BUTT OUT VLADIMIR

VLADIMIR ROMANOV is the biggest dictator in Scottish football and there is no place for him in our game unless he changes his ways.

Don't dare throw that comment back and tell me it takes one to know one. The only areas where I ever dictated at Tannadice were those in which I had first-hand knowledge and expertise - team tactics and the preparation of players on and off the park.

Romanov stands accused of trying to do everyone's job at Hearts but is succeeding only in undermining them in the process.

I now fear for the very future of the club unless he performs a U-turn and starts to show greater humanity and respect to the people he employs and the fans who follow the team.

It came as no surprise to read the Hearts Supporters' Trust have written to Romanov and accused him of turning the place into a circus freak show.

The only difference is people would pay to watch such a spectacle but I fear many fans will soon be reaching the end of their tether and turning their backs on the club for good.

Hearts have also been slow to pay their bills. The Record revealed they have an outstanding police account of almost £18,000 and sheriff officers have been sent in over £8000 of unpaid rent at the club store in an Edinburgh shopping centre.

It's almost a year since Wallace Mercer passed away and I can only imagine the former owner, for whom I had a lot of fondness and respect, will be looking down from above, sad and angry at Hearts' current plight.

However, I believe there is a way back for Romanov that can save the club and win him the affection of the fans again, but only if he acts quickly. He must concentrate on finding funds to run the financial side of the club with sober good sense and keep Hearts fundamentally viable not for today or tomorrow but decades to come.

Romanov must put proper business and football plans in place at Tynecastle and stick to them.

That means butting out and allowing the skilled people he has employed to get on with the jobs for which they are being paid, without unnecessary interference.

Good football men such as George Burley and Jim Duffy have been allowed to leave and while I fear Valdas Ivanauskas is a puppet - no manager on earth would leave a fit Paul Hartley on the bench - he must still be allowed to manage. It's Romanov's responsibility to provide his head coach with the tools to do the job and not seek to influence decisions himself because only then can Ivanauskas be judged a success or failure.

Unlike some sceptics, I genuinely believe Romanov has ploughed millions into the club but his money has not been as effective as it could or should have been because of the minuses that have come with his investment.

All the good he has done - and there has been plenty - has been vastly outweighed by his arrogance and interference in crucial areas of the club's running.

The Hearts Supporters'Trust were right to speak out because it should be rammed down the throats of people such as Romanov that football clubs are not about individuals, or even individual times.

They are about the dedicated fans who go on and on, the lifeblood of every club who make it what it is, was and always hopes to be. If you put players on £1000 a man to win in an empty stadium or £100 a man to play in front of a full house of their own supporters I guarantee you the men on the lower sum will give you a better performance every time.

Romanov had better look in the mirror and remind himself that when he is no longer around Hearts fans still will be and it's imperative he starts treating them with more respect.

If he doesn't, the only thing they will have to remind them of their defunct club are the memories of good times and bad - and more of the latter than the former recently, unfortunately.

The supporters have been forced to deal with a range of issues that, in the words of the Trust, have made them a laughing stock.

Personally, I'm still astonished at the treatment of Steven Pressley because few players have ever pulled on a jersey and done more for that club. There was a buzz of anticipation around Tynecastle last season but now it has been replaced by hum of helplessness as restless fans look on and wonder what is going to happen next.

The turmoil is doing nothing to help the players and it's no surprise their results and SPL position have slipped in the last couple of months.

It's imperative this club continues but unless Romanov has achange of direction I fear for its existence.

The Scottish game is fortunate to have stable, well-run clubs such as Hibs, Celtic and St Johnstone but too many have uncertain futures and I would include Hearts in the list of those in danger of going to the wall.

It fills me with pride to say that when I left Dundee United we had next to no debt and had achieved much as a club with a balance sheet that was always in the black.

Unfortunately, I fear Romanov cannot deliver the same for Hearts and my nagging fear is he'll get fed up, pull the plug altogether and leave the club to its fate.

Maybe it's no bad thing for him to get the hell out and let someone else get on with it. However, the last thing anyone at Tynecastle needs is yet more upheaval - so, please, give the fans the best Christmas present possible and promise to mend your ways, Vladimir.

Taken from the Daily Record