NO HIDING PLACE FOR DR JEKYLL

FORMER Hearts chairman George Foulkes last night branded Vladimir Romanov the Dr Jekyll of Scottish football.

Furious Foulkes took the Jambos owner to task over his treatment of Tynecastle stars after he threatened to sell the players if they didn't beat Dunf ermline yesterday.

And he raged: "When Vladimir came on the scene he was seen as the man who could save the club.

"Sadly as time has gone on he has become the Jekyll and Hyde figure of Scottish football. It has reached a worse stage than I envisaged.

"There are two sides to Vladimir Romanov.

"The first is a sympathetic one and that needs to come out now rather than the authoritarian side which is in the ascendancy."

The Jambos could only scrape a 1-1 draw at home to the Pars yesterday and it remains to be seen if Romanov will carry out his astonishing threat.

Foulkes quit his post last year in protest after gaffer George Burley and chief executive Phil Anderton were both axed by Romanov.

Those sackings would pale into insignificance compared to selling an entire team of stars. But Foulkes still hasn't given up hope of things returning to some semblance of normality at Tynecastle.

He said: "It can be resolved if people realise nobody has a monopoly on wisdom.

"That will need some degree of adjustment by Romanov and others. But it's only through co-operation that Hearts will achieve the success they deserve.

"We have a sell-out crowd for every game, a great squad and are second in the SPL.

"We should be surging forward instead of bickering and that needs tolerance and understanding."

Taken from the Sunday Mail