Fans chastise Romanov for creating 'circus freak show'

VLADIMIR Romanov, Hearts' majority shareholder, was castigated by the club's own supporters yesterday for turning the Edinburgh institution into a "circus freak show" which has become the laughing stock of Scottish football.

In an unsparing open letter from the Heart of Midlothian Supporters Trust Board, Romanov was also taken to task for publicly humiliating some of the team's finest players, treating the club as a vanity project and alienating the fans.
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In the most damning indictment yet of the Lithuanian businessman from an influential group of supporters, the trust explain they have lost respect for Romanov because of the manner in which his leadership has stripped Hearts of all self- respect. Describing Romanov as behaving in the manner of "a playground bully" in his treatment of former club captain Steven Pressley, whose contract was terminated after he revealed dressing-room unrest about the way the club was being run, the supporters' trust plead with the owner to consider their views and run the club along the lines of best business practice.

Copies of the letter were sent to Romanov's office in Lithuania yesterday as well as to his closest advisers. According to a spokesman for the banker, a translation of the document was being prepared which Romanov was thought likely to read today.

Since Romanov is known to favour direct lines of communication with the supporters, a reply to the points raised by the trust is expected by letter in due course. How much time that response takes, and what kind of reaction such a frank assessment elicits from the owner, remain to be seen.

Since Romanov has a well deserved reputation for blunt speaking, it will be interesting to learn if he appreciates the forthright comments of his own, increasingly disillusioned supporters. On the other hand, with plans in the offing to build a new stand and substantially increase capacity at Tynecastle, the owner will need to make peace with alienated fans sooner rather than later.

Following a broadly similar expression of dissatisfaction issued by the trust in November, the new letter is even more pointed in its criticism. "We have gone from being the best thing in Scottish football for decades to being a laughing stock," it states. "People talk about us - but rarely about the football. What we see now is constant interference, the public humiliation of some of our greatest players and a businessman who seems to see our club as a vanity project. And it is our club.

"We're the people who create that fabulous atmosphere in Tynecastle, who trek all over Scotland and Europe, who spend our hard-earned cash. We are the people who are now being mocked at work because of your antics.

"We are the people who believe our club has lost its self respect. And that's a real crime. We may not have won many trophies over the years, but we have been respected. We are an important sporting institution and you have turned us into a circus freak show.

"As a result, we have lost our respect for you. The way you treated Steven Pressley was, for many of us, the last straw. We know him well enough to know that if he thought it was in the best interests of the club to criticise, then there must have been real problems. You may have brought money to the club, but Elvis has shown not only great class as a footballer but real integrity. Your response to being challenged seems to have been the response of the playground bully."

Martin Laidlaw, the chairman of the Hearts supporters' trust, said events came to a head after the departure of Pressley. The demand for a letter came about after many fans who attended Saturday's match against Aberdeen spoke of feeling disconnected from the club and wanted their views distilled.

The statement also recalls the brief delight and excitement of last season when Romanov's ambition and wealth looked set to help Hearts provide a new challenge to the Old Firm.

"But that's all gone now. It now seems that you and the board don't care about results on the pitch. The farce we have just endured of having a central defender play in midfield against Aberdeen with Paul Hartley on the bench, demonstrates that you don't even respect the fans any more. Surely the first, most important task is to put the best team on the park. To do anything other demeans you, the club, the players, the opposition, the competition and the supporters."

Calling for increased supporter consultation, more clarity and greater autonomy for the football management, the supporters also insist: "You need to appoint people you trust, then leave them to get on with the job. If they fail because of their own mistakes, you can sack them. If they fail because of your interference, you put them in an intolerable position."

THE LETTER IN FULL

Dear Vladimir,

Seasons Greetings.

We are writing to you on behalf of members of the Heart of Midlothian Supporters Trust to offer our hopes for Hearts for the future.

