'It's in the post': Romanov blames appeal delay on Christmas mail

VLADIMIR Romanov is to appeal, after all, against the £10,000 fine imposed upon him by the Scottish Football Association (SFA) for making allegations about referees, despite initially having appeared to allow the deadline to pass without contesting the punishment. In what seemed to be an act of brinksmanship, the majority shareholder of Hearts only sent his written appeal on the seventh and final day allowed to him, and contacted the SFA when it became clear they had yet to receive his communication.

A spokesman for the SFA said at close of business on Monday that Romanov had not submitted an appeal, and a Hearts spokesman also said he had been given no information about any plans to appeal. Yesterday, though, the same SFA spokesman said that Romanov's legal advisors had been in touch to say notification of an appeal had been posted in Glasgow in time. The Christmas post was blamed for the delay.

"The SFA has today received notification of an appeal by Vladimir Romanov against last week's £10,000 fine," the spokesman said. "The SFA was contacted today by fax by Mr Romanov's legal advisors, who indicated that an appeal had been sent. However, the original appeal papers and appeal fee have still not been received by the SFA and are believed to be in the postal system.

"The SFA's procedures on lodging an appeal state that an appeal must be dispatched by recorded delivery within seven days after the date on which the decision was intimated to the person concerned. If an appeal is correctly submitted in accordance with the SFA's Articles of Association, it will be heard by an independent appeals board in due course."

The Glasgow office of Romanov's lawyers, McGrigors, is in Wellington Street in the city centre, just a few miles from the SFA's offices at Hampden. The letter of appeal was last night understood to be somewhere between those two points, concealed in a mailbag.

Romanov's main basis for appealing is expected to be the argument that, as he is not a club official, he does not come under the jurisdiction of the SFA. The governing body recently tightened up its definition of what constitutes a club official in a move which was specifically designed to bring influential figures such as Romanov under their sway. Hearts did not oppose the decision when it was discussed at the annual meeting of the SFA, but Romanov has since been advised there may be legal grounds for contesting its worth.

While he is often informally referred to as the Hearts "president" by foreign players accustomed to the most influential player at a club carrying that title, his only official involvement is through the shares he holds in the Ukio Bankas Investment Group (UBIG).

His influence, however, extends to every area of the club. Two of the three directors who currently sit on the Hearts board are related to him - his son Roman, who is the club's chairman and chief executive, and his niece Julija Goncaruk, who is rarely seen at Tynecastle. The third director, Sergejus Fedotovas, is no relation, but acts under the instructions of Romanov senior just as much.

Campbell Ogilvie, whose title at Hearts is director of operations, is the senior Scottish figure at Tynecastle, but his influence appears to have diminished in recent months. Instead, the day-to-day running of Hearts has recently been left in the hands of Pedro Lopez, another trusted Romanov deputy. It is Lopez, the "director of infrastructure", who has conducted the recent disciplinary hearings against the so-called Riccarton Three - Steven Pressley, Paul Hartley and Craig Gordon.

Since publicly criticising the way in which the club was being run, Pressley has parted company with Hearts. The disillusioned Hartley may leave in January, but Gordon, who would command a far larger transfer fee than the midfielder, is expected to stay longer at Tynecastle.

The disciplining of those three followed what was a mildly-worded statement the aim of which was to improve certain working practices at Hearts, and to suggest that the club's fortunes on the field would improve if line-ups were selected on merit. The statement for which Romanov was fined by the SFA, by contrast, was an intemperate attack on referees and their supposed attempt to stop Hearts winning the Scottish Cup.

"Last season, you didn't manage to protect the Scottish Cup and gave it to Hearts, despite all the referees' efforts and intrigues," Romanov stated on the club's official website. Given that background, it may be regarded as ironic that, on making his appeal, Romanov is also expected to contest the SFA's right to restrict his freedom of speech.

Taken from the Scotsman