Erratic Vladimir Romanov has Hearts in a flutter over future

Unpaid wages may be a sign of deeper trouble at Tynecastle club that Lithuanian businessman has owned since 2005

Ewan Murray
The Observer, Sunday 30 October 2011

An indictment of Vladimir Romanov's erratic stewardship of Hearts is that the belated payment of bills, or even non-payment, is now shrugged off by the wider world. In the latest troubled period – unquestionably a worrying one for those who have the club's best interests at heart – some high‑profile machinations at Rangers have overshadowed events at Tynecastle. The Hearts first-team squad hope finally to receive monthly salaries, which were due on 16 October, by Wednesday.

Hope is all those players have. The most alarming aspect of this delay, the longest of its kind since Romanov took control of Hearts in 2005, is the lack of an explanation. When addressing players in a dressing-room meeting a week past on Friday, the Hearts director Sergejus Fedotovas pointed out the generous nature of contracts; as if those who take to the football field are to blame for being handed lucrative terms.

There is no suggestion that the Hearts squad will make a strong stand by looking to strike. That, however, owes plenty to the complex management with which they are dealing. A warning has already been passed on by senior players to their team-mates over the potential for further damaging moves by Romanov if drastic action is taken. Morale, suffice to say, has been better.

All the management at Hearts will allude to, and in private, is a cash-flow problem. Hardly unique in British business, yet investigations attached to that are problematic given the resource money is merely transferred by Romanov's Lithuania-based Ukio Bankas Investment Group (Ubig). The transfer-window system also denies Hearts an opportunity to raise money before January.

For six years, Romanov has held Hearts' existence in the palm of his hand – and without Ubig's help, this financial basket case would have been shut down long ago. Those who berate Romanov fail to recognise Hearts' desperate state before his arrival. Still, that sentiment should not douse interest in the handling of a Scottish institution.

The overriding fear supporters have is that Romanov's frustration with his Scottish football and business investments is such that he is willing to cut and run. It would never be his style to market the football club publicly, thereby testing the means of those who have been linked with buying out Ubig.

Plans to open a branch of Ubig's banking chain, Ukio, in Edinburgh have thus far failed, while heavy spending on annual salaries at Hearts has not delivered the success Romanov expects.

In the meantime, Romanov has diverted substantial monies and attention to basketball projects in his homeland. There, as at Hearts, material reward has not equalled cash invested. It is hardly a leap of faith to infer Ubig is unable to sponsor football and basketball projects to a meaningful degree and at the same time.

As with so much at Hearts, this situation has occurred as part of a strange dichotomy. The club is edging ever closer to departing Tynecastle, with talks ongoing with Edinburgh council regarding a joint stadium venture. Hearts hope the council will be willing to land-swap Tynecastle for another site, with the regeneration of the Gorgie area, the heavy decline in property value of the ground and Edinburgh's desperation for decent sports facilities key to that.

Club officials also believe the local authority is in a stronger position to borrow money and therefore fund the construction of a new stadium, in return for handing Hearts a long‑term lease. Although that notion is undermined by the council's own financial problems, a switch to a newly adopted home is perhaps the only way Hearts can edge back towards commercial success.

As more routine matters pose Hearts a problem, those grand aspirations can wait. Romanov being flippant about his stewardship of the club is one thing; a lack of regard for Hearts' long-term future would be something else entirely.

Taken from the Guardian/Observer