'Agents lost Hearts duo five years' - Romanov

VLADIMIR Romanov has launched a fresh attack on football agents, blaming them for the stalled careers of Hearts players Andy Webster and Rudi Skacel who recently returned to Tynecastle.

The Lithuanian owner of Hearts has called for new curbs on the activities of agents, with powers to act against them switching from the Scottish Football Association to the SPL.

"Two players who ended their contracts with Hearts a few years ago with a scandal have now returned," he said. "These talented players have wandered around different clubs, seduced by agents and managers, losing five years in the process.

"But I do not think that the players are to blame for this. The problem is the system in football. Just imagine if agents appeared in schools and started to implement their policy of educating children against the policy of the school.

"It is obvious that football is in a dead end and requires reform, which is impossible to get from football bodies.

"Neither criticism nor horrifying reality impacts on this monopoly. In the interests of football, the SPL should get more powers from the SFA. In my view the league should be instrumental in stripping the license of unprofessional individuals."

He stressed: "Rudi Skacel has already scored eight goals during five months at Hearts and I hope Andy Webster will soon become (the] best defender in Scotland.

"Those who supported them in newspapers and on TV and radio could at least make an apology. Not to the club, but to the players who have lost five years of their careers and who, by now, could play at a top level in England or elsewhere, like Craig Gordon and Christophe Berra, whose interests were taken out of the hands of such people by the efforts of the club."