Romanov was 'straw that broke the camel's back' for Levein

CRAIG Levein has admitted the arrival of Vladimir Romanov played a part in his decision to walk out on Hearts. Levein, who joined Leicester City in November, said he had grown weary of working on limited budgets and being caught in the middle between furious supporters and the Hearts board following the decision to sell their Tynecastle home.

He claimed at the time he had already decided to leave before the arrival of prospective new owner Romanov but admits now that his involvement in the club did play a part in his decision to move to Leicester.

"Yes, of course it was a factor. It had a massive impact," Levein said in an interview with a Sunday newspaper. "It might just have been the straw that broke the camel’s back on top of everything else. I did meet with Romanov and he tried to persuade me to stay but I had already made up my mind and I’m glad when I look at what has happened since - I’m glad to be out of there.

"I needed to get away because all the stuff that was happening at Hearts was weighing me down. It had been going for years, the budgets cuts, the protests and me feeling stuck in the middle.

"When I’d looked at what was going to happen with all the players coming out of contract in the summer - players I told the club we needed to re-sign - and then the Romanov thing happened and you could almost see the train coming down the track. I thought to myself ‘Well, I’ve done my bit here, time to get off’.

"And there was still an element of the Hearts support who didn’t ever take to me because when I got the job I was seen as ‘Chris Robinson’s man’. There was an element - a group of influential people attached to the club - who didn’t buy into it."

Romanov is set to take over chief executive Chris Robinson’s shareholding next month and the Hearts board is currently waiting on assurances he has the funds to take the club forward.

The Lithuanian has wasted no time in making his influence felt. He is on the verge of installing former Russia coach Anatoly Byshovets as Hearts’ director of football and arranged for a group of eastern European players to train with the club, four of whom have since been signed.

Levein said he would not have stood for such interference. "That would never have happened under me," said the coach, who accepted the job at Leicester on the condition that Dave Bassett, the club’s director of football, was removed.

"I wouldn’t have been there [Hearts] if those things had been suggested - either a director of football or the trialists. I’m sure John went in there with his eyes open and I hope Mr Romanov comes in and Hearts stay at Tynecastle and all these things are resolved because it is a great club, but I just don’t know if that is what will happen."

Robertson has already lost Mark de Vries and Alan Maybury to Levein this month.

Levein also denied that the break-up of his marriage had anything to do with him leaving Hearts. "I’m a little annoyed because someone told me Mr Romanov had mentioned something to that effect.

"He shouldn’t have said that because he just doesn’t know anything about it. What was happening at home was going to happen anyway. It had nothing to do with my decision."