Vladimir Romanov
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Vladimir Romanov is a Russian-born Lithuanian businessman best known for his ownership of Heart of Midlothian FC. Romanov owns a substantial stake in Lithuanian bank Ūkio Bankas and also has business interests in Bosnia-Herzegovina, Belarus, Russia, Serbia, Poland[citation needed], Slovakia and the other Baltic countries, ranging from cement plants to television stations.
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[edit] Football interests
Romanov initially acquired a controlling stake in Hearts from Chris Robinson during January 2005. Romanov's interest turned to Hearts after various attempts to acquire other Scottish clubs (Dundee United, Dundee and Dunfermline) were rejected by their shareholders.[citation needed] Romanov subsequently took full control of Hearts after making an offer to shareholders in October 2005.
Besides Hearts, Kaunas and MTZ-Ripo, Romanov reportedly has influence over no less than half of the clubs in the A Lyga (Lithuanian Football Premier League)[1].
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[edit] Hearts - 2005/2006 season
With Romanov's blessing[citation needed] , Phil Anderton, Hearts' chief executive, appointed George Burley as Hearts manager during the 2005 close season. Hearts subsequently acquired big name players such as Takis Fyssas and Edgaras Jankauskas. Under Burley's guidance, Hearts got off to a tremendous start in the 2005/06 season, winning their first eight league matches.
Vladimir Romanov, having previously held just under 30% of Hearts' share capital, made an offer to acquire the rest of the shares in October 2005. Hearts' shareholders gladly[citation needed] accepted Romanov's offer due to the club's dramatic improvement in fortunes since his arrival.
In a move that shocked Scottish football[citation needed] , Romanov sacked George Burley as manager on 22 October 2005, the day after he had taken full control of the club. Romanov then sacked Anderton as chief executive on 31 October 2005. Hearts' chairman George Foulkes resigned in protest at the dismissal of Anderton. Romanov replaced both of them with his son, Roman Romanov, who took on both jobs on a "temporary" basis. As of 19 August 2007, Roman Romanov is still performing both roles.
Romanov appointed Graham Rix as head coach of Hearts on 8 November 2005 as Burley's successor. This move was controversial[citation needed] because Rix was a convicted sex offender who had not coached at a high level in several years, while Hearts fans had expected a "big name"[citation needed] replacement for Burley, as Bobby Robson, Claudio Ranieri and Ottmar Hitzfeld were all linked with the vacancy.
In February 2006, Romanov agreed to meet a Hearts players' delegation, led by club captain Steven Pressley, to hear their grievances about Romanov's running of the club. It was claimed that the players were unhappy with Romanov's hands-on approach to the team.
Romanov sacked Rix on March 22, 2006, replacing him with former FBK Kaunas coach Valdas Ivanauskas, who was made head coach of Hearts until the end of the 2005/2006 season. Ivanauskas made an immediate impact[citation needed] , guiding Hearts to second place in the Scottish Premier League and victory in the Scottish Cup. Ivanauskas was confirmed as the permanent head coach on 30 June 2006.
[edit] Hearts - 2006/2007 season
In October 2006, following a 2-0 home defeat by Kilmarnock, Romanov declared that his Hearts players would be put up for sale if a satisfactory result was not achieved the following weekend against Dunfermline.[citation needed]
Following the match with Kilmarnock, Ivanauskas went on a leave of absence due to unspecified health reasons. Eduard Malofeev took on the role of caretaker manager. Kaunas coach Eugenijus Riabovas was expected to replace Malofeev as temporary head coach at Hearts, but Ivanauskas returned instead on 27 November 2006.
On 27 October 2006 Pressley led a press conference, flanked by fellow Scotland internationals Craig Gordon and Paul Hartley, announcing that there was "significant unrest in the Hearts dressing room"[citation needed] following Romanov's most recent comments regarding selling players if Hearts failed to beat Dunfermline Athletic. The game, which ended in a 1-1 draw, was played out in front of a sell out crowd who showed their vocal backing for 'Elvis', Gordon and Hartley.
On 13 November 2006 Pressley was absent from the Hearts squad to face Falkirk and was reportedly stripped of the captaincy. Pressley was subsequently given a free transfer by Hearts, and he joined Celtic in the January 2007 transfer window. Pressley returned to Tynecastle as captain of Celtic on 14 January 2007.
On February 15, 2007 it was reported by The Guardian that in an interview with the Russian magazine Futbol Romanov had accused[citation needed] the Old Firm of making payments to match officials and players of opposing teams in the Scottish Premier League. The Chairmen of both Celtic and Rangers gave statements to the effect that, should Romanov's comments be confirmed that they would both seek legal advice and refer the matter to the Scottish Football Association.
[edit] Eduard Malofeev
Vladimir Romanov put Eduard Malofeev in charge of Kaunas during 2005. Malofeev left his post as head of the youth academy at MTZ-Ripo, and was introduced to the players at Kaunas on 15 December 2005. Malofeev was then appointed as director of football at Hearts in summer 2006, before temporarily taking control of the team in October 2006.
Unfortunately, his brief period of tenure saw Hearts return their worst run of games in 40 years, with no games won at all. There were clear signs of confusion among the team, who were unable to communicate with Malofeev at all as he speaks no English.
Malofeev was outraged at his time at Hearts because the players were supplied with towels at training. He also provided one of the most comical post-match interviews of all times where he rants and raves at the camera in Russian!
Malofeev returned to Eastern Europe in November 2006 in order to undertake coaching courses, but was then appointed coach of MTZ-Ripo on 6 December 2006. Malofeev replaced Yuri Puntus, who was appointed to be the coach of the Belarus national team.
