SFA fined Romanov

Things have been difficult lately for Vladimir Romanov, as the Scottish Heart of Midlothian majority shareholder was fined, criticised by a former captain and saw another ex-captain try to ply his trade elsewhere.

He was fined GBP 10,000 by the Scottish Football Association for remarks made on the club website about referees.

Steven Pressley, the club captain who was "amicably" released Saturday, is holding talks with SPL champions Celtic. Romanov was then labeled a "a total dictator" by former captain, Freddie Glidden, who lifted the Scottish Cup exactly half a century before Pressley did so this year.

The fine is the first time the SPL has been able to discipline Romanov. He had previously spoken with impunity on any matter within the game, since he technically holds no official post with Hearts.

The SFA closed what they saw as a loophole earlier this year by adopting a wider definition of what constitutes a club official. At a meeting of the General Purposes Committee, it was first agreed that Romanov came within that definition, and it was then decided that his comments about match officials brought the game into disrepute.

"Last season, you didn't manage to protect the Scottish Cup and gave it to Hearts, despite all the referees' efforts and intrigues," Romanov said on the club's website in September.

Hearts was fined GBP 10,000 two months ago for publishing those remarks.

He has seven days from receipt of the written verdict to appeal.

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