Romanov rages at Hearts' AGM

A disturbance between two shareholders before Scottish Hearts annual general meeting was just a warm up before Roman Romanov, chairman of the club, went on a verbal attack during the meeting.

Romanov, the son of Hearts' majority shareholder, Vladimir Romanov, condemned Scottish teams Celtic and Rangers, the Scottish FA and the media, which he labeled as "dangerous" in front of approximately 500 shareholders.

The chairman's remarks appeared to win the support of at least half of the audience as he challenged and argued with several minority shareholders.

Romanov, Jr., did not delve into the club's imminent change of head coach, but said that whoever replaces Valdas Ivanauskas will only be partly responsible for selecting the club members.

Romanov was emphatic when asked if the new coach would have absolute control in picking the players.

"One hundred percent, definitely not," Romanov replied. "Maybe 50 percent, maybe 60 percent, because there are different reasons for choosing the team.

"Preparing the team is the coach's job. Politics and business and who to pick is a different job. We won't play players who don't have long-term contracts."

Ivanauskas is on an extended break from his coaching job and is expected to return to the club later this week as director of football.

Former Lithuanian national manager, Kestutis Latoza, confirmed he is in talks with Hearts but said he has not signed a contract.

The club had called a press conference but instead of making an expected announcement regarding the coaching position, it announced a new kit deal with sponsor Umbro.

Romanov was adamant that there was no problem over the level of Hearts' debts, which was last recorded at GBP 28.4 million but set to rise as high as GBP 40 million.

A resolution was passed at the meeting to allow that high level of borrowing. The money, though, is owed to investment group, UBIG, and Lithuanian bank, Ukio, which are both run by the chairman's father.

"We owe this money to ourselves," said Romanov. "There is no need to worry because it is not owed to a third party. Has a business ever grown without borrowing?"

The chairman compared Hearts' financial situation to that of English Chelsea but said the Hearts' debts account for only about 10 percent of UBIG's GBP 337 million assets. That is much more than Chelsea's debts in comparison to the assets of Roman Abramovich. Romanov's most outspoken comments were reserved for the media, which he believes is working against Hearts.

"I don't want to communicate through the media," said Romanov. "These people are dangerous.

"The press work for two clubs in this country. It doesn't make sense to communicate with them.

"It's unbelievable what goes on because of these media people. We are going to wars believing things we don't want to believe. They never carry responsibility."

Romanov made reference to "Sirs and Lords" within Scottish football who "hit below the belt" and claimed it is not practicable to appoint a home-based administration staff because of press coverage.

"We are not in a situation, yet, to have people who work in this country doing the job," said Romanov. "It is too dangerous."

At the end of the meeting, Romanov thanked the shareholders in an uncharacteristic way.

"Thank you very much for coming and thank you for not beating me up," Romanov said.

Source: euFootball.BIZ © Copyright 2006 - All rights reserved.