Lithuania and Scots play 'no good football' says Vladimir Romanov

Published on Monday 8 February 2010 22:11

HEARTS owner Vladimir Romanov has warned supporters to expect the worst when Scotland and his native Lithuania meet each other in Euro 2012 qualifying matches, claiming that both nations offer little in the way of attractive football.

• Scotland's Scott Brown is tackled by Lithuania's Stankevicius in 2007. Picture: TSPL

The multi-millionaire banker has been scathing about the way the game is run by authorities in both countries and expects no swift recovery on the pitch during the race to qualify for the European Championships in Poland and Ukraine in 2012.

The pair came out in Group I during Sunday's draw ceremony in Warsaw, along with reigning European champions Spain, the Czech Republic and Liechtenstein, but Romanov said the prospect of Lithuania and Scotland clashing home and away did nothing to excite him.

The Hearts owner asked: "What kind of games are those two countries going to play if there is no proper football in either of them?

"If in both Lithuania and Scotland they had not turned football into a branch of showbusiness, I would have no doubts that they could be among the favourites in their group."

Although Spain will be overwhelming favourites to top the group and qualify automatically, a downbeat Romanov also refused to predict how the group will pan out, with a play-off spot available to the runners-up.

Scotland and Lithuania will entertain hopes of at least pushing for second, but Romanov added: "We won't see any good football. There is none, either in Scotland or in Lithuania."

Romanov's run-ins with the Scottish Football Association are well known, but he is also at loggerheads with the authorities in Lithuania after pulling FBK Kaunas out of the country's top division in a protest at the way football is run in the Baltic state.