Football Daily - Introducing……Romanov: Czar of Hearts

Episode Date: February 12, 2025

Martin Geissler investigates Vladimir Romanov’s rise from Soviet submarine cook to millionaire football club owner and fugitive in a gripping tale of ambition, power, and chaos. With First hand testimonies from those that were there, Martin will hear just how Vlad made his money, came to power in Edinburgh and shocked Scottish football before discovering how it all went wrong, leaving Romanov penniless and a wanted man.

Hello Football Daily listeners, my name is Martin Geisler. I'm a journalist at BBC Scotland, but more importantly than that perhaps, I'm a Hart supporter. And I thought you might enjoy the first episode of my new podcast, Romanov, Tsar of Hearts. I've been investigating the Russian-born oligarch Vladimir Romanov and his rise from lowly submarine cook to millionaire owner of the club I support, Heart of Middle Odeon and how it all came crashing down as he found himself an international fugitive. It's a tale of ambition, of power and of chaos. If you enjoy this first episode then just search BBC Sounds for Romanov, Tsar of Hearts. The following podcast contains some strong language.

The year is 1965. We're somewhere in the North Sea. Slipping through the inky waters is the K-19 nuclear submarine. Once a symbol of Soviet power, it worked as a hidden threat, unseen. It could strike anywhere, at any time. But these days, it has another name. Now they call it the Widowmaker. Four years back, in 1961, a reactor leaked on board. Twenty sailors died. And yet, here she is again, patched up and back under the waves. Every sailor on board knows the gamble they take when they serve on a sub like this.

One small mistake could kill the whole crew. Any day could be their last. It takes a special kind of person to sign up to work on the Widowmaker. But there's one sailor on this submarine who is of particular interest to us. Down in the galley there's a cook. Not the most glamorous job you might think, but a key role and respected among the crew. The cook is seen as one of the most senior staff on board. Why?

Well, imagine what it's like. Soon the dark days under the waves become weeks. Claustrophobic, monotonous weeks. The crew need to be fed, and fed well. It's vital to morale. And morale, in a place like this, is everything. An unhappy crew can make mistakes, fatal mistakes. The chef is well aware of that.

Later in life, people will look back at these years to explain the chef's behaviour. Was it the pressure and the danger of life underwater that gave him such a relentless drive and ambition on land? Because the man we're watching cooking dinner for the crew on a Soviet submarine is one Vladimir Romanov. And one day, he'll become the Tsar of Hearts. This is the story of one of the most astonishing, explosive and downright bizarre episodes in the history of Scottish football. If you gave this storyline to a Hollywood filmmaker,

it'd get rejected due to too incredulous to believe. The tenure of Russian-born oligarch Vladimir Romanov as the owner of Heart of Medlothian FC. He explodes onto the scene as the great saviour of Tyncastle. The timing was absolutely perfect. But it doesn't take long for the cracks to show. If he's not happy, he becomes a frightening character. There are confrontations with the media.

I was at home. Check out, I must feel that night. With the Scottish football authorities. Romanov came from places where not all things are fair in football. His perception in the game in Scotland was the same. Problems with players. He said, you know in Russia, football is really important. He's like, you know sometimes people disappear.

This is the inside story of Vladimir Romanov, a man whose personal ambition took him from Soviet submarines to unimaginable wealth, from footballing glory to international influence. Lithuanian television is reporting that prosecutors in the country have issued an arrest warrant for the heart's majority shareholder, Vladimir Romanov. an arrest warrant for the Hartz majority shareholder, Vladimir Romanov. I'm Martin Geisler, and from BBC Scotland and BBC Sounds, this is Romanov, the Tsar of Hartz.

Episode 1, The Man From The East. The Man From The East. I've been a fan of Heart of Midlothian football clubs since I was seven years old. I've walked a well-trodden path through the streets that I grew up on, heading down Gorgie Road towards Tyne Castle Park on a match day. There's something really special about this corner of Edinburgh and this stadium. It's got a very distinct smell. For Hearts fans it's a kind of Proustian scent, one with and the memories come flooding back. Goals, heroes, victories, famous victories and yep defeats. Technically it's the smell of roasted malt barley from the distillery next door to the

ground, but for us fans, it's just pure nostalgia for the nostrils. This widely beloved stadium plays a crucial part in this story. We begin in the late 1990s with one of my happiest and most treasured memories. On 16 May 1998, my team Hearts beat one, the 10th Scottish Cup! And it's their first major trophy of any sort since 1962. Our first trophy in 36 long years. I'd never seen anything like it. Boy was it good, it was everything I'd dreamed it would be. The next day, more than 200,000 of us fans crammed onto the streets of Edinburgh

