The Elvis/Malofeev Theory

I'm not going to come out and say that this is gospel because it's yet another one of those 'I heard this from a guy who knows' stories, but the sources are both former players, both of whom still have links to Tynecastle.

The theory is based on the fact that Vladimir Romanov wanted rid of Steven Pressley, even before the infamous press conference at Riccarton. He was seen as being someone who was as influential at the club as VR himself, if not more so and was a large obstacle in the way of Romanov's plans for the immediate future.

To get rid of Pressley, who was then probably the most popular player at the club with the Hearts support, would not be easy. Therefore some serious measures needed to be taken and that's where the intervention of Malofeev came in. Romanov allegedly told Valdas to take some time out from the job - whether or not he was genuinely ill is not clear, but he was told to do this so that Malofeev could take temporary control.

Then the most interesting (or ludicrous, depending on how you see this!) thing was done: Malofeev was encouraged to lose some matches and/or produce poor performances, with Pressley in the team. We all know how Malofeev's reign went, so it's fair to say that if that was indeed his aim, he certainly achieved it with flying colours!

Then, after the run of horrendous form under Malofeev, Valdas came back and almost coincidentally, Pressley was dropped. Hearts then went on a half-decent run (VERY decent relative to Malofeev's results) and all of a sudden, some people started thinking that maybe Hearts were better off without Pressley. Stupid people if you ask me, but they existed nonetheless and the more that results continued to be acceptable, the more people bought into this.

Let's bring ourselves up to the present day and analyse the situation now. Pressley has since gone and signed for Celtic, primarily because he wanted to stay in Scotland as he has a young family. Do the majority of Hearts fans feel betrayed by Romanov that their captain is now playing for a great rival? No - instead the player was roundly booed in the recent Hearts-Celtic fixture and is now something of a villain it would seem. Therefore if the above theory is true, Romanov got his wish in that he was able to get rid of Pressley and manipulate the supporters into thinking that it was a good decision and that ultimately, he was the bad guy. The return of Valdas was also a very popular one, which was obviously perfect from Romanov's point of view, as the decision to retain his puppet in charge of the team could continue with minimal questioning.

Now I'm not saying that I believe all of this, but what I would say is that there could well be something in it. It's a hell of a way to do business, but not much would surprise me under Romanov's leadership. One thing that really stuck with me was Malofeev's quote at the time that he had 'sacrificed his reputation for Valdas' career'. I didn't really understand this at the time, but if this theory is correct then you have to admit that his comment does now make a lot more sense. Malofeev had achieved all he wanted to in the game, was 65 years old and was a friend of Romanov, so he merely did his friend a favour to help him out of a hole. It's not beyond the realms of possibility. Or is it?

As I said, this is by no means the gospel truth, but you can't deny it does get you thinking...........