Hearts owner Romanov slams media 'monkeys'

05 January 2012 19:16

Hearts owner Vladimir Romanov launched a new attack on the press "monkeys" he claims have "tricked" the Scottish Premier League into taking action against his side over unpaid players' wages.

The Edinburgh club paid the outstanding December wages on Wednesday, hours after the SPL handed them a January 11 deadline, but Romanov insisted officials knew what would happen in any event as a fee was due from English Premier League side Wolves for the transfer of Eggert Jonsson.

Hearts have still to respond directly to an SPL instruction to pay players interest on three delayed payments and costs related to the hearing, initiated by a complaint made by the Professional Footballers' Association Scotland on behalf of the squad.

However, Romanov has insisted he is not putting any more money into Hearts, fifth in the table but a huge 21 points behind leaders Celtic.

Romanov a businessman of Russian origin, who also owns sides in Lithuania and Belarus, issued a typically forthright statement on Hearts' official website, saying: "As soon as Hearts moved closer to the third spot the monkeys start to squeal, lie and create conspiracy plots.

"I thought I had expressed myself clearly -- I am selling the club and I am not going to give any more money away.

"It is pointless to support show business, not football. Hearts is now living out of its own budget.

"Everyone knew, including players, media and SPL that the wages are going to be paid as soon as the money was received for Eggert Jonsson, who was sold last year.

"But media still tried to create conspiracy plots about the team and managed to get a prompt and unwise decision from the SPL meeting, which the club asked it to postpone until next week in order to get opportunity to pay the wages.

"As such I have not cheated anyone.

"The monkeys tricked the SPL, fans and themselves and showed who is in charge of the football mafia.

"The only thing left for the club to do is to develop its own youth... the progress is there.

"But until they open a zoo for the monkeys and keep them in cages, they will keep jumping on people who are straightforward and not afraid to speak."

In November, Romanov told Russia's RIA-Novosti news agency he expected to make a colossal loss if he sold Hearts.

"I have invested around £200 million ($310 million)," he said. "But if I sell it then we are looking at 25 million for the land and plus the players and the club itself is another 25 million.

"That means around £50 million. This is not the money that I put in. But this is what it is worth."

Source: AFP