Hearts owner Vlad says he turned down Liverpool

Published on Wednesday 13 April 2011 08:05

HEARTS owner Vladimir Romanov claims he was put off buying Liverpool in 2005 by the negative reaction he was met with during the early part of his Tynecastle stewardship.

The Lithuanian says he was offered the opportunity to take control of the Anfield club - who had just become champions of Europe - for 200 million, but got cold feet in the wake of what he perceived to be hostile treatment in Scotland.

The first contact between the two parties came in August 2005 at a time when Hearts were making a blistering start to the SPL season under George Burley. But after sacking the manager in October that year, Romanov was widely vilified and, as a result, his enthusiasm for buying Liverpool swiftly waned.

"In 2005, my club Kaunas was playing against Liverpool in the Champions League qualifiers," he said. "David Moores, who then owned Liverpool, suggested that I bought it for 200 million. The price was realistic, a serious piece of real estate, star players. I got scared. By that time I had been beaten black and blue over Hearts in Scotland where they pictured me as an idiot. And I thought that if I got hold of Liverpool they would definitely drive me to an early grave."

He said he had planned a bid with a Russian businessman friend. "He refused. And I did not risk getting into it on my own," he said.