No way to treat a man who gave Hearts credibility they don't merit

If there has been precious little evidence of either of those virtues under Vladimir Romanov's time in charge, even those of us who guessed Hearts' reputation in the football world was already at rock bottom were forced to reconsider that position earlier this week after the peremptory manner in which Stevie Frail, the club's interim manager, was turned away from Riccarton plumbed new depths of insensitivity.

It's difficult to imagine any other business where a loyal and decent member of staff would return from holiday only to be banished from his place of work without explanation and instructed to await news on his fate. Popular with the Hearts players and admired by outsiders for the tactful manner under daunting circumstances in which he dealt with team affairs at Tynecastle last season, it seems Frail is about to discover – like John Robertson and Steven Pressley before him – that holding the club in high regard offers no immunity against betrayal.

It would not have been unreasonable for Romanov, the majority shareholder, and his cohorts in Lithuania to make a judgment about Frail's talent as a coach and conclude he was not experienced enough to be offered the job of manager.

Nor would it have been unacceptable, in the aftermath of the appointment of a permanent manager, if the new man had insisted on bringing in his own team of coaches. Had that meant there was no place for Frail, he could have been compensated and moved on. These things happen. But that isn't the point at issue here.

What many followers of Hearts will feel beggars belief was the callous manner in which Frail was turned away from the club's training centre after a meeting with sport director Anatoly Korobochka on Tuesday. No explanation of Frail's position has been given by the club. This embarrassing humiliation of a decent man and well-regarded youth coach, whose feeling for Hearts dates back to the four years he spent with the club as an attack-minded right-back in the Nineties, was both cruel and unnecessary.

Bearing in mind how Hearts issued a statement at the beginning of the year which claimed Frail would have a role at the club when a new manager was appointed, most of those on the club's staff will draw their own conclusions about how loyalty is rewarded by Romanov.

Week after week, Frail was the public face of Hearts when no-one else was willing to front up after the latest farce. And this is how he is repaid.

It's typical of Hearts that those running the day to day business of the club are no more in the Lithuanian loop than the supporters or the media. They can't tell you why Frail was turned away, although, after seven months of obscure deliberation, one would like to hope Romanov is close to appointing a new coach.

The culture of non-communication also forced Romanov's former spokesman, Charlie Mann, to quit this week. He'd spent four years attempting to square the circle on the Russian's behalf without success. For Romanov seems no closer now to grasping the cultural differences between running Kaunas and a Scottish institution like Hearts than he did when George Burley was dispatched in 2005. Indeed, Mann revealed that Romanov wants less communication, not more, which is why he chose to walk away.

"Stevie's been told to go on gardening leave and we don't know why," Mann told the BBC yesterday. "That's part of the issue."

Even those who still want to believe that Romanov has the club's best interests at heart must feel dissatisfaction with the way Hearts are being run. It's evident that lack of transparency between the club and its supporters – not to mention employees – is now hindering progress.

If the way Frail was brushed aside by Romanov is anything to go by, Heart of Midlothian no longer lives up to its proud and graceful name.