When did you distinguish Hearts from Romanov?

[chester copperpot]

I still find this a very hard subject to get my head round. I love my football club, I love my Hearts supporting mates, yet I hate Romanov.

 

What point did you seperate the 2?

 

I know this may not be a very topical point, but it would be interesting to hear the responses.

 

FWIW, I supported Romanov for sacking Burley, Anderton, Foulkes, Hiring Rix, Giving the Gig to Valdas, but started to have doubts when we didn't strengthen when we lost Rudi when we had a CL qualifier against AEK Athens coming up. This was the point where I started to doubt the regime. Still I gave them my support.

 

We went out the CL, I believed that we were not to spend money until we actually qualified, I believed that too.

 

It was about November 2006 that I though Feck it, I've had enough of this BS, I want some answers.

 

Yet, April 2008, I'm still going to renew. What was the point you seperated Hearts and Romanov?

 

Dont give me that there's not a difference, because clearly there is now.

[Csaba's Broon Shoes]

Sacking Burley only a fool would have done that sort of thing at the time

 

pure mental , pure heid the baw

[Cigaro]

I see the crest I think of Hearts, not Romanov.

 

Never connected the two like that.

 

Still proud to be a Hearts fans, with or without Romanov.

[Del1812]

This season I can admit.

 

I thought last season was just a blip, I mean, we never have two good seasons in a row right? The Beniusis game sent alarm bells ringing but I held out some hope when Angel took over and we put together a fairly decent performance at Aberdeen. I started to lose hope when we failed to beat Gretna at home I knew we were in trouble.

 

Hearts and Romanov finally split for me when, for the first time in 3 years, I chose not to go to a home game when we played St. Mirren on Boxing Day. At this point I just never saw things changing. Strangely enough 7 days later he gave me something to start to think he could change, I'm still thinking that as he has yet to go through with his supposed intentions and hire A ****ING MANAGER.

 

Doing that won't put me back in his camp but at least it'll be a start.

[Drylaw Hearts]

The Riccarton 3 finally confirming what I had been told previously was the final straw for me.

[chester copperpot]

This season I can admit.

 

I thought last season was just a blip, I mean, we never have two good seasons in a row right? The Beniusis game sent alarm bells ringing but I held out some hope when Angel took over and we put together a fairly decent performance at Aberdeen. I started to lose hope when we failed to beat Gretna at home I knew we were in trouble.

 

Hearts and Romanov finally split for me when, for the first time in 3 years, I chose not to go to a home game when we played St. Mirren on Boxing Day. At this point I just never saw things changing. Strangely enough 7 days later he gave me something to start to think he could change, I'm still thinking that as he has yet to go through with his supposed intentions and hire A ****ING MANAGER.

 

Doing that won't put me back in his camp but at least it'll be a start.

 

 

 

 

I never attended my first hearts game that i was able to that day either. I decided to stay in the pub with my best mate, supping cider and slating Romanov instead. Never have I felt such heartache as St Mirren beat us that day 1-0.

 

Boxing day 2007 was the day Romanov was completely cut off from my feeling from the club that I love.

 

I'm sure there will be people on here in the morning slating turning our backs on the club etc etc, but I will still renew, but up to that day, I still had a wee feeling that he just needed to make a few changes to get us all back onside.

 

When I was in Lanzarote when the news broke about the manager and giving full autonomy to Stevie Frail, I still had my pee'd off head on, as I never believed it for one second. Anyone doubting this can check my posts and see, or speak to friends (bigger critics of Romanov than I could ever be) to hear my total disregard for this statement.

 

The only part of my life I've ever wanted to be wrong on is the statement on the 1st Jan when we talked about the new manager. I never believed it, but at the back of my mind, I still wanted to be proved so wrong. Alas I still think I was right (but again, even now, I want to be wrong, as it will be right for the club I adore).

[Boaby Ewing]

It would be easy for me to say I always thought there was never a strong connection between the two, but for a brief period I believed he wasn't just going to save our club. He was going to make it great.

 

That ended with the sacking of Burley, and whilst I didn't despise him then quite as much as I do now, I realised it was foolish to put the same faith in the new kid on the block that I had in the old institution.

[chester copperpot]

The Riccarton 3 finally confirming what I had been told previoulsy was the final straw for me.

 

 

 

So a bit earlier than me then?

 

I worried like feck that day, especially seen as oor beloved Craig G was there. The other 2, meh, had doubts over Prhessley, but not CG.

