SPL probes remarks made by Romanov

Vladimir Romanov, owner of Scottish Hearts, is being investigated by the Scottish Premier League for allegations he made against the Old Firm and Scotland's referees.

Romanov claims the Russian football magazine misquoted him when he did the interview with it.

"We are not charging them with anything. But we are putting them on warning that we are examining any potential breach of the rules," Ian Blair, SPL secretary, told BBC Sport.

BBC said a letter was sent to Hearts that cites the allegations attributed to Romanov in the magazine.

"We have written to Hearts to ask for information to allow us to inquire whether there has been any breach of SPL rules," said Blair.

Hearts has 14 days to respond to the charges or the SPL board will go forward with the matter on the basis of evidence available at the moment.

A spokesman for Romanov, who is back in Lithuania on business, told BBC Scotland that Romanov is trying to track down the reporter who wrote the original story to shed light on exactly what he said.

The SPL board can enforce a wide range of sanctions, including fines, suspensions and deduction of points, if its rules have been breached.

An independent tribunal that investigated the appeal of the GBP 10,000 penalty imposed on Hearts by the Scottish FA has finished but it will not make an announcement until the parties involved are first notified of the decision and that is expected within the next seven to 10 days.

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