Hearts reeling as Ivanauskas puts himself on the sicklist

Ivanauskas met Vladimir Romanov yesterday in Lithuania, where the Edinburgh club’s owner is still based, for talks that many Hearts supporters felt would see the 40-year-old become the fourth managerial victim of Romanov’s reign after just six months in the post. Few expected the twist that now sees Ivanauskas hand over control of the team for the next fortnight to the unknown Eduard Malofeev.

The 64-year-old former Belarus national coach, who has been at Tynecastle since his appointment in August as a consultant, will be in charge when Hearts go to Celtic on November 4 for a vital encounter with the Bank of Scotland Premierleague leaders.

The club stated that Ivanauskas did not want to reveal the nature of his problem. While some sceptics may simply see the announcement as preparing the way for the Lithuanian to follow out of the Tynecastle door George Burley and Graham Rix, who were both sacked last season by Romanov, in addition to John Robertson in April 2005, there is also little doubt that football is a stressful environment, as managers such as Gérard Houllier, Paul Sturrock and Graeme Souness have all discovered to their cost.

Working for Romanov is among the most stressful jobs. The millionaire has stated that he interferes with team selection and is unhappy that his compatriot Ivanauskas — whom he once sacked at his “other” club, FBK Kaunas — has not built upon last term’s Scottish Cup success. Hearts have already gone out of the Champions League and Uefa Cup this season.

Burley was sacked when Hearts were top of the league, while Rix was in second place at the time. Hearts are now eight points behind Celtic after the 2-0 defeat by Kilmarnock on Saturday and Ivanauskas sought a meeting with Romanov, flying to Lithuania a day later.

Ivanauskas insisted yesterday in a statement issued by the club that his meeting with Romanov had nothing to do with the Kilmarnock defeat. The club said that Ivanauskas is “fully confident that he will return to his post as head coach at the end of his leave”. The statement added: “The head coach does not wish to give any further details about the health issue and the club fully supports his right for privacy.”

Malofeev, who does not speak English and uses a Russian interpreter, has already taken two training sessions and will be in the dugout for Saturday’s match at home to Dunfermline Athletic. Romanov urged the supporters, many of whom are beginning to grow critical of his tenure, to back Malofeev.

Ivanauskas has genuine popularity among the Tynecastle support and Romanov insists that he wants to see the head coach return. “Valdas asked me for the meeting and I was naturally happy to see him,” the Hearts owner said in the statement. “He explained to me why he required this time away and I understood what he told me.

“During his absence, the rest of the coaching staff will perform the necessary duties for our upcoming games. Eduard Mafofeev will take the leading role and I ask all our fans and those associated with the club to give their fullest support to the team at this time. I have full confidence in Valdas and look forward to his return.”

Ivanauskas added his own words to the club statement. “It was my initiative to ask Vladimir for the meeting,” the head coach said. “He immediately said ‘yes’ to it. He listened to all I said and it was great to feel his support and understanding. Despite how it may seem, the meeting was not connected to the defeat on Saturday. I had been having some health problems earlier but now it is at the point where I cannot ignore them.

“I want to be, and must be, at the top of my physical and mental state. Therefore, with Vladimir’s agreement, I am taking two weeks’ leave which I will spend on getting my health back. I will return in two weeks to my position as head coach. I hope our fans will understand my need for this.”

Romanov expects to hold the latest of his meetings with representatives of fans’ groups this weekend to answer any questions. However, already they have put this season’s inconsistency down to 59 players being used by Ivanauskas to date and blame Romanov because of his confession over interference on team selection.

“The feeling is that Romanov has a major influence on team selection and I think the Hearts supporters are becoming fed up with the squad rotation system,” John Borthwich, secretary of the Federation of Hearts Supporters Clubs, said. “We want to see a settled side because we have lost a lot of points recently with the squad being rotated.

“I think the supporters are quite happy with Valdas. If he was left to pick the team on his own, the fans would soon decide if they felt he was the right man for the job or not. The fans appreciate that it’s not totally his decision.”

Martin Laidlaw, the chairman of the Heart of Midlothian Supporters’ Trust, says that the last straw for many fans was the bizarre team selection for the recent Edinburgh derby in which Hearts scrambled a 2-2 draw despite omitting Roman Bednar, Julien Brellier, Mirsad Beslija, Bruno Aguiar and Robbie Neilson, the latter just days after he made his debut for Scotland.

“The reaction that I saw from the supporters was that the team against Hibernian was a step too far for many people,” Laidlaw said. “We’re not convinced that is Valdas’s decision. What is the role of these other people[Malofeev]? As far as the trust is concerned, we don’t think that Vladimir Romanov is picking the team, we genuinely don’t, but there does seem to be influence played out from somewhere.”

Taken from timesonline.co.uk