Foulkes close to giving up on finding a Hearts buyer

FORMER Hearts chairman George Foulkes has called on Vladimir Romanov to do more to find a buyer for the club, after admitting to being dismayed by comments made by director Sergejus Fedotovas about himself and other prominent supporters.

Foulkes, who encouraged Romanov to buy Hearts from Chris Robinson, has been involved in talks with potential purchasers since Romanov announced that he wants to sell his majority holding. But he wrote on his Facebook and Twitter pages that he had been so annoyed by Fedotovas’ comments that he would give up trying to find a buyer.

Last night, however, he qualified that, saying he would still engage with any interested parties. He insisted, though, that the main effort must come from Romanov and Fedotovas, whom he encouraged to be more realistic in their negotiations.

“I understand from one group who are interested in buying Hearts that they have not got any encouragement from Romanov or Fedotovas,” Foulkes said last night. “Those two seem to be going out of their way to put people off by demanding £50 million for Hearts.

“If they want to sell the club, they should be realistic. They can’t announce in public what price they would settle for or what kind of takeover settlement they might agree to, but they should approach the process professionally.

“They’re making life difficult for anyone who might have an interest. If that’s their attitude, why should other people flog their guts out trying to interest others in buying the club?”

Foulkes has had a number of disagreements with Romanov since being succeeded as chairman by the latter’s son Roman, but has never been as disillusioned as he was last week by the statement on the Hearts website. Attributed to Fedotovas but bearing all the hallmarks of Romanov’s colourful style, it accused Foulkes, former player Gary Mackay and others of “pretending to be supporters of the club but in fact seeking supporters for themselves”.

Foulkes, a Labour life peer, reacted angrily on his social-media pages. “Over the past few weeks, I have spent a lot of time trying to find a way forward for my football club, only to be vilified by the puppet of the present owner,” he wrote on Facebook, referring to Fedotovas. “I have now decided to retire and leave it to others to save Hearts.

“Good luck! I will be at Tynecastle tomorrow supporting the Jambos as always!”

He summarised his position more briefly on Twitter, stating: “Having been traduced by Romanov’s lackey, Fedotovas, it is now up to others to find a way forward for Hearts.”

Last night he said he had been particularly annoyed by being accused of pretending to support Hearts. “I was scunnered by it,” he said. “I’ve been proactive in approaching people who might have an interest in buying the club – whether anything comes of it, who will know?

“But when I read what Sergejus Fedotovas said I thought: ‘To hell.’ I’m not going to go out of my way to do something that they should be doing.

“A lot of people want to be helpful to Hearts and Romanov. But if he doesn’t come up with a more serious ballpark figure than the £50m that he’s talked about, he’s less likely to get serious expressions of interest.

“I am on the horns of a dilemma in this case, because I played a part in bringing him to Tynecastle, and because it is thanks to him that we have stayed at Tynecastle for the past seven years. So any criticism of him has to be tempered by an acknowledgement of what he has done for the club.

“But it did really annoy me to see Gary Mackay and myself described as pretend supporters. I’ve a season ticket and was there as usual for the game against Dunfermline on Saturday. Someone came up and asked me if I was only pretending to be there, which I found quite amusing.

“And more people than ever came up to shake my hand, so I know others agree with my reading of the situation. I bought extra tickets for that game for my family, and I’ve done the same for the match against Motherwell on Christmas Eve, so I’m still putting money into the club.”

The Hearts squad were paid their November salaries last Thursday, the day before their December money was due. That has still not arrived, with young professionals as well as the first team still awaiting information on when they should expect it.