[Miller Jambo 60]

I still find this a very hard subject to get my head round. I love my football club, I love my Hearts supporting mates, yet I hate Romanov.

 

What point did you seperate the 2?

 

I know this may not be a very topical point, but it would be interesting to hear the responses.

 

FWIW, I supported Romanov for sacking Burley, Anderton, Foulkes, Hiring Rix, Giving the Gig to Valdas, but started to have doubts when we didn't strengthen when we lost Rudi when we had a CL qualifier against AEK Athens coming up. This was the point where I started to doubt the regime. Still I gave them my support.

 

We went out the CL, I believed that we were not to spend money until we actually qualified, I believed that too.

 

It was about November 2006 that I though Feck it, I've had enough of this BS, I want some answers.

 

Yet, April 2008, I'm still going to renew. What was the point you seperated Hearts and Romanov?

 

Dont give me that there's not a difference, because clearly there is now.

 

Andy ive been a JAMBO for 40 YEARS , have renewed and i know so many of my mates have done so.

[david mcgee]

The Riccarton three was the final straw for me.

I even posted that i was on my way up to Riccarton to see Malofeev and his cohorts.

I got the keek ripped out of me for over reacting.

I hoped to speak to Pressley but he had already been ushered away, i did however speak to a number of other Hearts players ( who will remain nameless) and they all told me the mood was the worst they had ever experienced.

I met one other Hearts fan at Riccarton that day, it was the saddest day of my life, and the lambasting from other Jambos on this board made me sadder still.

I have my season ticket for next season, just like i have for the last thirty something seasons.

It means i still support Heart of Midlothian.

I do not support this regime and no matter what they do i will never support them, they have no idea how to treat fans, shareholders or players.

I would rather have faced the consequences without them before i would accept the trashing of my football club in public which has happened under Romanov.

[chester copperpot]

The Riccarton three was the final straw for me.

I even posted that i was on my way up to Riccarton to see Malofeev and his cohorts.

I got the keek ripped out of me for over reacting.

I hoped to speak to Pressley but he had already been ushered away, i did however speak to a number of other Hearts players ( who will remain nameless) and they all told me the mood was the worst they had ever experienced.

I met one other Hearts fan at Riccarton that day, it was the saddest day of my life, and the lambasting from other Jambos on this board made me sadder still.

I have my season ticket for next season, just like i have for the last thirty something seasons.

It means i still support Heart of Midlothian.

I do not support this regime and no matter what they do i will never support them, they have no idea how to treat fans, shareholders or players.

I would rather have faced the consequences without them before i would accept the trashing of my football club in public which has happened under Romanov.

 

 

 

Dave, if I was one of those guys giving you grief, I apologise mate.

[portobellojambo1]

As I never connected the two I didn't have to distinguish between the two, from day one they have always been two totally separate entities to me.

 

Heart of Midlothian Football Club is the constant, owners merely pass through, they change regularly. Getting attached or too attached to an owner is not wise, however there are some you like, some you respect, some fall into neither category.

 

I appreciated what Romanov did for our club initially, that appreciation stopped the day he concocted reasons to get rid of George Burley.

[paulah]

For me it was the day Burley was sacked,i kinda always thought it was to good to be true.The Riccarton 3 really annoyed me also,they guys that the fans adored just looked like they were devastated

I too will always support my club but the Romanovs- never in a million years

[david mcgee]

Dave, if I was one of those guys giving you grief, I apologise mate.

 

I dont remember you giving me grief, but some so called " distinguished names " did.

At the end of the day we are all Hearts fans.

In my opinion i faced up to reality early, some would still say my opinion is not reality and Romanov is about to fullfill his promises.

I for one hope i am as wrong as i have ever been, ( believe me i have been wrong on many occassions) and Romanov will deliver.

The only thing i still cling onto is the old stand coming down and the work starting on the replacement.

If this materialises and we get rid of the ridiculous playing squad, the high earners and start from the basics. A settled squad with a mix of experience and youth at an affordable level i will not have a problem.

I have watched Hearts for 35 years and witnessed us win two Scottish Cups, i am no glory hunter, i will happily pay for another 35 years to see us win another two. ( anything else is a bonus)

 

I am sure many other Hearts fans are in the same boat.

If you ever read this guff Mr Romanov please believe, Hearts fans do not need to read about World Cup stars and Champions League football to support the team we love.

 

JUST TELL US THE FR1CK3N TRUTH!

