Peace breaks out

SUPPORTERS groups today called for unity in the stands after crisis talks with Hearts owner Vladimir Romanov.

Romanov met with representatives of Hearts fans at Tynecastle yesterday afternoon after flying into Edinburgh airport unannounced and accompanied by head coach Valdas Ivanauskas. Romanov, Hearts' general secretary and operations director Campbell Ogilvie, the club's director of infrastructure Pedro Lopez and communications director David Southern spent two hours locked in a hastily-arranged meeting with eight supporters' representatives.

Fans had demanded a meeting with the Lithuanian banker after seeing club captain Steven Pressley dropped from the side which has now suffered a run of seven games without a win. There were protests outside the stadium last Sunday following the defeat to Rangers and a number of Lithuanian players were booed by their own supporters.

But a statement released on behalf of the supporters groups who met with Romanov urged their fellow Jambos to get right behind the club owner and the entire team: "The supporters groups discussed a number of concerns with Vladimir Romanov and the key concerns were: Club stability and team performance. It was clear that Mr Romanov shares our concerns and is saddened by revcent team performances. In addition he assured us that Steven Pressley remains captain of the club.

"Mr Romanov also stated that he has no influence on team selection. We believe that the return of Valdas as head coach will lead to greater stability and improve team spirit. The last few weeks have been extremely difficult and we would now ask all Hearts fans to get right behind the entire team." Martin Laidlaw, chairman of the Hearts Supporters' Trust, has been among Romanov's critics in recent weeks after seeing Pressley dropped from the side, along with Paul Hartley and Robbie Neilson.

However he believes Romanov deserves credit for taking the necessary steps to resolve the situation. Laidlaw said: "Him coming over here to talk to the supporters is a really positive thing for the club. People have been very hostile towards Vladimir Romanov recently, myself included, but I think that it is time that we gave him some praise. It seems that he is genuinely trying to resolve the situation.

"The club has very open channels of communication with their supporters, I certainly don't think that you would see other chairmen doing this kind of thing. I can't see David Murray or Tom Farmer sitting down with the fans and having open and frank discussions like Mr Romanov has been.

"The supporters have made their feelings clear and Mr Romanov is listening to them."

Ivanauskas will resume his role as head coach on Monday and Alex Gowans, chairman of the Heart of Midlothian Shareholders' Association, is hoping that his return will provide some much-needed stability for his side.

He also revealed that Pressley received praise from Romanov at the meeting.

He said: "Valdas will be watching from the directors' box in Inverness but hopefully his presence will act as a boost for the players.

"It has not been the easiest of times but every club goes through a spell like that.

"A lot of positive things came out of the meeting, Mr Romanov spoke very highly of Steven Pressley and said he was sad at what had been happening at the club recently. He seemed very keen to get Hearts back on track and that's what we as supporters want too."

Taken from the Scotsman