to watch our favourite players parade the oldest trophy in world football on an open top bus trip through the city. We thought the cup win would be the start of something amazing, we'd build on this for sure. We had European football and the big Glasgow clubs in our sights. All very romantic, but the harsh truth of football is that you're not going to make it big without one key ingredient. Money. Here's journalist Moira Gordon. There was that positivity after the cut. People thought it was a stepping stone to something greater. So they were almost chasing something. They were being more ambitious in their spending,

they were looking for bigger names to come in. But it soon soured pretty quickly. Chasing glory, the debt didn't just grow, it ballooned. Chief Executive Chris Robinson had signed off a deal which saw the Scottish media group invest £8 million in the club. It turned out half of that money was a loan, and alone the club would struggle to ever repay. In the dugout, the manager had to pay as much attention to balancing the books as beating the opposition. Back then, one such manager was former Hearts captain Craig Levine.

When I took over, the club's finances were in a bit of a mess. As an example of how quickly the club had grown, if you want to call it that, was when I left in 95, I think there was a couple of players on about £1,000 a week. So when I went back as the manager in 2000, there were four players earning £1,000 a week. So I went back as the manager in 2000, there were four players earning £10,000 a week. So there obviously been quite a dramatic increase in the money that was put into the club. Hearts were spending beyond their means,

but they weren't the only ones. By 2003, Scottish football was in crisis. Three seasons ago, the league's combined debt was £50 million. The season before last it had doubled to £100 million. With a club like Motherwell already in administration, the writing's on the wall. The writings on the wall. Clubs might survive if they could cut their costs, sell their star players or attract new investors. But others like Motherwell, Dundee and Livingston fell into administration. There was a widely shared expectation that Hearts would be next to go to the wall. Gary Halliday is as big a Hearts fan as you'll find.

By the time 2004 came around, just six years after our big Cup win, it's safe to say he had the fear. I think Hearts were about £20 million in debt. I think we chased the dream that Hearts had spent, or borrowed the money to try and win the league. We'd obviously won the Cup in 98, we'd had a couple of Cup finals before that. So we were kind of chasing the dream until obviously the family silver was getting sold. Then everybody started to think, okay, this is serious.

Come 2004, hearts were staring into the abyss. But Chief Executive Chris Robinson thought he could see a way back out. Chris Robinson's plans to avoid disaster was to try and sell Towncastle. It was around £19-20 million in debt and the only way they could salvage that was in a deal with Calahomes to try and sell the ground and as fans felt, their history, their home from underneath them. That was the big plan. Sell Tyne Castle to a housing developer and lease nearby Murrayfield

Stadium instead, a venue better known for hosting rugby internationals and pop concerts than football. The idea that they would go and have to share in Murrayfield and basically rent out a rugby stadium that was seen as a bit soulless wasn't what Tyncastle, the atmosphere that came conjured up there and the fortress that it was. The idea that they would sell off their ground appalled fans and that's where the absolute toxicity of it all came to a head. Robinson's plan to sell Tyne Castle and move to Murrayfield won the board's approval, but fans were in uproar. We saw it as a disaster and a betrayal of the club's history and its identity.

You couldn't take hearts out of Tyyncastle. Tyncastle is hearts. The board tried to spin the move as a big positive and they turned to the media for help. I remember getting a call from Chris Robinson's secretary inviting me on behalf of Chris to Murrayfield for a closed door game against Dundee because they were hopeful to have a deal in place to sell the stadium, Tyne Castle, to a housing developer, and they wanted to see how it would look at Murrayfield. This is Mark Donaldson, now a football commentator for ESPN, but back then he was the sports editor of the local radio station, Radio 4th.

The full game took place between Hart and Dundee in front of only a handful of people. It was basically a PR stunt on behalf of the club to try and persuade me to persuade everyone else that this was a good idea, but Tyne Castle is where I first went up the stairs of the family enclosure back in 19th of October 1985. Tyne Castle is the place where a little Martin Geisler ran out as a mascot back in the day as well. It's our home, we didn't want to lose it. The board thought the plan was a win-win for the club, clear the debt and move into a new

home big enough and grand enough to host European football. After all, Hearts could never afford to build an international venue like Murrayfield. But the fans weren't buying it and the backlash was intense. Basically a death of Hearts as I can see it. The loss of this stadium will be a devastating blow to all Hearts supporters. It's where I saw Willie Bald, Willie Hamilton, John Robertson. These kind of memories are not transferable. John Robertson. These kind of memories are not transferable.

