VLADIMIR Romanov yesterday parted company with of one of his most loyal supporters when the Hearts owner's recent unwillingness to communicate with either media or club supporters in Scotland saw Charlie Mann withdraw his services as his spokesman.
Mann, a director of leading public relations firm Weber Shandwick who have worked for Romanov in Scotland since the Lithuanian businessman's first involvement with Hearts in 2004, prompted the decision not to renew the contract.
It is believed Man
n had grown increasingly frustrated by his company's relationship with Romanov and could no longer see the value in providing a public relations service for someone with so little interest in keeping the public informed of his strategy or vision for Hearts.
Mann remains on good personal terms with Romanov, who agreed that the contract with Weber Shandwick should not be renewed, and is unchanged in his belief that his now former client has only positive intentions for Hearts.
A distinct change in policy by Romanov over the past few months, however, has seen the club's majority shareholder decide to opt out of communicating with Hearts supporters either directly or through the normal media outlets.
"Working with Vladimir Romanov for the last four years has been a unique experience, a rollercoaster ride, and it has shown that a club like Hearts does have the ability to challenge the Old Firm in Scotland," Mann told The Scotsman last night.
"But communication is vital to that whole process and I have my views on that. As a professional in the public relations industry, I am clear on the value of communicating regularly and effectively with your customers."
As Romanov's 'spin doctor' to the Scottish media, Mann was a staunch defender of the controversial Russian-born banker throughout what has been the most turbulent and dramatic period of the Tynecastle club's history.
It cost Mann his 12-year association as a football correspondent with BBC Scotland when he felt undermined and betrayed by a Frontline Scotland documentary which carried footage of him intervening to end an interview with Romanov.
Mann did not always publicly agree with Romanov's decisions, contesting the sacking of Graham Rix as head coach in February 2006 and also defending the right of Steven Pressley, Paul Hartley and Craig Gordon, the so-called 'Riccarton Three', to air their discontent at the way the club was being run later that year.
Mann remained, however, a valuable and effective buffer between Romanov and the media who ensured that the club owner's viewpoint, however controversial, was given as much prominence as those of his critics.
Romanov's public relations will now be handled by Jurga Chomskyte-McGeever at the headquarters of his Ubig organisation in Lithuania, while Hearts retain their own press office at Tynecastle.
It is now a moot point, however, just how much anyone else connected with the club is now in the loop as far as Romanov is concerned. The outburst by Roman Romanov, his son and chairman of the club, at the Hearts AGM in April came as a complete surprise to Mann and others at boardroom level.
Romanov junior faces an SFA enquiry for asserting that the SPL is a "fixed league" and that games had been "screwed by referees", comments which embarrassed those attempting to steer Hearts away from the paranoid tendencies so often fuelled by the club owner in the past.
The now infamous club statement of 1 January, which declared the intention to appoint a new manager with experience of British football, was fully supported by both Mann and Hearts managing director Campbell Ogilvie.
The Hearts players reported for pre-season training yesterday with caretaker coach Stephen Frail and sporting director Anatoly Korobochka still in charge of the first-team squad as Romanov's tortuous search for a new manager approaches a seventh month.
His failure to lure Mark McGhee from Motherwell saw him switch his attention to Icelandic coach Gudjon Thordarson, Slovakian Vladimir Weiss and Belarussian Andrei Zygmantovich. While Thordarson has worked in English football and planned to appoint Scotland coach Terry Butcher as his assistant, the other two candidates clearly failed to fulfil the criteria set out in the original statement.
The public nature of McGhee's rejection of Hearts certainly stung Romanov and hardened his resolve to close all lines of communication with the media. It has now also cost him the services of the man who was prepared to act as his human shield from those who remain most sceptical about his stewardship of Hearts.
Defending the indefensible: six PR disasters that rocked Tynecastle• OCTOBER 2005
George Burley sacked as manager with Hearts unbeaten at the top of the SPL having enjoyed their best start to a campaign in modern times. Charlie Mann hears the news while on his way to covering a match at St Mirren for the BBC and turns his car around to face the media flak.
• OCTOBER 2006
Vladimir Romanov says the whole Hearts first team squad will be put up for sale 'to Kilmarnock, or whatever club will take them' if they fail to beat Dunfermline. Mann steps in to try and defuse the comments. The club descends further into turmoil with captain Steven Pressley addressing the media on the eve of the Dunfermline game, flanked by Paul Hartley and Craig Gordon, to speak of 'significant unrest' in the dressing room.
• NOVEMBER 2006
Pressley, as the spokesman for the 'Riccarton Three', is stripped of the captaincy by Romanov. Mann defends the players' right to free speech but Pressley leaves the club the following January, joining Celtic. Hartley is sold to the same club later that month, while Gordon is also left out of the team for a spell before being sold to Sunderland in August 2007 for a club record £9million.
• FEBRUARY 2007
An interview with Romanov in a Russian football magazine includes claims that both Celtic and Rangers have been making payments to match officials. Mann is left to clean up the mess, suggesting the comments were taken out of context.
• JANUARY 2008
Hearts issue a statement outlining their search for a new 'British style' manager. Almost six months later, the search continues after Mark McGhee turned down the position in favour of staying at Motherwell, with Mann and others out of the Romanov loop.
• APRIL 2008
Roman Romanov, Vladimir's son and club chairman, tells the Hearts agm the SPL is "fixed" and "screwed by referees". Mann cringes in embarrassment.
The full article contains 1083 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
