November 7 - Hearts of Darkness

EVER heard the one about the Lithuanian banker, title-challenging Scottish club and a convicted sex offender? Welcome to Heart of Midlothian, Scotland’s most colourful club, where today in 2005 former Portsmouth manager and convict, Graham Rix took over the table-topping side.

In recent years being a Jambos fan has been, to say the least, eventful. When the club found itself struggling under financial pressure in 2004, it attracted a big fish by the name of Vladimir Romanov, a man who the phrase “interfering chairman” was seemingly invented for.

An ex-submarine commander, who made his money in the murky world of post-cold war Soviet economics, this Romanov was on the other end of an October Revolution in 2005, as he became the majority shareholder and soon after sacked George Burley, who in his four-month spell had taken Hearts to the top of the SPL.

That old chestnut of “irreconcilable differences” was the official spin on Burley’s departure, but if you were to ask the man himself, you’d probably get a stronger reaction. Rumours were abound that Romanov was buying players without consulting the manager and picking the team behind Burley’s back. And we at least believe these rumours, as Burley was never known for his fondness for signing Lithuanians.

Big names such as Sir Bobby Robson, Ottmar Hitzfeld and Claudio Ranieri were being touted as Burley’s replacement, but it was Graham Rix, who was about to be offered a job at non-league Crawley Town that Red Rom saw as his man. The former Arsenal midfielder was a controversial appointment to say the least, as he had been jailed for tweleve months in 1999 for having underage sex with a 15 year old girl. Cue protests from Hearts fans and noises from the Romanov people about how he got where he was today by making ruthless decisions.

And did it work out? Of course not. Rix was sacked in March amid more infighting, with senior players such as Steven Pressley speaking out against their chairman. Surprise, surprise, it was a Lithuanian, Valdas Ivanauskas who took over the reigns and lead them to a Scottish Cup win and second place in the League, as the soap opera dubbed “Hearts of Lithuania” rolled on.

More scandal tomorrow, this time involving the man in the middle, but in the meantime here’s a bit of pre-season bonding, Romanov style, with Czech striker Roman Bednar.

(No Ratings Yet)

 Loading ...