Sign of the times

The treatment of Steven Pressley has been the breaking point for many Hearts fans in their relationship with Vladimir Romanov. With Pressley, Paul Hartley, Craig Gordon and Robbie Neilson all facing uncertain futures at Tynecastle, Alan Campbell looks at some of the scenarios now facing the club – and their support

The status quo

AFTER summarily dismissing George Burley and Phil Anderton, Romanov may have been under the misapprehension that he could fire anybody and retain the fans’ backing.

The Hearts owner has, of course, subsequently dispatched others, but only Burley and Anderton – who were removed after Romanov took full control last October – were genuinely popular among the supporters. Both were viewed as architects of the “new” Hearts, and ironically their immediate success allowed Romanov to sack them with minimal fan discontent. Who, after all, was going to condemn the club’s saviour when the team were top of the Premierleague?

Steven Pressley hasn’t yet been fired – although given the events of recent days he might wish he had been. Throughout the traumatic Chris Robinson years, and again over the past 12 months, the captain not only held the dressing room together but on many occasions has been the acceptable public face of Hearts.

Massively respected by the fans, and an inaugural inductee into the club’s hall of fame earlier this month, Pressley’s iconic status should have made him bullet-proof. Not so, and now there is a battle for the heart and soul of the club.

Our first scenario is that Romanov backs down and issues a statement this week reassuring fans that Pressley will remain as club captain until the end of his contract. He will simultaneously confirm that Hartley and Gordon will be kept on the books.

It is not Romanov’s style to brook any dissent, and he is initially adamant that he will expel the Riccarton Three in January. Nevertheless, his advisers succeed in persuading him that this would backfire. Their reasoning has nothing to do with football, but Romanov’s intention to open a branch of Ukio Bankas in Edinburgh’s New Town early next year.

Only recently Romanov said: “My dream is to see Hearts fans as Ukio Bankas customers. I want them to check out my abilities as a businessman and a banker, and to show them how reliable I am. We are thinking about some special programmes to attract Hearts fans to the bank in the future.”

With Romanov having already identified a property (a Lithuanian project director has been charged with recruiting staff), this scenario envisages that the Hearts owner will be forced to acknowledge that alienating his own supporters, as well as those of Hibs, is not the smartest move at the very time he is trying to gain a foothold in Edinburgh’s financial market.

Accordingly, Romanov agrees to accede to the players’ demands, which include the appointment of an experienced British manager. The new man is given full autonomy over team matters, including the opportunity to cut the first team squad to a manageable 25 in the January transfer window.

Then, the owner regains the trust of the supporters by announcing that the redevelopment of the main stand has been approved, and that Tynecastle will become a 28,000-seater stadium with the prospect of a further 12,000 seats if the club’s fortunes improve.

Likelihood of happening: If Romanov has ever backed down over a major issue we have yet to hear about it. On the contrary, his sacking of Burley and Anderton indicates that there is room for only one ego at Tynecastle.

The YOUTHFUL APPROACH

ROMANOV makes a direct appeal to the fans, explaining that he has an exciting vision which entails putting the emphasis on youth. He will sell not only Pressley, Hartley, Gordon and Neilson in January, but also release Takis Fyssas, Julien Brellier, Michal Pospisil and other fringe players.

Clearing out those who were loyal to Burley, Romanov points out, will not only rid the dressing room of corrosive influences but will reduce the debt by anything up to £6 million – and although he won’t give specific figures he warns that the indebtedness has to be tackled as a matter of urgency.

In taking this action to reduce the arrears from an estimated £25m-plus to the £20m he inherited from the Robinson regime, Romanov confirms Hearts have no chance of catching Celtic, and they may not even finish in the top three. But he promises an exciting young team built round players such as Christophe Berra, Andy Driver, Jamie Mole and Callum Elliot – as well as the Lithuanian contingent. He says he expects this side to win the SPL within three seasons.

Likelihood of happening: It has to be the most probable scenario, assuming Romanov intends to stick with “the project”.

FANTASY FOOTBALL

AS the above, but Romanov’s vision proves even more spectacularly vindicated as, rid of the troublemakers and with Eduard Malofeev back in charge after gaining his Uefa pro licence, the young team win next season’s title, followed by the Champions League in 2008-09.

Likelihood of happening: There’s more chance of the USSR being re-established and Romanov succeeding Vladimir Putin.

The WORST CASE

Let the nightmare begin. Romanov is told by his advisers that even Hearts fans are unlikely to deposit their savings at Ukio Bankas, while his track record at Tynecastle means he will not be welcomed by the Edinburgh establishment.

The owner decides the Scots are an ungrateful, xenophobic nation who don’t deserve his largesse. Despite getting rid of the high earners in January, the club is still losing money and results haven’t improved; in fact, the young side is slipping alarmingly down the league, the supporters have turned their venom on Saulius Mikoliunas and the other Lithuanian players while simultaneously vowing not to renew their season tickets. The protests are turning nasty and Save Our Hearts has been resurrected.

Enough is enough, decides Vlad. He puts the club up for sale at an price of £30m, and decrees that if a buyer doesn’t come forward within a month he’ll sell Tynecastle to the highest bidder and then walk away.

The usual suspects are rounded up to try and save Hearts, but there is neither the time nor the money available. Romanov sells the ground and Hearts go into administration.

A season later Hearts United are elected into Division 3 of the Scottish Football League and play in front of crowds of less than 3000 at Murrayfield. It is the second manifestation of Hearts, because as soon as Romanov sold Tynecastle a group of disaffected supporters emulated AFC Wimbledon and FC United of Manchester by starting their own club.

Rejected by the East of Scotland League, Jambos of Midlothian begin their existence in the local amateur leagues and start lobbying the SFA to introduce a meaningful pyramid system.

Likelihood of happening: Stranger things have happened and once back in Lithuania Romanov will escape the worst of the grief.

The DREAM SCENARIO

WHO beyond his immediate family, had heard of Fergus McCann before he emerged as the saviour of Celtic? But, as a result of Romanov’s ultimatum, an ultra-rich Hearts exile decides that he’ll facilitate a buy-out after the current owner agrees to drop his demands to £25m.

The sceptics had pointed out that Save Our Hearts had raised only a derisory amount of money at the time of the Robinson crisis, but the amazing success of the first three months of 2005-06 persuades our multi-millionaire, as well as his consortium partners, that Hearts really can compete with the Old Firm and play regular Champions League football.

Burley is re-appointed, and Pressley brought back from Dundee United as his assistant. Plans for a 28,000-seater Tynecastle are revived and 25,000 season tickets are sold over the summer.

Hearts win the first eight league games of the new season, taking a seven point lead over Celtic, and thereafter stretch further and further ahead in the table. Off the field they go quietly about their business, while the headlines are dominated day after day by the turmoil at Parkhead and Ibrox.

Likelihood of happening: It’s a definite, at least until the alarm clock goes off.

Taken from the Sunday Herald