First and foremost, we are fans. We are the people who have spent much of our lives following Hearts, in good times and in bad, at Tynecastle and around Scotland, and in many European games. We've watched as Hearts have had some triumphs like the 1998 cup win, but we've also been there when they've lost the league on goal difference twice in our lives. We've sat on the horrible benches at Clydebank in the January sleet (although you probably don't remember that) and seen them lose cup semi finals on penalties to Airdrie. We were all there, of course, when we squeezed our way to victory over Gretna in the cup and when we beat Celtic and Aberdeen at the end of last season to secure our place in the Champions League.

We have loved the triumphs and hated the disappointments. We have had our heroes and those we have screamed at from the terraces. We have all spent far too much time and money supporting Hearts, but that's what we are - Hearts fans.

It's not always been easy. We have had our differences with the previous owners of the club and worked very hard two years ago to ensure that Tynecastle was not sold. We really feared that our club was about to go to the wall.

So we were delighted when you came along with your vision and big ambition. And you delivered. More money, some great players and tangible rewards. There was a real sense of optimism around Hearts and a lot of excitement across Scotland that there could be a real and consistent challenge to the Old Firm. But that's all gone now.

The truth is that we have gone from being the best thing in Scottish football for decades to being a laughing stock. People talk about us - but rarely about the football. What we see now is constant interference, the public humiliation of some of our greatest players and a businessman who seems to see our club as a vanity project. And it is our club. You may be the owner in the legal and financial sense, but as our motto says, "regardless of who the custodians of HMFC may be, the fans are the lifeblood and the only constant." We're the people who create that fabulous atmosphere in Tynecastle, who trek all over Scotland and Europe, who spend our hard earned cash. We are the people who are now being mocked at work because of your antics. We are the people who believe our club has lost its self respect.

And that's a real crime. We may not have won many trophies over the years, but we have been respected. We all know the story of the first team who went to war in 1914 and of the great players who have played for us over the years. We are an important sporting institution and you have turned us into a circus freak show.

As a result, we have lost our respect for you. The way you treated Steven Pressley was, for many of us, the last straw. We know him well enough to know that if he thought it was in the best interests of the club to criticise, then there must have been real problems. You may have brought money to the club, but Elvis has shown not only great class as a footballer but real integrity. Your response to being challenged seems to have been the response of the playground bully.

It now seems that you and the board don't care about results on the pitch. The farce we have just endured of having a central defender play in midfield against Aberdeen with Paul Hartley on the bench, demonstrates that you don't even respect the fans anymore. Surely the first most important task is to put the best team on the park. To do anything other demeans you, the club, the players, the opposition, the competition and the supporters. And although you may say that it was a decision made by Valdas, it has now reached the point that no-one believes that. It looks like another public humiliation for a player who has contributed far more to Hearts than you.

It doesn't have to be like this. Our request to you is that you care about the integrity of the club and that you put the fans at the front of your thinking. We need you think of yourself as the custodian of the club, with our future in your hands. In line with best practice in running any business, you need to appoint people you trust then leave them to get on with the job. If they fail because of their own mistakes, you can sack them. If they fail because of your interference, you put them in an intolerable position.

We need a board that meets its legal obligations to put the interests of the club first. We need a chief executive who is not the chairman (a trap Chris Robinson fell into) and has the confidence respect of you, the employees, players and fans. We need a transparent and frequent mechanism, formally established, where supporter consultation and input will be taken seriously, as you promised when you took over. Then we need the very best players on the pitch, playing at their best. If we get that, it really will be a happy Christmas, and every prospect of a great 2007 and beyond.

SILENCE GOLDEN FOR OWNER

VLADIMIR Romanov's vow of silence has stretched into an eighth week and the Hearts owner shows no sign of ending it.

The previously loquacious Romanov has not spoken publicly since addressing a reception given to Hearts at the City Chambers in Edinburgh on 26 October in recognition of the club's Scottish Cup success.

Meanwhile, the SFA was last night still waiting on Romanov's appeal against his £10,000 fine for bringing the game into disrepute.

The deadline passed at 5pm on Monday, but Romanov's legal advisors say an appeal is in the post.

Taken from the Scotsman