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Vladimir Romanov Years - The Defining Moments


Adi Dassler

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There's been a lot written on here about Vlad off the back of last weeks BBC programme and it really got me thinking back to the beginning.

 

I was actually at the game in Kaunas where Foulkes was introduced to Romanov and it's weird to think you were somehow present on a night that changed the recent fortunes of the club so dramatically.

 

What were your defining moments of the Romanov years? The obvious one is the day Burley was sacked but there must be lots of other smaller things that most of us have forgotten. I always think of Rix up at Tannadice as a pivotal moment. What were yours?

 

It seemed like there were a cast of thousands involved over that period. We had the obvious Lithuanians/Russians but I always think the likes of Phil Anderton and David Southern would be the best raconteurs of the time. Who were the less obvious names who were in the picture?

 

Everyone has their own thoughts but nobody can deny we lived in interesting times.

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Son Of Anarchy

When Bednar should have punched the wee bullies lights out.....

I was going to say the same thing. Even Bednar wished he had. Met him outside Hampden one glorious day. Fyssas,wow, such class and humble with it but Rudi is the best thing that tube brought. Bringing fax machines into everyday conversations too ;)

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Harley's goal to put us in the qualifiers for the Champions League.

 

12/13 in a row.

 

0-4 v Hibs Scottish Cup semi.

 

2-1 v Celtic Scottish Cup semi.

 

1-5 v Hibs Scottish Cup final.

 

Skacel, Fyssas, Jankauskas, Pinilla,

 

The early optimism under Burley.

 

That New year game v Celtic :(

 

Burley getting launched. :(

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Bartoline Saddletree

Walking out of Parkhead disappointed with only a point and thinking for only the second time in my life we could win the league.

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When i heard the champions league music played at Tynecastle. I thought I'd never hear that.  Never even really dreamed of it until that season. Then all of a sudden I was dreaming about playing barcelona in the nou camp and winning titles. Oh well!!

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Rudi5kaceldream1ng

Think it was a bit of a laugh spending lots of cash on players...two cup wins...champs league etc..don't really dwell on the past though as that whole era is completely stone dead. Decent enough memories though-very grateful hearts are in such a vibrant and positive place in the present and in the future though.

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The EGM where Fedatovas opened with "Away up in Gorgie at Tynecastle Park"......seconds before the sale of Tynecastle was quashed by shareholders.

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No brainier for me, it was the day he sacked Burley, just such a ridiculous thing at the time that it still baffles me, from then on I was always suspicious of anything he done and never really took to the guy. Grateful for keeping us at tynecastle and the obvious cup wins but the guy was a lunatic. All said though, it was a fun period at times.

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Eldar Hadzimehmedovic

There were obviously huge highs and this thread will rightly focus on them but the Riccarton Three day was a big downer for me. To see three of top players so despondent was pretty grim. It was also the day I think I accepted there wasn't going to be a serious, sustained challenge to OF dominance.

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Guess The Crowd

When i heard the champions league music played at Tynecastle. I thought I'd never hear that. Never even really dreamed of it until that season. Then all of a sudden I was dreaming about playing barcelona in the nou camp and winning titles. Oh well!!

Played at Murrayfield, no?

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Played at Murrayfield, no?

it wasn't allowed to be played at Murrayfield as it was just a qualifier. It was played at Tynecastle when we beat Aberdeen    

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It would be superb if someone could gather up as many players as possible and get interviews.

 

Could probably publish a book based off the mental storys from vlads reign :D

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The transfer deadline day we signed Nade to effectively replace Bednar- confirmed that the dream of truly competing with the Old Firm on a consistent basis was never going to turn into reality.

 

****ing amazing times indeed. Not sure I would change it (if I could, which of course I couldn't...).

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If anyone has the info and can be bothered, I would genuinely be interested to see how many of the players we signed during the Romanov years were sold on for some sort of return. Or how they left the club. In other words money spent for money returned in transfer fees.

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He did a lot of good things for us and I will always be grateful for it.

Halloween 2005 will stick in the mind though. Burley had already gone but when Anderton and then Foulkes followed him out I had genuine fears about what his real intentions were for us.

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He did a lot of good things for us and I will always be grateful for it.

Halloween 2005 will stick in the mind though. Burley had already gone but when Anderton and then Foulkes followed him out I had genuine fears about what his real intentions were for us.

This. I remember jumping on the 44 bus to go home from work bumping into an old school friend I hadn't seen in years who's first words to me were that Anderton and Foulkes had gone. That really was the eruption of the Vlad madness

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The sacking of George Burley.

 

All the talk about top class managers to replace Burley and we ended up with Graham Rix.

 

The sacking of Phil Anderton and the resignation of George Foulkes.

 

Listening to Radio Forth telling us the Rix had announced that he did not pick the team to play Dundee United that night.

 

The transfer window when we signed about 12 players.

 

The Riccarton 3.

 

Malofeef.

 

The plans for a new stand.

 

Rodneys behaviour at the AGM.

 

The sacking of Csaba Lazlo and the fact that Jim Jeffrey just "happened" to be in the Hearts shop when he was phoned about replacing him.

 

Telling the press that he did not trust Banks to play in goals against Rangers.

 

Boxing with Roman Bednar.

 

Telling Presley he had no future at Tynecastle and then offering him the assistant managers job the same day.

 

Vlad flu.

 

Fax machines.

 

The man was nuts, but life was never boring when he was around. There has to be a book in there.

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The two cup wins. Especially the 5-1.

 

The sheer ownership of Hibs.

 

The twice signing of Rudi. The second against JJ's preference.

 

That Aberdeen night.

 

The Takis singing.

 

Killing off the selling of Tynecastle.

 

Correctly ripping into our awful press, the Old Firm and the SFA.

