Jefferies sacking is a case of Vlad timing

Published Date: 02 August 2011
By BARRY ANDERSON
1998 Cup hero Cameron cannot understand why Romanov chose to act just weeks into new season
FOOTBALL club owners must make cut-throat decisions and Vladimir Romanov is no different. It is part of the remit.

Sacking Jim Jefferies for poor results is justifiable when statistics show just one victory for Hearts in their last 15 competitive outings. It is the timing of Romanov's decision, just two weeks into the new SPL season, which is bound to cause most consternation.

After recruiting four of his own signing targets, overseeing pre-season and leading Hearts into their Europa League qualifying campaign, expectations were that Jefferies would be around for the foreseeable future. Yet the majority shareholder had other ideas as he jetted across the Baltic Sea from Lithuania at the weekend.

He relieved Jefferies of his managerial duties yesterday, 24 hours after a 1-0 home defeat by Dundee United on the second weekend of the new SPL season.

Instead, he offered the 60-year-old a job as director of football, with a decision on that proposal expected today or tomorrow. Assistant manager Billy Brown and first-team coach Gary Locke are officially having their positions reviewed although Brown is virtually certain to depart Tynecastle.

Changing the guard right now makes little sense, three days before a Europa League qualifying return leg with Paksi of Hungary.

People both inside and outside Tynecastle are left scratching their heads, but Romanov rather likes setting a cat amongst the pigeons. It's been his style throughout his six-year tenure at Tynecastle. Sometimes it works, sometimes not. But no-one could accuse the Russian entrepreneur of failing to act decisively.

He and Jefferies disagreed on certain issues surrounding players, most notably the Craig Thomson affair.

The team management, along with many other Hearts employees, believed the full-back should have been sacked by Hearts after being found guilty of lewd, libidinous and indecent behaviour towards young girls and placed on the sex offenders' register. Romanov has boldly facilitated a loan move to FBK Kaunas, the Lithuanian club he finances, to allow Thomson to keep playing.

Then there was Rudi Skacel. Jefferies and Brown were irked by the delay in extending the Czech's contract, which has yet to be finalised. They wanted clarity on the issue and Romanov didn't provide it. Marian Kello, dropped from the first-team last season amid accusations of a lack of professionalism, was another bone of contention.

Romanov felt the Slovakian could not be trusted despite him mesmerising the entire country with peerless goalkeeping displays week after week. The Hearts management team disagreed but interference in team matters from Lithuania continued.

Amid that unnecessary strain, Jefferies and Brown still managed to guide Hearts to third place in the SPL and secure a return to European football, a commendable feat given wage delays and other issues behind the scenes. They managed only one win after February 19 but achieved what they set out to do - to instil Hearts as the best of the rest again.

After losing Ruben Palazuelos, Ismael Bouzid, Lee Wallace and Thomson from last season's squad, they rebuilt with some astute moves in the free transfer market to secure John Sutton, Jamie Hamill, Danny Grainger and Mehdi Taouil. Then, two games into the new campaign, Romanov arrives to swing the most famous axe in eastern Europe.

"It's another chapter in Mr Romanov's dealings," said Colin Cameron, a fans' favourite from Jefferies' 1998 Scottish Cup-winning side and now player/manager of Cowdenbeath. "For timing, he couldn't do any worse because Hearts are going into a big European game. It's a really strange one. After a great result at Ibrox, they got a good result away at Paksi last week. Sunday was disappointing but it's so early in the season. To make a decision this early in the campaign is beyond me.

"If Romanov was going to sack him, he should have sacked him at the end of last season. That way, it would have given the new man time to come to terms with the team and the players and feel his way in. He might want to bring his own players in. Now the season has started and whoever takes over is going to have to do all of that while the season is going on, which isn't ideal.

"If Jim Jefferies had been removed in May people could maybe understand it a bit more. Why do it now? If Mr Romanov wanted to sack him at the end of last season, he would have sacked him.

"It wouldn't have mattered whether they secured third place or not. Something has happened for Mr Romanov to change his tune regarding Jim and Billy. I can only imagine it's something which happened this season. You just need to hope it doesn't affect the players and that they can stay as professional as possible. But I'm sure they'll be thinking 'what on earth is going on?' By the sounds of it, only one man can answer that question.

"I'm sure Hearts will get a bit of stick from opposition fans because of the situation, and how Mr Romanov goes about his job. The other people who work at Hearts aren't a laughing stock, it really is just Mr Romanov. I think he's in a world of his own to be honest."

Criticism of Romanov will intensify if his intended replacement for Jefferies, the Portuguese coach Paulo Sergio, does not adjust quickly to life in the SPL.

However, Cameron does not expect true Hearts supporters to abandon their team simply because the manager they idolised is no longer in charge.

"Hearts fans will stick by the club because they are great fans," he said. "They've been behind the club through thick and thin. Yes, they will be angry and disillusioned, which I can totally understand. They will voice their opinions towards Mr Romanov but they will still be there supporting the team.

"I don't think Jim will be doing too much right now. It will be a bit of a shock because of the timing of it. I wouldn't say Hearts have had a bad start to the season, drawing at Ibrox then drawing away in a European tie. It's disappointing to lose at home to Dundee United but you can only think they (the board) have looked at how the team finished last season."

That winless sequence seems to have become Jefferies' undoing. Romanov has never been frightened to make a decision, but on this occasion it could be argued he is a couple of months late.

Taken from the Scotsman