And so Pouche eventually came to shove. Chairman Doug Smith couldn't convince the fans, so he resigned. A replacement had to be found, and quickly. Chris Robinson turned to the most respectable person he could think of. respectable person he could think of. It was when I was a member of parliament I got this phone call from Chris Robinson saying, would you be interested in being chairman? This is Lord George Fuchs. Crikey, what the hell is going on? So I said, let me think about it. I asked people, my wife of course, and my two sons who are both our supporters, other people and they said,

oh, I don't think you should do it, you know, it'll be difficult. 20 million pounds in debt, decision had been made by the board badly to sell the stadium to lease the Murray Field for the games. And things were really, really bad, so don't take it on. And I got back and I agreed. They all said, ah ha ha, we knew you would.

So you get in and you get a look at the books, and what do you find? How bad was the situation? It was terrible. I mean, it was absolutely terrible. Yeah, we could have finished. You know, it's not easy to get the finances to keep a football club going. So we were in difficulty and we could well have closed. First of all, we had to get the decision to sell the ground overturned. George Fuchs inherited Hart's financial headaches, and while his predecessor Doug Smith felt

selling up the stadium would be the best way to save the club, the Hart's fan in Fuchs wasn't convinced. He knew he had to buy some time to find another solution. The brilliant thing that George Fuchs had done at the time of the negotiating with Calla Homes was to ensure that there was a clause in the contract that Hartz could escape it up until I think it was the end of January. But then we had this huge debt and what do we do about it? And so we had to find someone with money. George had bought time, but the clock was still ticking. He needed to find investment

by January 31st 2004. If not, Tyne Castle would be demolished. As George was scouring the land for a saviour, it so happened that an ex-Soviet Sub-Mariner had popped his periscope into the waters of Scottish football. Vladimir Romanov had come a long way from that tiny, claustrophobic submarine kitchen. He'd developed a keen eye for a prophet, a skill born out of necessity. Here's Charlie Mann, soon to become Romanov's spokesperson. His father was a Russian war hero involved in the taking of Berlin from the Nazis. He then died when Vlad was young, so Vlad then became the breadwinner of the family.

breadwinner of the family. Loutouris Varnavichas knows Romanov well. He worked with him for years. He'd go on to become the president of the Lithuanian Football Association. He started very early to do business with some Russian oligarchs, young oligarchs in that time, where he was smuggling the raw materials to produce knitted things. This you can imagine, he was buying wool somewhere in Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, bringing to Lithuania to knit and to make sweaters for example. One turnover usually was around 300%. Back then, before the mid-80s, Vlad played a dangerous game, doing business on the fringes

of the law. He was good at it, especially the stuff involving textiles, but that brought him some unwanted attention. He physically had a very successful business taken from him by the KGB, which was, because he was in the Merchant Navy and he'd noticed in the Merchant Navy that youngsters were wearing branded gear, so he was making branded gear and selling it in Lithuania and that became very successful, built a lot of business, big factory. The KGB came and said, right, Vlad, we're having that. And he couldn't do anything about it. Losing a business to the KGB would be enough to push most people firmly back

onto the straight and narrow. But not Vlad. If anything, it sharpened his drive and determination to succeed at all costs. For Romanov, when one door was slammed in his face, he forced another one open. This is Sergei Fetitovac, probably best described as Romanov's right-hand man. He was doing things that were not allowed to do. He was doing business at the time the business was not really allowed and he was a tough guy.

He was ready for all kinds of consequences. Was he a frightening character? He can be a frightening character if he's angry. If he's not happy, if he's not satisfied, he becomes a frightening character. He doesn't have a big physical presence. He's not a big man. So in what ways, what makes him frightening? He's very high energy and his temper is much, much bigger than him. So he can dictate, despite that he's not a big man, he can dictate the atmosphere. To say that Vlad was a confident businessman would be an understatement.

He was unafraid of failure, as big success was always round the corner, like an angry Russian del boy, but with actual business acumen. When 1989 came around, Romanov was ready to enter the Baltic big league. He joined a consortium to establish Lithuania's first ever private bank, Yukio Bankas. Then it was a case of being in the right place at the right time. When Lithuania gained its independence from the USSR in the early 90s, state-owned companies were privatised, sold off to the highest bidder. And thanks to his shiny new bank, Romanov didn't mess about. He snapped up a number of firms and then played the same

trick across Europe. The big money rolled in, and as it did, he tightened his grip on Ukio Bankas. Its diverse portfolio now included the top Lithuanian football club of the time, FBK Kaunas. And so it was that Vladimir Romanov and the world of football collided. Romanov was a long time involved with football in Lithuania and he had connections all over former Soviet Bloc. He funded and owned a club in Lithuania which was a successful club and they were champions for many years. As the owner of top Lithuanian club Kaunas,