 

The improvement to the Ticket Office service.

 

The various community intiatives, such as the breakfast club, football coaching, music lessons for kids, fitness lessons for adults and further education for adults.

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For balance we should also mention the wage delays and season 2007/8 which was one big disaster and culminated in our first ever bottom 6 split finish.

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Bridge of Djoum

Vlad calling a mysterious punter at an equally murky bar, somewhere in the city centre. Talking about tactics, who to pick, price of pies.

 

Allegedly.

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No brainier for me, it was the day he sacked Burley, just such a ridiculous thing at the time that it still baffles me, from then on I was always suspicious of anything he done and never really took to the guy. Grateful for keeping us at tynecastle and the obvious cup wins but the guy was a lunatic. All said though, it was a fun period at times.

Me too.

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When he sacked Korobocha because he wouldn't field Romanov himself in the Barcelona friendly :laugh:

Korobocha was sacked in January 2008, 6 months after the Barcelona game. You've been reading the Sun again.

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Leaving peanuts and bananas in the press box :lol:

 

His statement on Rangers living beyond means and morals which is aimed at them, Sky, SFA and the media.

 

:sweeet:

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WorldChampions1902

Vlad calling a mysterious punter at an equally murky bar, somewhere in the city centre. Talking about tactics, who to pick, price of pies.

 

Allegedly.

'The Jolly Judge'.

 

Allegedly.

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Mauricio Pinilla, who as a player almost perfectly encapsulated the Romanov era. Scored the best team goal I'm ever likely to see Hearts score.

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The Burley sacking... was in Caley sample room when that appeared on the sky sports news ticker... whole place fell silent.. then phones were ringing with the news... eerily clear moment and start of a slide for us..

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'The Jolly Judge'.

 

Allegedly.

Was there not also something in that story about a man with a wooden leg? Or have I imagined it or got it wrong?
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I remember the night of the Aberdeen game when we qualified for the CL.

 

I was at the game obviously and its the most tense and at the same time thrilling atmosphere I have ever been part of at a football match anywhere.

 

My mate was in Bread street working at the time of the goal and I'll never forget he sent me a text. "You've obviously scored cos I can hear the noise from here" I text him back saying " The place has gone crazy. Vlad said this would happen" He heard it clearly and knew what it was in Bread Street 1.5 miles away FFS !! I thought, feckin hell half the city must have heard that noise. He told me later that folk in Bread Street were looking skyward and saying 'what the hell was that ?"

 

That moment on its own. That penalty. What a moment.

 

The other end of the scale for me came before that. Sacking Burley shocked me to the core. We should have actively protested loud and long that week. We should have put serious pressure on and demanded he be brought back. It may not have made any difference knowing what we know now but we should have made a lot more noise about it, as fan base! Than we did. It was a ludicrous decision and I'll always believe it cost us the title. Everything after that was just meekly accepted, like it was just Vlad being Vlad. There were days that followed when I hated the man and I don't hate easily. There were also plenty days I loved him too.

 

On the whole I'm thankful for 4 things he was responsible for. 1. Keeping us at Tynecastle 2. The 2006 cup. 3. The 2012 cup and 4. He did something to our club and our fans that made us save it. Okay he caused that primarily himself but he built something in us that is unique amongst Scottish football fans IMO. Christ knows what it is. I can't define it. But I am sure most other clubs would not have survived from the position we were in. That's a strange one I know but I attribute it to him in no small way anyway.

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SaughtonJambo

Was only 9 year old when vlad arrived and just seem to remember tynecastle being packed full in that first season. Can remember the mood around tynecastle during the Dunfermline game when burley was sacked to this day I don't know the ins and outs of what happened between vlad and burley was too young at the time to look into it.

 

Remember beating Celtic 2-0 on a Wednesday night and the atmosphere being different class, don't think an atmosphere like that could be matched under the current regime even if we were beating them 4-0

 

Obvious ones are Rudi, the cups the Derby wins. Fyssas singing the champions league chant. The fans singing the names of brellier and Romanov himself.

 

As much as things didn't amount to much Larry kingstons first few games were different class. Don't think hearts will ever attract the calibre of player such as Aguiar, pinilla or even Goncalves again

 

And last but not least the appointment of Paulo Sergio, league form wasn't great but what a man. Without doubt every single hearts fans lyrics to baby give it up have been changed for life

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This thread made me go back and watch the Aberdeen game that guarantee us second. Got goosebumps just hearing the atmosphere before the match and even more so watching the players celebrating at full time.

 

Even thinking about Miko scoring the opener against AEK at Murrayfield.There were loyally some terrible decisions and actions along the way but without doubt Romanov's ownership coincided with the vast majority of my favorite memories as a Hearts fan: being there to see us win the Scottish cup twice (I was too young to go in 98); having four months of genuinely thinking we were going to win the league; hearing the Champions League anthem at Tynecastle; Rudi Sk?cel; and probably most importantly the day it was announced that the sale of Tynecastle was cancelled.

 

He almost killed us, but he saved us first, and we're happily at the other end of it all.

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Two great signings in Skacel and Fysass.

 

Two outstanding players who I have man love for.

 

Who edges it? Tough one. Rudi played twice for us, won two cups, and scored goals. He also loved to stick it up the Hobos.

 

There is something about Takis though, I love the man. A top player who oozed class.

 

A tough choice, but Takis might actually edge it by goal difference.

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Probably the biggest positive legacy of Romanov's tenure is that he effectively increased the average attendance at Tynecastle by a few thousand. A long term legacy which will hopefully mean that our new stand is full to capacity.

 

I was as vociferously critical of the Romanov regime as anyone on here, but it would be wrong not to acknowledge the positives, even if many of them were through accident rather than design.

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