynecastle; there is a long, long way to go before normal service is resumed.

That carefully-worded statement from the board of directors two months ago regarding the appointment of a manager is one thing; being seen to act upon it, however, is another.

There is increasing and understandable suspicion over the declared intentions of Vladimir Romanov. He has minimal knowledge of the professional game, possesses very limited ability in recognising and signing the correct type of players, is bereft of ideas in the preparation of a squad for a particular game, and has had the arrogance to select the team, the substitutes and the manner in which they are handled over 90 minutes from some 3,000 miles away. So had he finally accepted that he should step back and let professionals do all of these things?

Or did he simply see the statement of intent as a means of taking the heat off things two months ago at one of the lowest points in the past three or four years?

That question cannot be answered unless the man himself speaks. Even if he did, could anyone who has had to guess what has really been going on in his mind over the past two years possibly attach any credence to the New Years' Day statement?

If it is not to be seen as a convenient device to appease angry supporters, it is high time that those same supporters were informed about progress in the search for a new manager.

But there are other equally important questions which require to be addressed.

Why has the team's only regular scorer been moved on? Who, if anyone, is being lined up to replace him? Who is responsible for identifying new players to lift this squad next season? Is a steady feed of new talent arriving at Riccarton and is it being properly developed? If and when the best of the graduates reach Tynecastle, who looks after their continued growth and integration with the senior players? Given his new responsibilities, can Stephen Frail cope with such a big squad of players on his own and be expected to bring the newcomers through as well?

So many aspects need attention...so little real information comes to supporters about whether or not they are being addressed – other than predictable PR.

Of most immediate concern is the fact that little, if anything, appears to have moved over the situation of finding a manager for the club. There are two possibilities.

First of all, perhaps approaches have been made but those asked, knowing the background of interference, have declined to take matters further. Alternatively, maybe absolutely nothing has been done; the statement itself and the promotion of Stephen Frail were both red herrings. In the total absence – yet again – of information from the top, suspicion and anger builds up.

In the current circumstances, with the
goodwill of thousands of Hearts supporters showing serious signs of evaporating, Vladimir Romanov needs to show us that such growing suspicion is misplaced.

It is now vital that he displays some of the courage which he undoubtedly possessed in his earlier years and comes clean with the people of Edinburgh and Hearts supporters in particular. Time is definitely running out and I will not be holding my breath.

Comparisons are already being made between the present state of affairs and the impending disaster of the Chris Robinson era that Romanov brought to an end.

It is invidious for Hearts supporters to choose which of the two sets of circumstances might actually be the hardest for them to bear.

There is, however, one major difference.

At least, three years ago, we knew what was staring us in the face. This time, no-one has an earthly because there is no information.

Taken from the Scotsman