Vlad couldn’t handle people talking about Burley not him

Saulius Mikoliunas last night lifted the lid on the way Vladimir Romanov ran Hearts into the ground in a stinging blast.

Lithuanian ace Miko spent four years on loan at Tynecastle after being plucked from FBK Kaunas.

Miko, 29, was there in the good times when the Jambos challenged for the SPL title and won the Scottish Cup.

He insists Hearts never stood a chance while Romanov was ruling with an iron fist.

Miko said: “There were times when it seemed he was fighting with EVERYONE — including his own players.

“But when things happened it was never his fault and he always blamed everybody else. He has a big ego.

“I remember when we were top of the league and doing well under George Burley.

“Romanov was a little bit jealous the fans and everybody was talking about George rather than him. Maybe that is why he kicked George out, but I don’t know that for sure.

“Romanov liked to be at the centre of everything. He would quite often come out on the training pitch and try to play football with us.

“He thought he was a good player who could play for Barcelona. He would often make us laugh.

“Overall, you could say he did a good job some of the time at Hearts.

“When he came in he put a lot of money into Hearts because they were in a bad way.

“We won the Scottish Cup and we played in Europe. We also did well in the league and we had a lot of good times.

“Hearts fans will remember Romanov in a good way for most of his time at the club.

“But he brought in too many Lithuanian players and people started to talk about it and make an issue of it.

“It also upset the fans because they wanted to see better players and not just unknown Lithuanians like us.

“There were also problems in the dressing room because there were so many Lithuanians.

“You can understand why because Romanov was based in Lithuania, but it was an unhealthy situation for everybody at Hearts.

“It was good for us to move away from our country and to get the chance to play in Scotland against some big teams.

“It is a better level than in Lithuania and it gave us a chance to play and maybe move to a higher level, like England. At the time Romanov was paying good money but maybe he would have been better using the money to keep players like Paul Hartley and Rudi Skacel.

“They did well when we were in the running for a Champions League place, but we did not keep all our top players.

“He maybe needed to buy more quality players, and we ended up with too many players.

“When I arrived I was nowhere near the team because there was so much competition for places.

“Yes, he put the money in because he wanted Hearts to be successful.

“We were not a massive club like Celtic or Rangers, they were established and they had better players than us.”

Miko has been away from Tynecastle for four years now, but still keeps a close eye on what’s happening there.

He has been shocked by the enormity of the cash crisis to engulf the Jambos, but he is convinced they can emerge stronger with the backing of the fans. Speaking from Germany, where he played against Celtic for Ukrainian side Sevastopol on Wednesday, Miko added: “It is very disappointing, the situation at Hearts now.

“Hearts are my club, I played there for four years and it is really sad to see them in such a bad situation.

“I am keeping my fingers crossed somebody can buy them and make them a force in Scotland again.

“The Hearts fans are brilliant, they were great to me during my time in Scotland.

“I know how much they love Hearts and what the club means to them. They will do whatever they can to save their club.

“All over Europe there are teams with financial problems.

“We need to get through it and do all we can with our top clubs to make sure they survive.

“If we can do that then teams will start to flourish again.”

Miko is still in contact with former Jambos skipper Marius Zaliukas, who is wanted by Rangers boss Ally McCoist.

He asaid: “I still speak to Marius and he will be leaving Hearts. He is waiting to see what happens. He has an option to Spain.

“But Rangers are a huge club and I don’t think it would be a big issue for Marius to drop down and play in the Second Division.

“Rangers will get promoted again and will soon be back in the top division.”