Riabovas flirts with poisoned chalice

NO stranger to stepping into the breach at previous clubs, Eugenijus Riabovas is now preparing himself to provide temporary coaching cover in the toughest job imaginable.

At 55, the courteous Lithuanian has found himself transferred from Kaunas to Edinburgh by Hearts' majority shareholder, Vladimir Romanov. His brief: To deputise for Eduard Malofeev, who was himself deputising for Valdas Ivanauskas, and attempt to stabilise a club in seemingly interminable chaos.

It is a situation Riabovas has become well accustomed to in the past.

Sources in Lithuania detail his years with Zalgiris Vilnius as being peppered with managerial upheaval. As an assistant coach with Zalgiris in the early part of this decade, Riabovas was frequently asked to deputise as an interim head coach following the kind of managerial merry-go-rounding that typifies life at an eastern European club.

The situation eventually led to him being named head coach of Zalgiris in his own right, due reward for his longevity and devotion. "Riabovas in Zalgiris Vilnius was always like a plug during the battle," said one source.

"He was an assistant, but as the head coaches were sacked, he always came as a replacement until another head coach arrived."

The move to FBK Kaunas, who benefit from heavy sponsorship by Romanov's Ukio Bankas, was initially as coach of the club's reserve side. However, in June of this year a sample of typical Romanov rotation handed Riabovas his opportunity as head coach.

Malofeev had guided the Lithuanian club to an 18-point advantage in the country's A Lyga with more than a third of the season still to be played, prompting Romanov to elevate him to a role at Hearts. Initially the Russian carried the now-popular title of sporting director at Tynecastle but that moniker was later redefined to "consultant" when he failed to secure a UK work permit.

The alterations created a void at Kaunas which Riabovas was more than capable of filling, and he guided the club to a record-equalling seventh A Lyga championships last month. When the Lithuanian season finally concluded last Sunday, Kaunas sat an enormous 21 points clear of second-placed Ekaranas.

The call from Romanov instructing Riabovas to head to Hearts, therefore, should not have been entirely unexpected. Particularly when it is remembered that both Malofeev and Ivanauskas before him arrived at Tynecastle via the St Darius & St Girenas stadium. As the Kaunas squad were celebrating their success with a 4-0 annihilation of Ekranas, Riabovas was in Edinburgh watching Hearts' under-19 side play Inverurie Locos as he prepared once again to stand in for Malofeev.

The Lithuanian will assume coaching duties at Riccarton from the beginning of next week with the veteran Malofeev departing to sit the necessary UEFA coaching courses that permit managerial work in Scotland. He will then, supposedly, resume control from Riabovas. As for Ivanauskas, he is almost certainly destined never to return.

So what kind of footballing philosophy does Riabovas bring with him from eastern Europe? Hearts fans may be intrigued to know his approach does not veer much from that of Malofeev. "With Kaunas, Riabovas was always conservative 4-4-2," said another source in Lithuania's second city.

"As for style, I guess it very much depended on the Kaunas players. Most of them are so-called heavyweight fighters, so Kaunas just crashed their opponents on a physical basis. Long passes from their own half of the pitch and the long ball to the opposite end - it's the Kaunas game.

"The style of Zalgiris was more attractive, because Riabovas himself was a forward and had more opportunities to implement his view of football in Zalgiris than in Kaunas. At Zalgiris, there is less responsibility for results."

Indeed, Zalgiris were engulfed by yet more managerial turmoil just last month when head coach Igoris Pankratjevas and his assistant Viaceslavas Sukristovas submitted their joint resignation. Club president Arminas Narbekovas took charge of the team until the end of the season. Even Romanov isn't that brave...yet.

After Hearts managed just two points from a possible 12 under Malofeev's tutelage, there must be greater hope for the latest squatter in the manager's office. Riabovas is a former Lithuanian international striker who garnered seven caps for his country in 1979 whilst on the Zalgiris Vilnius playing staff, but few experiences in world football could prepare someone for taking over at Hearts right now.

The Riccarton Three are currently existing on a game-by-game basis, with Steven Pressley and Paul Hartley bearing the vicious brunt of their punishment at Falkirk on Monday night for daring to rebel against Romanov's club management techniques.

It would be unrealistic to expect Riabovas to challenge any instruction from his paymaster, so perhaps the absence of senior players from the Hearts team is a situation that will remain. And it's not like the three rebels in question are the first to incur the Romanov wrath.

"I don't know if there is any way back for them," said former Hearts midfielder Lee Johnson, himself ostracised from the squad without explanation during the second half of last season. "When you're involved in something like that, it's certainly not very nice. I can only go on my situation. I wanted to meet him [Romanov] and everything, but I was never turning the situation round no matter what I did.

"Elvis was very good to me and understood my point of view when I wasn't playing. We spoke confidentially but I would never divulge to anyone what was said because that would be disrespectful to him.

"Every single thing he has done at that football club has been done with the club at heart.

"He has taken nothing out of it personally, there has been no personal gain and that's why I respect him so much. It takes a big man to do what he's done. It's a silly situation really because the club was on the verge of something special and it has all just gone downhill.

"Romanov could give all three of those lads four-year contracts and then the very next day put them all on the transfer list. But they are good players and if they do end up leaving there's no chance they'll be short of suitors. Hartley and Gordon are top players, Neilson is young enough and Elvis has got the experience and he's still got the legs."

Whether Pressley has the durability to outrun Romanov at Hearts is a matter for conjecture at the moment, and Sunday's team sheet against Rangers will provide significant indications about the forward route the club are to take under Romanov and Riabovas.

For one of football's perennial caretakers, it seems there will be much for him to take care of at Tynecastle.

Taken from the Scotsman