Saulius Mikoliunas on life at Hearts: Egomaniac Mad Vlad thought he could play for Barca

Scott McDermott

THE Lithuanian winger has lifted the lid on life at Tynecastle under former owner and 'funny guy' Vladimir Romanov.
All mouth, no trousers: A kilted Romanov with the Hearts squad All mouth, no trousers: A kilted Romanov with the

SAULIUS MIKOLIUNAS last night lifted the lid on Vladimir Romanov’s reign at Hearts and insisted his ego has left the club fighting for its life.

The former Jambos star, who spent four years at Gorgie under Romanov, swore the Tynecastle tyrant sacked George Burley because he was jealous of the manager’s popularity among fans.

Mikoliunas insisted the madcap Lithuanian signed too many of his countrymen – and splashed cash that would have been better spent on keeping top players such as Paul Hartley and Rudi Skacel at the club.

Now with Ukrainian side Sevastopol, Mikoliunas is the first Lithuanian to publicly criticise Romanov.

With Hearts in administration and £25million in debt, Miko said: “Romanov has an ego.

“When we were top of the league under Burley he was jealous that the fans were talking about George rather than him.

“That is why he kicked him out. Romanov liked to be at the centre of everything.

“He was also a funny guy. He would come on to the training pitch and try to play football with us. He thought he was good and could play for Barcelona. He would really make us laugh.

“He brought in too many Lithuanian players and people started to make an issue of it.

“It upset the fans because they wanted to see better players – not unknown Lithuanians.

“There was also a problem in the dressing room because there were so many of us. You can understand why because Romanov was also based in Lithuania. It was an unhealthy situation for everyone.”

03/08/08 PRE-SEASON FRIENDLY HEARTS V HULL (1-0) TYNECASTLE - EDINBURGH Saulius Mikoliunas in action for Hearts Mikoliunas: "He thought he was good and could play for Barcelona. He would really make us laugh"
Alan Harvey/SNS Group

Mikoliunas reckons Romanov spent money on Hearts he couldn’t afford and swears club legends such as Hartley and Skacel were allowed to leave too easily while another batch of foreigners arrived at Tynecastle.

He claims Romanov was constantly at odds with some of his biggest stars but would never accept responsibility when things went wrong. Miko said: “Romanov was paying good money but maybe he would have been better using it to keep the likes of Paul and Rudi.

“They did well for us and we were in the running for the Champions League but we didn’t keep our top players. We needed to buy more quality instead of signing lots of different players.

“We had too many for a start. When I first signed I was nowhere near the team because there was so much competition for places.

“Romanov put the money in because he wanted Hearts to be successful but we weren’t massive like Celtic or Rangers.

“He was fighting with everyone, including his players, but when things happened it was never his fault. He blamed everyone else.

“Now his bank is bankrupt and I don’t know what will happen.”

Mikoliunas feels for the Hearts fans who have bought more than 3000 extra season tickets in a bid to raise funds.

Despite blasting Romanov, he knows the support will never forget the Scottish Cup wins of 2006 and 2012.

Miko, who played in the 2006 victory over Gretna at Hampden, said: “I’m keeping my fingers crossed someone will buy Hearts and make them a force again. The fans are brilliant.

“And how will Romanov be remembered? He did a good job for some of his time at Hearts.”

Rangers are interested in signing Marius Zaliukas but Miko revealed his pal and former Jambos skipper is being targeted elsewhere.

He said: “Marius has an option in Spain but I don’t think it would be an issue for him dropping down to the Second Division with Rangers. They’re a big club.”

Taken from the Daily Record