Revolution at Tynecastle will be televised

GLOBAL sports network ESPN is coming to Edinburgh to film a feature programme on Vladimir Romanov's Hearts revolution.

The American-based television station will arrive in the Capital at the start of next week to begin shooting footage for their bi-weekly feature show, ESPN Soccernet Press Pass.

The episode featuring Hearts should be aired before the end of the month and will be presented by ESPN's commentator, Derek Rae.

"Basically it's a football debate programme which I present," says Rae, a former BBC commentator. "It goes out twice a week and tackles broad football issues across the globe. As the resident Scot at ESPN I've been hammering away at the Hearts situation for a while, because I think it's a story that's quite interesting.

"We get quite a lot of feedback, not just from exiled Jambos but Scottish football fans in general. The programme goes around the world and, although we are based in the States it gets its biggest audience in countries like Australia, New Zealand, Africa and the Middle East.

"The Hearts story is quite unique because it's rare that you have an owner who is so active. I don't think anybody really knows how much power the managers have but what makes it even more intriguing for us is that Hearts fans know that, without Mr Romanov, they might not even have a football club.

"We just felt it was time to go to Edinburgh and try to get to go the bottom of it. We hope to speak to people like George Foulkes, Jim Duffy and we have asked to speak to Mr Romanov or someone from Hearts."

Taken from the Scotsman