Jefferies, who was sacked from his second spell as Tynecastle boss nearly two years ago following an 18-month stint in charge, has watched the latest problems unfold this week with a growing sense of worry as to the future of the club he captained with distinction as a player.
The 62-year-old is clear that trying to live up to Romanov’s far-fetched promises, which included winning the Champions League inside ten years of his arrival in 2005 and recruiting “World Cup players”, have proved the downfall.
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Hide AdHe said: “I can’t believe the suggestions that the supporters are to blame. The supporters have been fantastic, they’ve probably kept them afloat, so I don’t know where that has come from. There’s only one reason they’re in the position they’re in and that’s mis-management and the money that’s been wasted on trying to chase certain promises.
“It’s there for all the clubs to do that if they have someone with a lot of money, but you either make a success of it or you throw it away with bad decisions, and there’s been many of them.”