Vladimir Romanov has spent millions – but with no great reward

Michael Grant

7 Nov 2011

WHEN he’s in the mood for it, words gush out of Vladimir Romanov. They spew out of him in torrents: accusations, insults, withering criticism, abuse, the lot.

It’s Scottish football mafia this, media monkeys that, corruption and rotten apples all across the land. When he’s got a bee in his bonnet, all of this stuff runs out of him like verbal diarrhoea.

You would think that a man so inclined to mouth off about everyone else would have the grace to acknowledge his own shortcomings, but no. Romanov finally deigned to pay his Hearts players on Friday, just 19 days overdue.

In the course of that alarming delay there was barely a word to explain or justify the unpardonable hold-up. And when the money eventually reached their bank accounts something was still missing: Romanov saying sorry. There should have been an apology to the players and a public one to the Hearts fans.

They, too, suffered stress, embarrassment and ridicule during the whole unedifying episode. Instead, he gave a typically undignified interview, this time with the kicker that he is now considering “finding a partner or selling the club”.

One minute he derides the Old Firm for orchestrating all this supposed corruption, the next he sells Lee Wallace to Rangers

Romanov hasn’t been good for Scottish football. He chose to invest in it, but has criticised, belittled and denigrated the game for years. His diatribes about corruption, conspiracies and bias have been grossly insulting, not least to the intelligence of the majority who see them for what they are.

If the game here is as bent as he alleges, what does it say for Romanov’s intelligence that he has spent six years pouring money into it? And this is a man who sniffed around Dundee United and Dunfermline before turning up at Tynecastle, such was his enthusiasm for Scottish football.

One minute he’s deriding the Old Firm for orchestrating all this supposed corruption, the next he’s selling Lee Wallace to Rangers, a deal which weakens his own team and strengthens one of the big two.

Romanov’s relationship with Hearts and his motivations for being there still seem cloudy. Hearts pay around £250,000-per-week in wages. Their salaries-to-turnover ratio is 115%. They make losses every year and their debt sits at around £30m.

Romanov’s money props the whole thing up but he’s in banking and there has been no information about how his wider business empire is doing in the global financial crisis. It’s chilling to learn of delayed wages, budget cuts and senior players being told they are free to find other clubs. All of it could be the tip of the iceberg.

Hearts are helplessly dependant on an eccentric, absentee owner who may or may not have financial troubles and who is angry that he’s not getting his own way about moving from Tynecastle to a new stadium paid for by Edinburgh City Council.

Has he been good for Hearts? On balance, yes. He’s prolonged their occupation of Tynecastle, delivered a Scottish Cup and bankrolled a squad which generally has been the best of the rest and occasionally given Rangers and Celtic a bloody nose. His instincts and ambition to take on the Old Firm have been admirable.

He’s talked the talk and walked the walk by agreeing to pay wages which have been far higher than anything the club was capable of before he arrived. Hearts have been the third strongest club in the country because he has paid for them to be.

The towering football achievements of his reign both came in his first full season: winning the Scottish Cup and, more impressively in some respects, splitting the Old Firm to finish second in the SPL and reach the Champions League qualifiers. That campaign, 2005-06, remains the highwatermark.

In his six full seasons, they have finished in the top three on three occasions, but also as low as sixth and eighth. In the six seasons immediately before Romanov, they also merited three top-three finishes and were never lower than fifth. They were more consistent before he came despite spending much less, because they had stability then and have never had it under him.

Other than 2005-06, “the George Burley season”, Romanov has precious little to show for his spend. One cup final in 13 attempts is a paltry return for a club paying far higher wages than anyone else outwith the Old Firm. Dunfermline have reached more cup finals in that time. Dundee United and Hibs, have won as many trophies.

What they’ve achieved has been humdrum because Romanov’s judgment has fallen way below his investment. He’s impulsively sacked managers without replacing them with anyone better.

The owner and his managers have frittered away money on mediocre players. And he’s undermined good coaches, stepping up his level of interference just when things seem to be going well on the pitch for no obvious reason other than envy that someone’s profile at Tynecastle might surpass his own.

Fans have long since resigned themselves to all of this. What matters now is how long he intends to stay, the health of his wider businesses, and whether he cares enough about the club to leave it as a going concern. As always under Romanov, Hearts are on a precipice.

Taken from the Herald