Romanov will stay put as takeover talk is rejected

VLADIMIR Romanov, the owner of Hearts, is at Tynecastle for the long haul and has no interest in selling his shares, it emerged yesterday, as criticism of his dictatorial regime mounted among supporters and a consortium was said to be interested in buying him out.

The Lithuanian has received no offer from a group of anonymous Edinburgh businessmen alleged to be interested in removing the majority shareholder, nor would he welcome a bid from any interested party in the future.

Sources close to the Lithuanian banker made it clear yesterday the 57-year-old millionaire has no intention of selling the shareholding he acquired last year which gave him full control at Tynecastle. "There is no concept of him walking away from Hearts," said an insider. "He's committed to making a success of the whole project. Vladimir Romanov hasn't received any offer, he won't welcome one and won't be deflected from his goals."

Since no alliance of interested parties could come up with the finance needed to buy out an even more unpopular predecessor, Chris Robinson, any notion a similar grouping could now come up with the £35million or so required to buy out Romanov's shares and provide security for the club's vast debt requires an immense leap of faith.

There's no doubt Romanov's popularity among the Hearts' faithful has been severely dented since captain Steven Pressley was left out of the side at Falkirk on Monday. One poll of supporters suggested a majority of fans were now in favour of Romanov's departure. In those circumstances, the emergence of a story claiming a bid was imminent to buy out the Lithuanian and install a new regime could hardly have been more timely.

However, if it was meant to alarm Romanov or deflect this ruthlessly single-minded entrepreneur from his chosen path then the plotters have wasted their time. Romanov knows talk is cheap.

As of yesterday, Romanov had not decided whether he would attend tomorrow's SPL game between Hearts and Rangers at Tynecastle. There's been talk of a protest after Sunday's game to confront the Romanov administration over supporters' concerns about the unacceptable manner in which the club is being run.

Taken from the Scotsman