Vladimir Romanov taunts Scots and goads Lithuania

Published on Sunday 5 September 2010 15:26

Vladimir Romanov last night taunted Scottish football chiefs by claiming they should hire him as a consultant to overcome their problems highlighted by the failure to win in Lithuania.

The Hearts owner attended the 0-0 Euro 2012 qualifying draw in his home city of Kaunas, in the company of Hearts manager Jim Jefferies, and had only sympathy for the Tartan Army who made the long trek to the Baltics.

"I attended the game and I pity the Scottish fans who came to Kaunas," he said.

"They deserved to see real football instead of the show business performances fed to them year after year by the experts with ties.

"Even the huge fines I am regularly paying them do not help. For this money they would be better hiring me as a consultant."

Romanov has been repeatedly fined by the Scottish Football Association for critical remarks on refereeing standards and the way football is run.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, he did not agree with Scotland manager Craig Levein that the referee was too lenient on the Lithuanian players who were guilty of persistent fouling.

He stressed: "As for this game - it was a match of the two impotents with big ambitions. Even the referee could not help the Scottish side despite trying very hard.

"The complaints in Scotland about the Turkish official are part of their preparations for the next game where they would like to see another ref showing red to the opponents.

"Without that their national team is not able to defeat anyone."

The outspoken businessman added: "Speaking about Lithuanian side - they had in their line-up three players who are so bad they could not even make it into the main team of FC Kaunas."