Tynie trio couldn’t stop Romanov lifting gold meddle
Former chairman Foulkes resigned from the board in protest and warned: “Romanov is behaving like a dictator. If he continues there wil l be a revolution against him.”
As Hearts hunted for Burley’s successor, they were linked with famous names such as Bobby Robson, Kevin Keegan, Ottmar Hitzfeld and Claudio Ranieri.
There was an understandable sense of dismay when Vlad instead appointed Graham Rix, a man who had spent six months in jail for having sex with a 15-year- old girl.
The Engl ishman would last just four months, with Romanov interfering in team affairs and key defender Andy Webster frozen out after refusing to sign a new deal.
Valdas Ivanauskas was drafted in from Lithuania to see out the season anda led Hear ts to ScottishS Cup glory and a second-place finish.
Things came to a head aftera a poor start to the followingf campaign whenw Ivanauskas was sents home on health groundsg and another Lithuanian,L Eduard Malofeyev,M became caretakerc boss.
B efor e a game withw Dunfermline in October,O Romanov warned the players they would all be put up for sale if they failed to defeat the Pars.
Just hours later, captain Pressley called a press conference at the Riccarton training ground and was flanked by midfielder Hartley and keeper Gordon as he spoke of “significant” dressing room unrest.
A statement complained about a lack of “coherence” at the top but it had little effect on a man who once staged a boxing match with str i ker Roman Bednar and hatched a plan to sub himself on in a friendly with Barcelona.
Pressley, viewed as the ring leader, was jettisoned six weeks later and moved to Celtic, where he was joined by Hartley after a £1.1m January move.
Sunderland then made a £ 9m offer for Gordon that Vlad couldn’t refuse.
The Gorgie Godfather continued to wheel and deal until his madness and mayhem took Hearts to the brink of collapse in 2013.