LINES of communication with Vladimir Romanov are dead, and have been for some time.
Hearts supporters craving updates on developments at their club are left largely in the dark. Occasional scraps are tossed out of Tynecastle via the official club website for the flock of ever-loyal Jambos to feed on, but only when absolutely necessa
ry.
This is precisely how Romanov wants it.
While Hearts' officials strive to encourage their paymaster to divulge his plans for the future, they are continually met with stubborn resistance from Lithuania. Worryingly, as far as Romanov is concerned, Hearts fans, the media and even senior club employees in Edinburgh are informed only on a need-to-know basis, the concept of professional public relations remaining alien to the former Russian submariner.
Every public statement emanating from Gorgie must first be ratified by Ukio Bankas Investment Group officials in eastern Europe, a bizarre policy which shows little sign of changing in the near future despite supporters' exasperation.
Romanov is currently attempting to appoint a new managerial team but has no wish to discuss this project with anyone. The only official comment on the matter since January 1 was a brief statement on Hearts' website announcing their approach for Motherwell's Mark McGhee, which was refused. Neither Vladimir Weiss nor Jurgen Rober have rated a mention by the club. Player and staff movements, both in and out, are frequently announced after they have been reported in the media, if at all.
Mauricio Pinilla agreed a new three-year deal personally with Romanov in April and spent most of last month undertaking a fitness programme in Lithuania as a guest of the majority shareholder, none of which Hearts were permitted to comment on. A brief three-paragraph website statement confirmed his release earlier this week, with no reason given.
At the time of writing, Jose Goncalves' departure on loan to Nurnberg had yet to be communicated through official Hearts channels, likewise the arrival of English trialist Richie Jones.
The lack of clarity and forthright planning for the season ahead has several first-team players, such as captain Christophe Berra and winger Andy Driver, seeking an escape route before the transfer window closes on August 31.
It's a situation which any other club in western Europe would abhor. However, Hearts operate to their owner's command and, therefore, what may be termed normal practice in UK football has ceased at Tynecastle.
Whether it's Pedro Lopez, Campbell Ogilvie or UBIG's own Mindaugas Nikolicius, each employee is carrying out the instructions of one man, and they daren't speak publicly about it.
Charlie Mann, for so long a vehement champion of the Romanov cause, recently severed ties with Romanov, the dissolving of a partnership which said much about the majority shareholder's determination to withdraw from the public. "Vladimir wants less communication than there has been over the past few months. I don't feel that's right," said Mann.
Of course, it shouldn't be this way. The irony for Hearts is that one former employee with public relations skills coming out of his ears is now surfing the crest of a wave in an alternative sport. With the eyes of the world on Wimbledon, the ATP's chief marketing officer, Phil Anderton, took time out to speak about the complicated process of communicating with Romanov, and of how he is short-changing Hearts supporters with his defiant silence.
"Trying to communicate with him is extremely difficult. He pretends he can't speak any English when we know he can," said Anderton, sacked by Romanov as Hearts chief executive in October 2005. "He doesn't spend any time at Tynecastle now the team isn't doing well. He's hidden himself away and only seems to show when he thinks there's going to be some glory for him. That makes it hard for anyone to communicate with him.
"Consequently, you have to go through his puppets and that's a difficult way to talk with someone because you're going through a third party. You don't know exactly what's being relayed to him.
"The rare times you get the opportunity to speak to him directly, it's very much a monologue. He basically tells you what to do and if there's any sense of disagreement or suggesting another point of view, you'll certainly get that look of 'this is mine, and this is the way we're going to do things'.
"Romanov got upset when I tried to communicate with the fans. He just didn't like other people having the limelight. Hearts is his toy and he wants to be the guy getting all the glory.
"He didn't like it when George Burley had his name sung by the fans, didn't like it if I was in the papers. His little puppets send him all the newspaper clippings and he hated seeing me out there communicating.
"I saw my role very simply. After the Chris Robinson era when there was very little communication from the club and consequently a pretty negative atmosphere amongst fans, the situation was straightforward. The fans are the people who bankroll the club and the ones who are passionate about it, they should be kept up to speed wherever possible.
"Clearly there are areas of confidentiality which you can't discuss publicly. But you should give updates on signings or any plans for what you're doing. I think now, because things have turned sour, it's the classic case of 'I'm taking my ball away, you're not playing' and Romanov is snubbing everyone. I just look at it and say it's pathetic. It sticks two fingers up at the fans."
Anderton believes alienating supporters will not be a matter for undue concern at Romanov's Kaunas headquarters.
He continued: "I personally think he'll be getting a little kick out of that. People are getting upset at this guy, it will give him a perverse sense of power that he's been able to engender that type of reaction.
"He has the ability to upset people and have them asking for answers and only he has the power to grant them their wishes, or not so. Romanov knows Hearts supporters are loyal to their club but they are in a very difficult position. What you would normally do in business after getting treated this way is go somewhere else, but in football you can't do that. There's no way a Hearts fan will go and support another team, it's a betrayal of the club not to turn up to matches.
"Romanov communicated a lot in the beginning through his people because he was in a courting process. He gained control of Hearts, then the communicating slowly reduced to where we are now. I don't think it's a coincidence that he doesn't show up at Tynecastle when the team isn't doing well. Guys with courage and passion turn up and take the rough with the smooth. Romanov only wants to turn up when he's being praised, he scurries off to his bolt hole in Lithuania when things aren't going well.
"Will things change? If the team starts performing well and he feels he can attain reflected glory from that, I don't doubt he'll be there wearing his maroon and white scarf and waving to the crowd. But knowing the guy and the stubborn ways he acts, I don't see it changing. It just reminds me of the old Russian propaganda-style secrecy of giving people hope then taking it away.
"What encapsulates Romanov for me was him with the boxing gloves on fighting Roman Bednar. A classic example of the little man with the big ego taking on a guy who he knew wouldn't fight back, at least not against his boss. If it was me with the gloves on I'd have punched the guy's lights out."
Anderton, like Mann, isn't ignorant of the possibility that Romanov might just harbour a grandiose plan that will return Hearts to a challenging position in Scotland. In that respect, any public protests conducted in the near future would matter little. However, he remains sceptical of the Russian's long-term intentions.
"If you look at the club's income, ticketing is a large part but not the be all and end all. Sponsorship and TV money is there irrespective of the fans, so how he treats the Hearts public depends what his ulterior motive is," said Anderton.
"Do the fans really matter or is there some other vision the guy has which is not dependent upon having a full house every week? Who knows the answer to that question?"
Answer after answer is sought by fans and media alike, but Romanov's silence is deafening.
The full article contains 1441 words and appears in Edinburgh Evening News newspaper.
