Vladimir Romanov
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Image:VladimirRomanov.jpg Vladimir Romanov (Владимир Романов) is a controversial ethnic-Russian, having Lithuanian citizenship, businessman and banker, who is based in Lithuania. He owns or controls Heart of Midlothian Football Club ("Hearts") in Edinburgh, Scotland, FBK Kaunas in Lithuania and FC MTZ-RIPO in Belarus.
Romanov owns a substantial stake in Ūkio Bankas in Lithuania, the first private bank in the country. He also has business interests in Bosnia-Herzegovina, Belarus, Russia, Serbia, Poland, Slovakia and the other Baltic countries, ranging from cement plants to television stations.
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[edit] Football interests
Romanov initially acquired a controlling stake in Hearts from Chris Robinson during January 2005. Romanov's interest turned to Hearts after various other attempts to acquire other Scottish clubs (including Dundee United and Dunfermline) were rejected by their shareholders. Romanov subsequently took full control of Hearts after making an offer to shareholders in October 2005. He made his son, Roman Romanov, chairman of Hearts and also appointed his niece (Julya Goncaruk) as a director of Hearts.
Besides Hearts, Kaunas and MTZ-Ripo, Romanov reportedly has influence over no less than half of the clubs in the A Lyga (Lithuanian Football Premier League)<ref>Romanov master of getting right result - The Scotsman, 8 March, 2005</ref>.
[edit] 2005/2006 season
In February 2006, Romanov agreed to meet a Hearts players' delegation, led by club captain Steven Pressley, to hear their grievances about the club. It was claimed that the players were unhappy with Romanov's hands-on approach to the team. In a controversial move, Romanov had appointed Graham Rix as manager of Hearts on 8 November 2005, as the successor to George Burley. Romanov then sacked Rix on March 22 2006. Former FBK Kaunas coach Valdas Ivanauskas was made head coach of Hearts until the end of the 2005/2006 season.
Ivanauskas made an immediate impact, guiding Hearts to second place in the Scottish Premier League and victory in the Scottish Cup. Ivanauskas was confirmed as the permanent head coach on 30 June 2006.
[edit] 2006/2007 season
In October 2006, following a 2-0 home defeat by Kilmarnock, Romanov declared that his Hearts players would be put up for sale if a satisfactory result was not achieved against Dunfermline Athletic. The fate of these players remains to be seen, as the score at the end of that game was 1-1.
Following the match with Kilmarnock, Ivanauskas went on a leave of absence due to unspecified health reasons. Eduard Malofeev took on the role of caretaker manager. Kaunas coach Eugenijus Riabovas was expected to replace Malofeev as temporary head coach at Hearts, but Ivanauskas returned from exile instead, and resumed control on 27 November 2006.
[edit] Eduard Malofeev
Vladimir Romanov put Eduard Malofeev in charge of Kaunas during 2005. Eduard Malofeev left his post as head of the youth academy at MTZ-Ripo, and was introduced to the players at Kaunas on 15 December 2005. Malofeev was then appointed as director of football at Hearts in summer 2006, before temporarily taking control of the team in October 2006. Malofeev returned to Eastern Europe in November 2006 in order to undertake coaching courses.
[edit] Notes
[edit] Early life
He made some of his first money selling bootleg LPs from the back of a car. He also had some seafaring experience working the Soviet submarine K-19 for the KGB.
[edit] Language skills
While a native Russian speaker, he speaks some English, though he frequently has to use a Russian-English interpreter.
[edit] K-19
In 2006, he bought the K-19 to restore it and turn it into a museum <ref>The Daily Record. Jambos chiefvlad splashes out on sub</ref>.
[edit] References
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[edit] See also
[edit] External link
lt:Vladimiras Romanovas ru:Романов, Владимир fi:Vladimir Romanov
