Vladimir Romanov hits out at his 'squealing' critics reaction

VLADIMIR Romanov said he has not been surprised by the negative reaction from some quarters to his sacking of manager Jim Jefferies, and suggested it is a sign of a general ignorance within Scotland about football.

In a statement issued on the Hearts website, the Lithuanian businessman accused his critics of being "media monkeys" and implied that they should have examined the Edinburgh club's recent form before lambasting him. "Judging by the pre-planned squeals the media monkeys are making, Hearts has hit the point with the move," Romanov said, the move in question being the removal of Jefferies and his replacement by Paulo Sergio.

"I believe that with only one competitive win in 15 games, only fools and idiots would not raise questions and suspicions. I now understand why Scotland is in 61st place in Fifa rankings behind such poor football countries like Lithuania, Albania and Gabon."

Romanov first voiced his own "questions and suspicions" about the club's form towards the end of last season, when he suggested external forces were trying to derail Hearts' bid to claim third place in the league. "The behind-the-scenes fight by football mafia structures for the third place in the table started long ago," he said. Later, once Hearts had secured third, he said that recent results had been achieved in "wicked circumstances", though again did not explicitly criticise Jefferies. "The team has shown a good result this season, but it was disappointing at the end when we were fighting for one of the top places in the league," he said. "It's hard to believe that our team, who won against every opponent in the league, succeeded only once in the last 12 games.

"This trend makes me worried and wary. The circumstances surrounding such results are undoubtedly wicked. There are no excuses for it and we have to fight it. I'm waiting for suggestions from those who may have some information on what the reasons were for the weak end to the season."