Disillusioned Vladimir Romanov says Hearts are for sale

Martin Hannan
Published on Monday 7 November 2011 02:36

Hearts’ controversial owner Vladimir Romanov said for the first time last night that he was considering selling the Scottish Premier League club.

A few days after saying that he might not be prepared to invest any more money in the team, Romanov said in a statement yesterday that “I now have to consider finding a partner or selling the club.”

Romanov later told a news agency that he is now more interested in basketball than football. Basketball is the main sport in his homeland of Lithuania where he owns his local club Zalgiris Kaunas. He said: “I now have another outlet where I can fulfil my ambitions in sport.”

Earlier, a club statement added that there was “a direct threat to the future of the club” from media attempts to undermine Romanov and Hearts “which is strongly dependant (sic) on the funding from the major shareholder.”

It is the first time that the Lithuanian banker and entrepreneur, who took control of Hearts from former chairman Chris Robinson in 2005, has indicated he would be prepared to sell the club or bring in a partner who would presumably buy some of Romanov’s majority holding.

Most of the club’s debt – it stood at £36m at the end of the last financial year – is owned to Ubig, the Lithuanian financial institution controlled by Romanov. Were he to sell, it is unclear what would happen to the debt that is effectively owed to his family’s bank.

Yesterday’s statement on the club website claimed Romanov would stand by the club and support it “to the extent it remains reasonable” and that he would continue to fight against “what he and an increasing number of club supporters and associates are seeing as an orchestrated campaign against him personally and, by association, the club.”

The item continued: “The position of the shareholder in relation to the football in Scotland, in which he has invested more than any other individual in the last six years, is unsatisfactory.”

The solution according to the club is to reduce investment in the playing squad, rely on products of the youth academy, and work on improving revenue streams and a new stadium.

In recent weeks, Hearts have again failed to pay their players on time. The club statement said that all outstanding player salaries have been paid.

Other problems have included Hearts’ manager Paulo Sergio being censured by the Scottish Football Association, while there were press reports of a possible “fire sale” of the club’s best players, some of whom are alleged to have been told to find another club. The fire sale was strongly denied in the club statement.

The club’s on-going discussions with Edinburgh Council over a possible new stadium have also provoked rows in the capital, with some politicians saying no council investment should go towards Hearts.

There is presently a ban on anyone at Hearts cooperating with the media, and in the past six years, the club has never been far from controversy, often due to the owner sacking the manager or making statements criticising the football authorities.

His latest statement was in similar vein: “For seven years I keep hoping that in the country that is the cradle of football they will start respecting the game and stop taking the mickey out of the game itself and the people who are trying to fight for it, but it’s like asking the mafia for remorse.

“And still Shakespeare’s question lingers on – to be or not to be – for football to change, or will it keep on developing as a show under the media blanket and we are finally overtaken by Lithuania and Gabon.

“I haven’t lost my interest in the club but I have for football. By the law of the ‘free world’ it is not enough to do good deeds – you have to also pay to advertise them in the press and then it’s possible to carry out crimes without any consequences.

“The problem is that I refuse to pay the monkeys for the advertisement as someone has to resist their domination in sport and in culture, the economy and history. That’s why I now have to consider finding a partner or selling the club.”

Romanov concluded with a reference to News International magnate Rupert Murdoch: “Perhaps I should make my first offer to Mr Murdoch for his efforts.”

Football agent Gary Mackay, who holds the record for Hearts appearances, said: “With any team, you can only criticise others if your own performance is spot on. If the running of Hearts was spot on and all the results and the balance sheet were fine and there was stability of management then you could accept it, but that’s not been there.

“Talk of a mafia and an orchestrated campaign against the club is a lot of nonsense.

“If he is serious about selling then he has to think about what he paid to buy the club and the road he has taken the club down since then, and then set a price that enables someone to come in and take the club forward.

“It’s a huge concern for me as a supporter that he is saying these things, but I am not surprised.”

Taken from the Scotsman