Mad Vlad has brought some much-needed colour to Scottish football

ROGER HANNAH

I’D never dream of having a go at Vladimir Romanov.

For the Scottish media, this guy was sheer box office.

He performed with style on Lithuania’s Strictly Come Dancing.

He plunged into the chilly waters of Loch Ness in a publicity stunt.

He even entertained the Scottish press to a splendid dinner - washed down with his favourite honey mead - the night before Scotland played in Kaunas a few years back.

Oh yes, and he presided over a period in Hearts’ history when they gathered TWO Scottish Cups.

One with a humiliating 5-1 rout of bitter capital rivals Hibs.

All in all, Mad Vlad has brought some much-needed colour to Scottish football over the past seven or eight years.

As one of the media “monkeys” he so often attacked in print, I’ll miss his bizarre rants against the established order.

But please spare me the claptrap that his reign has been good for Hearts.

This guy has pushed one of the country’s greatest clubs to the edge of the abyss.

It may even be too late for them to step back and be saved.

More than 100 jobs are on the line. The future of the club is in jeopardy.

Starting the new season with a 15-point penalty is the least of their worries right now.

Just making it to the big kick-off on August 3 is all that concerns administrators BDO this morning.

The club’s finances were allowed to spiral out of control on Vlad’s watch.

The true extent of that chaos is sure to be laid bare by BDO in the coming days.

Maybe it’ll shock the thousands of loyal fans who have rallied behind Ian Murray’s Foundation of Hearts.

Perhaps it’ll focus the minds of wealthy Jambos fans intent on a possible rescue package.

What it must do, though, is debunk the notion that Vlad’s rollercoaster tenure was a good thing for the club.

Foundation of Hearts member Iain MacLeod claimed at the weekend Vlad was good enough for him.

He purred: “I’d say it’s been worth it. If someone said to me at the start that we’d have won two Scottish Cups — beating Hibs 5-1 in the second — then I’d have stopped them at that point and said ‘yes, thank you’.”

Well, I’m glad you’ve enjoyed it Iain.

Pity for the next generation of Jambos fans who’ll be left to pick up the pieces.

Left to watch Gary Locke preside over a team of kids with little hope of dodging the drop.

That, of course, if Locke is spared his job in the BDO purge.

And if liquidation doesn’t send those kids to Annan, Berwick and Elgin next term. Or worse.

Lifelong fan MacLeod even claimed Vlad was preferable to ex-chief executive Chris Robinson as he’d wanted to flog Tynecastle.

What happens then if the new owners - who’ll pick up the pieces from the failed Romanov regime - decide to sell the stadium?

Or if those investigating the collapse of UBIG and UKIO Bankas back in Lithuania get their hands on the ground?

The demise of Gers last summer should stand as a warning to all Jambos fans that anything is possible.

No-one should gloat at the fall from grace of the Jambos.

Even Hibs legend Jackie McNamara Snr has warned the Easter Road faithful not to celebrate their rivals’ collapse.

Scottish football can ill afford another high-profile casualty of financial mismanagement.

It’s to be hoped the Jambos crisis doesn’t mirror that of Gers a year ago.

It is unthinkable they too could plunge into liquidation and be sunk into the fourth-tier of our game.

Having Gers and Hearts in the lower echelons of the league set-up would be a blow too far.

But even if they dodge that nightmare scenario, it’s time for some perspective in Gorgie.

Vlad has no more honey. And no more money.