Vlad had noticed he could make more money from his players if he could only get them more playing time in the bigger overseas leagues. And he, you know, from long period of funding and seeing that, you know, the clubs really struggle with funds and finances, he's seen that there is an opportunity of moving Eastern European players to Western leagues, where leagues were more affluent and more rich. He wanted to get a shopping window for players

that he thought are undervalued in Eastern Europe, because they have good skills, they can play at high level, according to his assessment. And he just needed a shopping window where they can show themselves and they can be transferred to other clubs, to other leagues, for good money. It all started, I think, when he was playing Celtic. Kovalnick's club was playing Celtic and we met Celtic's chairman.

We had this dinner at night before the match and Romanov started to seek that, maybe, why not Celtic will take Kovalnick's as a cedar blob? Because there is no other way for the good Lithuanian players to be exported to Europe, because until then Lithuanian players primarily went via Russia to the West. Vladimir Romanoff's first idea was to turn his Lithuanian club, FBK Kaunas, into a feeder

club for Celtic. That would be an excellent shop window for his players, he thought. But Latouris Fernovicius saw a different opportunity. And I said to him, there are so bad situations in Scottish football now financially that you can buy ten of them instead of them buying you. Then we went to speak with some of the auditors that were bankrupting clubs and we found that really in that situation, in that time, there were a lot of Scottish clubs who had really big financial problems and we started to look at them what to buy instead of whom to sell. Vlad spent 2004 stalking Scottish football, looking for his shop window. He'd flirted

with Dundee, Dundee United and Dunfermline. All three rejected his advances. But the word was out. Rumours of an oligarch in need of a Scottish football club reached Edinburgh. Edinburgh came up and it was the city people who were approaching Romanov then. The people from the city authority in Edinburgh? Yes. From the council. And they wanted him to come and buy into Hart specifically? Yes.

What did they say to him? They said that it's actually a very good facilities, very old club and has a lot of supporters and now the situation is that if you come and promise to cover the depth you can take over the club and for him that was very attractive because he saw very good facilities where the stadium was really in the good place. Romanoff met with Edinburgh's Deputy Lord Provost, Steve Cardowney, and Hart's shareholder and former chairman, Les Deans. Intrigued enough, he headed to London for a rendezvous with new chairman, Fooks. It was very strange because I'd heard his name mentioned. I think Steve Cardauni had introduced him to Les Deans

and he was the Deputy Lord Provost at the time and they suggested to me that I might see him and I saw him just over the road here in the Westminster Hall and he looked at it and was marveling at this wonderful hall, getting his picture taken and everything else. So I thought, this man's an interesting man. I think I didn't at the time really suss him out, his character, that I subsequently found out. He seemed a genuine, straightforward guy, a banker interested in Edinburgh because it's

got a banking reputation. And he seemed genuine, clearly had money. The bank, it wasn't the biggest bank in Lithuania, and Lithuania isn't a big country, but still a well-resourced bank. And Vlad had spotted that a well-resourced bank in Lithuania could also be a well-resourced bank somewhere else. This was much more about establishing his business in Scotland and Edinburgh than necessarily the club. The club was important but there's always, in all the other dealings he's had in the other countries, Belarus, Lithuania, you know, it's all about getting his business established and using football and fans in a club to raise his profile so he can do that. There are a few cities where finance is huge in the Europe.

Edinburgh is one of those and the kudos of getting a Lithuanian bank established in Edinburgh, in Scotland, was huge and that was the driver for the deal at the end of the day. Romanov came to Edinburgh looking for a shop window, but what he discovered was a bigger opportunity. The banker in him saw that saving hearts and saving Tyncastle might help his more lucrative assets too. The club would be a stepping stone, part of a bigger plan to expand all of his business interests. He went all in to make the purchase a reality. Here's the BBC's Brian McLaughlin. It was pretty obvious that once he got his teeth into hearts,

he could see something there that was a project for him. It was also the capital city of Scotland. He had the wealth to do it. It was a godsend to hearts at that point. But the shares were owned, Lesley Deans had a fair amount of shareholding, Chris Robinson had a fair amount of shareholding, so he had to purchase these shares. Vlad couldn't purchase the club outright. He had to buy out individual

