Half full or half empty? A dilemma for Romanov

By STUART BATHGATE
Published on Monday 17 December 2012 00:00

wHEN the Hearts share offer closes on Wednesday, Vladimir Romanov will be faced with the classic question. Is his glass half full or half empty? The direction which the up-for-sale club takes could depend on his answer.

The share offer was launched back in October at a time when Hearts were particularly in need of cash, and the money that has come in since – over £800,000 at the last count – has been crucial in keeping them going. But, as well as meeting a short-term need, there was always a longer-term aim to the offer. To test the mood of the Hearts support, and gauge the extent to which they are willing and able to buy control of the club from Romanov’s company Ubig.

At the time of the launch there was a suggestion that the exercise, if successful, could be repeated annually. That Ubig, having put ten per cent of its holding up for offer, would do the same towards the end of 2013, and so on in the years to come until it had either relinquished the majority of its stake or sold up altogether.

If an individual or company comes along over the next few months with a viable offer to buy Romanov out, that piecemeal sale may no longer be necessary. But such offers have been conspicuous by their absence in the year and more since the Kaunas-based businessman put the club up for sale. The Foundation of Hearts group have made one bid, and a consortium represented by former Livingston owner Angelo Massone has tabled another. Both were rejected as inadequate, with the Massone bid also being labelled unsuitable for other reasons.

FoH plan to return to the table, but it remains a possibility that they will not meet the valuation which Romanov has put on his controlling interest.

And so the question arises – if FoH cannot take over the club and no other consortium shows a willingness to do so, what does the current owner do? Specifically, how does he evaluate the response of the supporters to the share offer?

In raising that figure of more than £800,000, especially at this time of year, the supporters have responded magnificently. What is more, that sum does not take account of the other activities which have also helped – from buying extra tickets for games to holding auctions for club funds.

But, even if the total goes up by another £100,000 before the offer closes, it will remain the case that the uptake is only around 50 per cent of the total shareholding which was on offer.

Hence the question which Romanov must answer. Is that 50 per cent an encouraging figure which indicates how willing the supporters are to take an active part in the future of their club, or does it show that they have nothing like the financial clout required to help set Hearts up on a far sounder financial footing?

Before he comes up with a definite answer, he may also have to decide once and for all whether he can work with FoH in the longer term. If the fans are unable to raise £1 million when the club is in dire need, he must know that they will not be able to come up with the kind of sum needed to clear Hearts’ £22m debt any time soon.

That being the case, Romanov must either go back on his previous decision and opt to hang around for a few years more at least, or recognise that there is a future role for FoH.

Thanks to some wealthy individual contributors, FoH can make the size of offer which should at least encourage Romanov to think carefully about selling up. They do not have sufficient funds to clear the debt outright but they could buy the club and also agree a lease of Tynecastle. This would maintain Romanov as owner of the ground and thus guarantee him an annual income for a set number of years.

If Ubig sold its shareholding to FoH, that group and all the individual fans who have bought shares over the last couple of months would then become joint owners of the club. That would give Hearts the viable future which Romanov says he wants, and would also give Ubig at least a partial return on its investment.

At present, the money raised by the fans has kept Hearts on life support. It has got Hearts through a troubled period but has not yet taken them any closer to a stable future.

That is something which Romanov can do himself. He should decide his glass is half full, acknowledge the massive effort put in by the supporters, and continue to work towards community ownership. The £800,000 paid in to the club is effectively a vote of trust in him. He must now prove himself worthy of it.

Taken from the Scotsman