VLAD'S TREATING OUR CLUB LIKE A COMPUTER GAME

HEARTS fans' chiefs last night ordered Vladimir Romanov to stop treating the Tynecastle club like a computer game.

Derek Watson and Martin Laidlaw accused Romanov of using the club as a real-life version of Football Manager 2006 after team-mated plotted against club captain Steven Pressley.

Scotland internationalists Paul Hartley and Robbie Neilson were also dropped to the bench for Monday's 1-1 draw at Falkirk, prompting fears the club's national identity is being stripped.

And as yet another Lithuanian is preparing to join the club as interim coach - FKB Kaunas boss Eugenijus Riabovas will take over from Eduard Malofeev this week - the Hearts fans' patience has reached breaking point.

Supporters' Trust secretary Watson said: "The situation gets more and more bizarre by the minute. Vladimir Romanovis playing Football Manager 2006 with a real football club which is ridiculous.

"The fans are not happy with the selection policy and we need our strongest players on the park. We're very unsettled about the club at the moment. It's not a crisis but a crisis of confidence for everyone.

"We're sitting second top of the league and we have a Scottish Cup to look forward to but no one knows what Mr Romanov is trying to do."

Supporters Trust chairman Martin Laidlaw admitted fans are 'appalled' by the treatment of Pressley, who seems certain to be stripped of the captaincy.

He said: "We were absolutely appalled. Everybody has nothing but respect for how Steven Pressley has handled himself.

"For that to happen to him is showing real disrespect for the institution of Heart of Midlothian and for the fans and players, past and present.

"Romanov needs to be reminded he's only the custodian of the club for the time being and that he needs to stop playing FIFA football manager with a major Scottish institution.

"We can only try and get key individuals - maybe the likes of George Foulkes and various other big hitters - to actually plead with Romanov to say: 'Look, you are damaging something really quite precious'."

Watson added: "The Hearts fans are right behind Steven Pressley.

"Whatever the inside story I will confidently say the fans are behind him because, for more than Romanov's reign here, Pressley has been a great leader for Hearts both on and off the park.

"Steven has the full backing of the fans and always will have whatever the situation. We don't know why the team selection changed but the players are the most important thing here.

"Paul Hartley might have had a niggling injury but the Pressley situation seems a lot more clear cut to me.

"We back all the players but what appears to have happened to Steven seems ridiculous. This situation is the most worrying. The fans have gone through a long three-and-a-half-year period worrying about our future.

"We seem to have come out the other side and this happens when everything looked to be on the up. The majority are not going to boycott their team right now.

"But unless we get the situation sorted out quickly, people will lose confidence in the management of the team, ownership and hierarchy."

Taken from the Daily Record