Hearts unrest prompts plea for peace from Foulkes

The Edinburgh club’s owner was given the advice by George Foulkes, the former chairman, after the remarkable walkout by Pressley on Monday when the Scotland player discovered a plot to oust him as captain and chose not to play against Falkirk.

That came just 17 days after Pressley and his fellow Scotland internationals, Paul Hartley and Craig Gordon, held a press conference to reveal “significant dressing room unrest” about Romanov’s methods, which led to him handing over control yesterday to Eugenijus Riabovas — coach at Romanov’s other club, FBK Kauanas — who is to step in for Eduard Malofeev, the caretaker coach, and become the fifth man in charge of the team in just 17 months.

Foulkes, who quit Tynecastle in protest at Romanov’s methods, appealed to the Lithuanian millionaire to repair the damage caused by the Pressley dispute. “The initiative in terms of any olive branch needs to come from Romanov and, if that happened, we would get back to our winning ways,” Foulkes said yesterday.

“I have been encouraging people who I think might be able to influence him to try and do that.”

Hearts supporters are divided on the issue, with some fans wanting to make a public show of opposition to Pressley’s treatment before the home match with Rangers on Sunday but others simply preferring to focus on the game, one that Hearts must win if they are to recover second place in the Bank of Scotland Premierleague and maintain ambitions of qualifying for Champions League football.

However, Martin Laidlaw, the chairman of the Heart of Midlothian Supporters trust, accused Romanov — who confessed two months ago to interfering in team selection — of treating Hearts like a Playstation game. “He needs to be reminded he is 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,” Laidlaw said.

Websites and messageboards were swamped with bemused Hearts fans yesterday and if the split was only 70-30 in favour of Pressley, that is a seachange in public opinion which, until recently, could count dissent of Romanov’s regime in single figures.

Foulkes does not believe the dispute with Pressley will necessarily spell the end of the Tynecastle fans’ backing for Romanov. The Labour peer, who stepped down as chairman after Romanov fired Phil Anderton, the chief executive, a year ago in the wake of George Burley’s sacking as manger, is now actively encouraging a process of reconciliation.

“I got to know Steven Pressley very well during my year-and-a-half as chairman. I have a great respect for his integrity as well as his footballing skills,” Foulkes said. “He was a key person in helping the club through difficult times involving a number of managerial changes.

“Steven is the sort of person who deserves to be treated properly and with respect. When I resigned as chairman I made it clear that, while I shared Romanov’s vision, I didn’t agree with his management style and particularly the way he dealt with employees.

“The next few weeks are critical for Hearts. The fans are perplexed and confused and some of the players are clearly at loggerheads. The time is now imperative that there should be some reconciliation if Hearts are to progress, which means give and take on both sides.”

Alex Koslovski, the sporting director at Hearts who came to the fore after Valdas Ivanauskas stepped aside as head coach three weeks ago by taking sick leave to combat stress, insisted yesterday that Pressley asked not to play at Falkirk, where Hearts drew 1-1 with Hartley being banished to the bench and not brought on until the final 30 seconds.

“Rumours about his captaincy unsettled him [Pressley] and he asked our coach not to put him in the game because he is mentally not 100 per cent fit to participate,” Koslovski said.

Gordon told the press after the game that no reason had been given for Pressley’s omission and that the Scotland defender “wants to play”.

Laidlaw does not think Romanov’s behaviour will spark the sort of protests directed against Chris Robinson, the former chief executive. “We are a weary bunch,” the fans representative said. “It has been a long three years, I doubt people will have much of an appetite for protests. 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’.”

As for the introduction of Riabovas for Malofeev, Laidlaw said: “It’s just another part of what seems to be a farcical situation.”

Malofeev, who has not won any of his four matches since stepping in for Ivanauskas, needs his own leave of absence to earn his Uefa licence. The 64-year-old Russian possesses no English but was sent off at Falkirk for confronting the fourth official and will make way for the man who has just guided FBK Kaunas to the Lithuanian title and will be surrounded by eight of his compatriots on the Tynecastle playing staff.

“It is no surprise that he has become yet another person imported from Kaunas to be involved with the club,” Laidlaw said. “A lot of supporters are extremely tired by it all.”

Taken from timesonline.co.uk