[chester copperpot]

At the end of the day we are all Hearts fans.

 

 

 

And this is a point lost on far too many a Hearts fan these days.

[Impaler]

To my mind I divorced him from my beloved club when he got rid of Pressley. I haven't put a single penny into his flawed enterprise since and it depresses me to watch the clubs demise from afar. I feel impotent and wish the fans would take a collective stand against this man's ruination of a once great institution, but it appears that a significant number of fans are renewing their season tickets which sends him the wrong message although some cognisance is being taken hence the desperate ring around by ticket office staff. It all reeks, it really does.

[Cade]

As soon as we started selling/firing/releasing all of our last players.

 

That means at the end of the 05/06 season.

 

The way we went out of Europe at the start of the next season was truly embarassing.

 

As soon as we lifted the Big Cup, our best players were suddenly gone and we were left with untried kids and wage thieving numpties.

 

That's when I realised all of Vlads BS was just that. Gobsheeite.

[The Merse]

Faith in Romanov was vastly reduced when he sacked Burley, further so when he appointed Rix and then Duffy. Never recovered from that.

 

We stuttered our way to a 2nd place and a Scottish Cup win by default in the end.

 

All IMO.

[Coco]

The Dundee United - Webster, Neilson, Petras, Straceny - game.

 

Prior to that I thought that there might have been some rationale for e.g. Burley leaving.

[Guest JamboRobbo]

The Riccarton 3 finally confirming what I had been told previously was the final straw for me.

 

Same here. I already knew it I think, but I tried to find ways to rationalise what Vlad had done, as I didn't want to believe that was really happening. Then Pressley and co confirmed it.

[Buffalo Bill]

I started to get very annoyed in and around September and October 2006 after the 0-2 defeat at Murrayfield from Sparta; the 2-2 draw with Hibs at Easter Road in October; and also the loss to Hibs in the CIS Cup.

 

 

It was back then when Malofeev came in, and Hearts' team selections became baffling and erratic ... and we were rank rotten too.

 

 

I support Heart of Midlothian. Not Vladimir Romanov.

 

 

Buffalo Bill

 

.

[awadooningorgie2]

Sacking Burley only a fool would have done that sort of thing at the time

 

pure mental , pure heid the baw

 

Or somebody who was very smart but needed him out of the way.

[sked21]

Bloody hell that is a tricky question.

 

I like to think that I always thought of them as seperate. ie I supported and loved Heart of Midlothain but backed Romanov to make us great.

 

Honestly though I think there was times at the start that I believed Romanov was Hearts. And I will hold my hands up and say I was wrong. Deep down it would have been around the time when it all went pair-shaped last season.

 

I tried not to admit that it did and we were still going forward. I will again hold my hands up and say I was wrong.

 

BUT I think if there is one person to make it right. It is Romanov. I want to say he will do it this summer. But honestly I think it can go either way. So I am not going to make any bold statements and just wait and see what happens.

 

Next season is going to be great under a proper manager. Oops.

[shaun.lawson]

Actually, it's those who connect the two together that puzzle me.

 

Many Man Utd fans hate Glazer, yet still support the club.

 

A majority of Liverpool fans hate Hicks, yet still support the club.

 

Some Chelsea fans have serious issues with Abramovich, yet still support the club.

 

Man City fans are absolutely disgusted with Shinawatra, yet still support the club.

 

Leeds fans despise Ken Bates, yet still support the club.

 

Southampton fans are appalled by their current board, yet still support the club.

 

Mansfield fans have been completely done over by their arse of a chairman, yet still support the club.

 

I could go on... And before anyone says "but without Romanov, we're sunk", I'd like to point out that Messrs Abramovich, Shinawatra and Bates all effectively saved their respective clubs too - but when they make a pig's ear of it and especially when the fans are treated with contempt, they are rightly regarded with scorn and derision.

[Jambomo]

For me it was when he appointed Rix as the manager. I didn't agree at all with the fact that he sacked Burley but I thought that if it was just because they couldn't work together, well these things happen.

 

Appointing Rix, especially so soon after all the promises about a world class manager, players etc, was just Romanov ripping the p!ss out of us. It was clear for me then he was not telling us the truth as at that time decent managers may still have come to us but he didn't take them. To get in someone who's biggest management job was (I think) Oxford United, after the great start we made, was never going to keep us on the good path we'd been on and just showed that the good of the club was not his no 1 priority.

