Alan Campbell looks back at yet another astonishing twist in the tale of Hearts, and wonders what happens now for Vladimir Romanov, the club and the players

THE car park at Riccarton was crammed full on Friday lunchtime, prompting the wry observation that a few more Eastern European coaches must have arrived at Hearts. Did, for example, the adviser to the consultant need an adviser himself?

Such flippant remarks no longer amuse the dressing room. There was only grimness on the faces of captain Steven Pressley and his team-mates Paul Hartley and Craig Gordon when they emerged minutes later to issue the statement that shattered the facade of club unity. If they didn’t quite threaten to withdraw their labour, the Scotland players made it abundantly clear they have had more than enough of Vladimar Romanov’s methods.

It was a courageous statement, because the consequences could be dire for those players, and others in the dressing room who have aligned themselves to it. That not everybody has done so was apparent from the wording of Pressley’s statement – but apart from, presumably, the Lithuanians, just about every player of consequence will be backing the skipper.

As this training ground drama was unfolding, Eduard Malofeev – who may be the consultant, but then again could be the adviser – compounded the public relations disaster by failing to speak to the media as arranged. It was the second time in six days that the man in nominal charge of the Hearts players had failed to fulfill his obligations following the no-show of Valdas Ivanauskas in the wake of last Saturday’s 2-0 defeat at Kilmarnock.

There can’t be anyone left on planet football who now doesn’t accept that Romanov picks the side. Except, perhaps, the owner, who finds it impossible to come straight out and admit it.

Numerous requests for a one-to-one audience with Romanov have yet to prove fruitful for this newspaper, but those who have spent time in his company seldom come away any more enlightened. Perhaps it’s our fault, or that the difference in cultures is too great, but for whatever reason the methods of the Russian-born Lithuanian are as baffling now as they have been at any time since his arrival in Edinburgh on a white charger.

Pressley and the senior players at Hearts have had enough. The captain has hitherto been a model of restraint and diplomacy, and last season he performed heroically in keeping the dressing room onside as Romanov chopped and changed his coaches and took an increasing interest in selection.

But even when acting the role of Our Man in Tynecastle, Pressley expressed player dissatisfaction at the departure of George Burley and various other developments. He specifically told me too many players had been brought to the club during the January transfer window, which was presumably one of the concerns he raised at meetings with Romanov.

So how did the owner respond to this observation, one which Pressley made because players who don’t get picked regularly tend to be unsettled players? Why, he sanctioned the arrival of even more personnel in the summer! Try comparing the Hearts squad with Chelsea’s and see which is the bigger.

As Pressley inferred in Friday’s statement, Romanov has paid lip service at best to the players’ concerns, which most definitely included the owner’s constant meddling in team selection. When Andy Webster and Rudi Skacel defected in the summer, to Wigan and Southampton respectively, he should have taken it as a warning shot across the bows because he now has an almost full-scale mutiny among his senior ranks.

There appear to be three realistic options for this modern-day Captain Bligh. He can completely reassesses his approach to Hearts; he can clear out the dissenters in January; or he can wash his hands of the club and try to sell it.

Only the first of these offers Hearts supporters any succour. The third could even cause the club’s demise as the £20m debt can only be growing given the number of players on the books and the salaries of the best paid. It would take very deep pockets to keep Hearts afloat at Tynecastle.

It is the sheer unnecessariness of all this which is the most perplexing aspect. Pressley and the dressing room ought to have earned Romanov’s respect by continuing to perform and behave reasonably despite all the disruptions. Instead he has talked down to them as if they were his serfs, threatening to sell them all on if they failed to beat Dunfermline yesterday.

Almost every controversy at the club – and there have been so many – has been provoked by Romanov’s often contradictory words and actions. He hires and fires staff endlessly, yet expects 100% loyalty in return. Well it doesn’t work like that, and even the players reached their breaking point on Friday.

The other major flaw in Romanov’s management style is his inability to accept the blame when it is deserved. The classic example was his irrational appointment of Graham Rix when not one Hearts fan would have recommended it – but when the tearful end came it was anybody’s fault but our Vladimir’s.

Will he change? Unlikely. Instead it is the players who will almost certainly have to move on – as even if Romanov spares them they are unlikely to want to continue working in this environment. That will make the break-up of a Scottish Cup-winning side one of the fastest in history.

Romanov is likely to view the whole unfortunate situation very differently. He can point to his cup-winner’s medal and boast he is already more successful at picking players than many with certificates from Largs. The owner has also been speaking to the fans about wanting to take a longer-term view of the club’s position, with young players being nurtured to replace the current ones. That project may now have to be speeded up.

Pressley, Hartley and Gordon will have no problem finding new clubs, although if Romanov wanted to be really vindictive he could keep them, unused, at the club for the length of their contracts with horrific consequences for their careers and Scotland’s European Championship campaign.

He is certainly going to have to find suitable replacements if he is to anywhere near fill the 40,000-seater ground he promised on Thursday night. It is so typical of his reign that this exciting announcement was followed just hours later by his draconian threat to the players. Does he have an identical twin?

Whether, in his meeting with fans’ representatives, he was merely paying lip service to them in the same way he has the players, remains to be seen. You have to feel terribly for the supporters, who are torn by their gratitude to Romanov for saving the club, yet appalled by his erratic and dictatorial behaviour.

There are several well-organised units of fans at the club, not to mention many well-contacted political figures, who support Hearts passionately. Some of these were even responsible for bringing Romanov to Tynecastle. It is now time for a delegation to tell the owner that when a man of Steven Pressley’s bearing and dignity can stomach no more, it’s time for an about turn.

But, realistically, only one man can determine Hearts’ future and it’s impossible to second guess him.

Taken from the Sunday Herald