Vladimir Romanov sees new man waste little time in getting the working clothes on

Published Date: 03 August 2011
Iain Collin
AS IF appointing his tenth manager in just six years was not enough to mark Vladimir Romanov down as starkly different to the rest of Scottish football's club owners, the sight of him on Hearts' training ground yesterday taking a pot-shot at keeper Jamie MacDonald confirmed his place as the SPL's most eccentric figure.
Never one to shy away from an opportunity to grab the limelight, the Russian-born banker crashed the first-day party of new manager Paulo Sergio as he cast an eye over the start of the latest man to have been charged with delivering on his exacting, and some would argue impossible, demands. Having taken in the final act of Jim Jefferies' 18-month reign when he watched Sunday's 1-0 home defeat to Dundee United on a rare visit to Tynecastle, Romanov stayed around long enough to ensure he also oversaw the first moments of Sergio's spell.

Having woken to accusations of being a control freak and a tyrant, the man whose name for some fits too easily the 'mad' prefix, eventually slunk into the background beneath an umbrella to shield his pristine training gear from the persistent rain. The majority shareholder had arrived on the Riccarton turf alongside director Sergejus Fedotovas at 11.30 yesterday morning, his presence eliciting double-takes from the players whose session had already begun under Sergio.

Sergio was more subdued on his arrival at Heriot-Watt University just after 10am. Pulling his flight bag behind him, the 43-year-old was accompanied by assistants Sergio Cruz and Alberto Cabral, with football administrator Konstantin Kornakov leading the way. First-team coach Gary Locke, his position still undecided, was on hand to greet the quartet at the top of the training academy staircase before delving deep into the bowels of the building.

Locke later emerged with Cruz, Cabral and goalkeeping coach Alan Carswell to set out the apparatus for the morning's session, just as Romanov was arriving to give his latest charge his words of wisdom elsewhere. Training finally got under way at 11.15, with skipper Marius Zaliukas leading his colleagues through a gap in the trees on to the club's sodden pitch. It was the same players who only 24 hours earlier had been described as being 'unhappy' on being told the news on Monday that Jefferies had been ousted just two league games into the new campaign. One squad member privately described the events as 'a joke' as he arrived for training before 10am, but publicly there had been a 'no comment' gag slapped on the team. They were certainly put through their paces strenuously enough by their new 'gaffer'. Any thoughts that the Portuguese coach would take only a passive role so close to tomorrow night's Europa League encounter with Paksi were dispelled as soon as he emerged with clipboard in hand shortly after.

Following a chat with the players, the former Sporting Lisbon manager sent the squad off on their warm-up before speaking to a gathering of youth players.

When the game mock-up got under way later, it was only a minute old before Sergio called a halt, obviously unhappy at what he was seeing. But he was more subtle during a break when he took young Ryan McGowan aside for some one-on-one advice on defending.

Later, after a 15-minute discussion, the new man ended his first session, pausing briefly to talk to Zaliukas before going on to take in the pre-arranged bounce game with Dunfermline. That friendly delayed his official unveiling by 24 hours until this afternoon but it at least allowed him to remove himself from the shadow Romanov cast over his first day in charge.

Taken from the Scotsman