[scott herbertson]

Never joined them together

 

For me the Chairmen, MDs, major shareholders etc of Hearts have always been just people who own the assets of the club I love. It annoys me and worries me that these people very often either are incompetent or competent only at trying to line their own pockets, but this is true for most football clubs

 

It is a lucky football fan whose club is owned and managed by people with the football interests at heart, not their own financial interests

[Flimsy]

The difference between previous club owners and Romanov is that his dirty fingerprints are all over our club from the nepotism in the boardroom, to the journeyman Lithuanians inflicted on us from the pyramid of ****e, to the removal of any employees whose popularity deflects from him, to the puppet 'managers', to the phone calls/faxes telling said puppet who to play and not to play, to the bizarre rantings, poetry, exaggerations and lies, to a proposed ?51 million addition to the club debt with no clarity as to who will own the development or Tynecastle, to the personal selection of transfer targets through his contacts, to the Eastern European's who lurk in the background at Riccarton, to the interest being paid on the club's debt to HIS bank. And all this from his prescient view in an office in Lithuania, gracing us only with his prescence in order to meet the players to tell them they are all for sale, but not turn up at the AGM or bottom six fixtures to face the music.

 

I am proud of our great club's history but Heart of Midlothian in 2008 IS Romanov, he makes all the decisions and holds the club's future in his hands.

[WalterEgo]

For me it was the day Burley was sacked,i kinda always thought it was to good to be true.The Riccarton 3 really annoyed me also,they guys that the fans adored just looked like they were devastated

I too will always support my club but the Romanovs- never in a million years

Massive alarm bells for me when he sacked Burley, but it collapsed when he sacked Anderton and Foulkes. Realised then that he had just said whatever needed to be said to get his hands on the shares.

[WalterEgo]

Actually, it's those who connect the two together that puzzle me.

Agree, my answer above was really to the question 'When did I know the game was a bogey?'.

[boabyarsebiscuit]

Thought he was a megalomaniac insane Russian piece of **** since the day he sacked Burley. He's such a big joke I can't even laugh at him - it just makes me want to cry.

[Dazo]

The sacking of Burley was the begining of the end of my support of Romanov. However if he got the right replacment i would have believed that the Burley sacking was a blip. However when Rix got the job i felt incredibly let down. The Riccarton 3 was the final nail, i now have not a single shred of respect left for the guy.

 

He won't stop me going to tynecastle though has i have always supported hearts, VR can **** right off though.

[Geoff Kilpatrick]

Never joined them together

 

For me the Chairmen, MDs, major shareholders etc of Hearts have always been just people who own the assets of the club I love. It annoys me and worries me that these people very often either are incompetent or competent only at trying to line their own pockets, but this is true for most football clubs

 

It is a lucky football fan whose club is owned and managed by people with the football interests at heart, not their own financial interests

 

I agree to a point Scott. The difference with Romanov is that we have never had someone with his financial clout own the club and own it outright. Wallace Mercer had a majority shareholding but he had a board he respected. Chris Robinson didn't but had an acquiescent boadroom for some reason (might have been the fact that people like Brian Duffin weren't Hearts fans to start with but I digress).

 

So, I don't know what my answer is to the question. I would say that there has been a rapid conclusion that money is the only language he understands. Hopefully, now, it is speaking loudly and he gets the message.

[Jarhead]

I have never seen Vlad as being Hearts. As others have said owners come and go. The fans, our colours and our ground being my constants.

If the question is when did I lose faith in Vlad, it would be this year with the commitee style of management with the AGM being the final straw.

Up until that point I kept thinking that there must be a rational for all the strange decisions. Maybe we had to look at the bigger picture and not get bogged down on individual events.

After so many years of dissapointment I 'wanted to believe' that somehow Vlad was going to be different.

Maybe because staying at Tynecastle is such a big deal to me emotionally it maybe led me to cut Vlad a lot more slack than he deserved.

Even now I think it wouldn't take that much to change things around again.

Firstly, a proper manager needs to be appointed ASAP. That doesn't mean Vlad can not reccomend players or bring them over for a trial but it does mean that the manager should have the final say.

Secondly, get some people onto the board that the fans can relate to. People who can counter balance Vlads more impulsive moments.

Thirdly, appoint someone who can communicate with us to be the chairman. I would be happy with either CO or SF. They seem to have the general respect of the fans and, I presume, they have the owners trust.

 

All that may be wishful thinking as that's what we had in August 2005 and look where we are now.