shareholders, one after the other. shareholders, one after the other. The thing to bear in mind here is that Hart's ownership was a mixed bag with business people and passionate fans. And those fans, New Tyne Castle was earmarked for demolition come the end of January. Vlad's commitment to save the stadium couldn't be kept secret. Everybody knew. to save the stadium couldn't be kept secret. Everybody knew. I think he was the saviour coming in, so you started to think, OK, here we go, this could be a good thing, let's see how it goes. And as the year drew to a close, the fans were in for a Christmas present. Vladimir had a 10% shareholding

and he decided to flex his growing power. He demanded an extraordinary general meeting on January the 10th, the same day as the club's scheduled AGM. He wanted to send a message to the Hearts faithful and to the city of Edinburgh. He said that with the help of his own bank in Lithuania, he would cover the club's debt and save the stadium. But for that to happen, the board needed to vote to activate the Get Out clause negotiated by George Fuchs. Change was coming.

Or was it? Vlad had to make some assurances to the club ahead of this EGM. He didn't do it and that meant that the EGM was actually cancelled. The proposed votes, which the fans knew all about, had been cancelled. Even with Vlad buying up shares, making financial promises and commitments, things were starting to look desperate. Tynecastle Stadium was on life support. The fans couldn't understand why the Hearts board would delay saving their stadium once and for all. On Monday January the 10th the board arrived at Tynecastle for the scheduled AGM and

walked into a room full of angry shareholders demanding answers now. It was standing room only at that meeting and 450, maybe 500 shareholders, there was a few shareholders in the front row with Cossack hats on, and there was an edge about the meeting. And as usual, the board comes in, Chris Robinson takes his seat. He was booed, I think, as he walked in the door that night. It was just remarkable, the displeasure, the hatred towards this man.

The gorgie sweep was absolutely rammed. They had to open the fire escape or the doors up to the actual stadium to let some air into the building. The media, we were all up the back, kind of behind a cordon. Every time Robinson tried to put something forward, he was booed and whatever. Shame on you! Chris Robinson had really become a hate figure in Edinburgh and he was in great difficulties and been threats against his life, apparently.

The attitude of the fans was very strong. You want to fairly shake your fucking policy? The fans was very strong. You're fucking p***y! By this time, the fans blamed Chris Robinson and the Old Board, not only for taking the club to the edge of oblivion, but also for stopping the crucial vote that would save hearts and their stadium. You're fucking p***y! Fucking pearly shit, you arse! But I've never seen a meeting at which the old guard, thankfully not including me, got such a drubbing, such a heckling, such a vicious reception. It was really quite astonishing, the vitriol.

That was as poisonous an atmosphere as I can remember. It was like Tristan Robinson running the gauntlet of hate. Welcome to the 99th annual Federal Baby Party. I need you to... Nobody knows he's there. Not the board, not the shareholders, not even the media. He might have been denied the vote, but he was determined to make his presence felt.

Vlad was in the wings all right, and about to make an unforgettable entrance. And so, into this chaos, strode the man from the East. Ten minutes after the meeting started, Vladimir walked in and it was utterly bizarre, but the whole place rose to a man and Chris Robinson had to halt what he was saying as Vladimir and Sergius and a couple of other associates took their place there at the AGM. And that was the start of the Romanov Revolution in the past. You couldn't make it up. It's like something out of a movie.

The timing was absolutely perfect. I remember how dramatic it was because it just indicated the two stages of hearts, the old, tired people who had brought the club to its knees and the new savior who suddenly arrived. And I think it was a big event for everyone. I think he, I don't sure if I can use the word fell in love, but he felt the situation, he felt the club, he felt the people who were there. He sort of understood where he is, what he's getting into. Finally, we fans got our wish.

Chairman George Fuchs made the big announcement. The vote was about to happen. He invited Sergius Fedotovas to speak. In a move clearly aimed at winning over the crowd, Fedotovas stood up and delivered a line from the hearts song, the club's anthem since the 50s. Hearts, Hearts, glorious Hearts, it's down at Tyne Castle they bide. I remember it was said that Hearts will keep Tyne Castle and will continue playing at Tyne Castle

and it was a big emotional explosion in the room and people were cheering and applauding. We understood the importance of the stadium for the club, you know, home stadium for a football team. Voting slips were handed out around the room, but was there really any need? Vladimir had the backing of the fans, and with his 10% shareholding and Chris Robinson obliged to vote with him,

it was a foregone conclusion. Hartz would be staying at Tyne Castle, the ground I'd loved since I was a boy, the ground I still love now. Exciting times were ahead, or so it seemed. For better or for worse, who knew? The Tsar of Hearts had arrived? Next time on Romanov, Tsar of Hearts.