Angel or Devil?

FOOTBALL, AS the old cliche goes, is all about opinions - and that's particularly true if you're a Hearts fan in the year 2006. From the triumphs of last season - the second-place finish and the Scottish Cup win - to the recent purge of Steven Pressley, Vladimir Romanov's tempestuous stewardship of the club has seen the fans divided as never before.

As the civil war among the Hearts support escalates, Stewart Fisher decided to use the Sunday Herald's cherished neutrality to play devil's advocate with fans from opposite sides of the Romanov debate: Ross McLaren, a 67-year-old whose season ticket and seat will lie unused as he conducts his own one-man protest against the regime, and Stan Thomson, 45, who has the name Romanov tattooed between his shoulder blades and has no desire to see it removed, despite the claims of one tabloid newspaper this week.

Sunday Herald: What do you believe Vladimir Romanov's ultimate aims for the club are, and do you continue to back him?
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Ross McLaren: "I think his ultimate aim is glorification for himself. His stated aim is that he wants to see Hearts as a successful club in Europe, and I take that at face value. It is simply the way he has gone about achieving it that I am totally disillusioned with. He has misunderstood the culture of Scottish football, and shown a gross lack of respect to the followers of Hearts, because he has so often put a less-than-best team on the field. I feel the Hearts team I have supported since I was a boy has been stolen from me, really, and I know that's the feeling of lots of other people."

Stan Thomson: "We really have to keep backing him, because we wouldn't be where we are today without him. I do believe that his ultimate aim is to make Hearts a winning team, to win the league and get into the Champions League. I think his mind is on making Hearts the best they can be. The papers keep saying that he is saying one thing and doing another, but I think you have to keep believing in the man because without him we are nowhere."

Sunday Herald: Has the arrival of Romanov been positive or negative for the club?

RM: "I would say his arrival has been totally negative. He ruined the season last year, after a great start, with the sacking of George Burley then his cruel treatment of Graham Rix. The whole time he has been there the place has been a mess. I feel we have a sort of fascist government in power at Tynecastle and the characteristics of it are his self-glorification. Then there has been the total control of everything, the lack of information to spectators and the press, and the misinformation."

ST: "Positive. He has put money into the club and we had the Cup win last year. I've followed Hearts for 40 years and last year was the happiest of my life. I went to my first game when I was five and I think last season was the best season I have had. Getting into the Champions League qualifying round, winning the Scottish Cup, finishing second in the league - it was absolutely brilliant. Without that I wouldn't have got the tattoo done. I'm not ashamed of it. I would take my top off and run to the centre circle at Easter Road and show it off."

Sunday Herald: Have your feelings towards Romanov changed as a result of the Steven Pressley affair and, if so, in what ways?

RM: "My views haven't changed. I admire Steven Pressley for what he did. It was obviously a serious situation of unhappiness, poor morale, and sectionalism in the dressing room and it was always a risk that he would pay a price for it - which he did. He was one of the few people who could have raised the cry of protest, he did that on a point of principle that would have benefited the Hearts team, and I admire him and support him for that."

ST: "To be honest, I was a bit upset with the way that Steven Pressley was treated - in fact, I think it was a bit of a disgrace - but you don't know the ins and outs of it, because no information is coming out. You are not hearing Pressley's side of it - because of the confidentiality agreement - and you don't hear Romanov's side of it. So we don't really know."

Sunday Herald: Do you attach any blame at all to the actions of the "Tynecastle three" - Pressley, Paul Hartley and Craig Gordon?

RM: "Not at all. I don't blame Steven Pressley for having made the stand and saying I've done my bit', saying goodbye, and taking every penny that Romanov gave him. People have criticised him for not staying at the club and sitting out his contract, but there is a balance between speaking up for Hearts and doing what was right for himself."

ST: "I think they should have kept it internal. By all means go and see Mr Romanov about their concerns, but I think they should have kept it internal. If I was working for any big company - and I appeared on TV saying something like that - then I would have expected the sack."

Sunday Herald: Do you think it is appropriate for Hearts supporters to start taking protest action about the situation?

RM: "Absolutely. I am protesting at the moment. I don't think it will happen, but the only thing that will make Romanov stop and think about what is happening is to stop going to the games, and that's why I haven't been to a match for five or six weeks. My seat will remain empty. To go and support Hearts at the moment is to say a football result is more important than the way that Heart of Midlothian Football Club is being run as an institution."

ST: "Not yet. It is far too early to start that kind of carry-on. We don't know what exactly was said by Pressley and Hartley - we only know from interviews, not from behind the scenes - so I think it is too early for protests. Protests from the fans aren't going to help the players on the park one bit."

Sunday Herald: How does the state of the club now compare with Hearts under former chairman Chris Robinson?

RM: "That's a more difficult one. I think Chris Robinson was guilty of gross mismanagement of the club, but at least I thought he cared about Hearts. I don't think Vladimir Romanov does."

ST: "I was never a Chris Robinson fan, and I wouldn't go back to life under him. I would definitely stick with Mr Romanov. We are still above Hibs and if we can win our next couple of games we could be right back up there in the race for second again."

Sunday Herald: If it came to it, would you be happy to support an entire team of Lithuanian players?

RM: "I wouldn't support them. Having supported the club for 60 years - coming from a family where my father supported them between the wars and my family travelled from Fife before the war, and what it meant to my family in general - I wouldn't be going back to watch a foreign team. If Hartley and Gordon go, there might not be any Scots left. Robbie Neilson is already not regarded as a starter because of the desire to have a Lithuanian favourite."

ST: "I would still support them. I would support Hearts no matter who is playing. Even if it was all foreigners, 11 Lithuanians or anything like that, I will support them through and through. Andrius Velicka is playing brilliantly almost every game, and I hate what the Hearts fans are doing to Saulius Mikoliunas. I think it is a disgrace to boo any Hearts player. I don't think some of the rest of the Lithuanians are the best players, but they need a chance I suppose."

Taken from the Sunday Herald