Hearts fans planning a boycott?

By: Ian Rose | December 18th, 2007

I know it’s a broken record, but I’ll say it once again. Hearts are in trouble. Currently sitting in eighth position in the twelve-team SPL, the Jambos have not been dismal this season so much as inconsistent. When the same team draws with both Gretna and Celtic, you know things are a little shaky. The same Hearts side that drew the Bhoys in the league, and threw them out of the league cup, have now dropped two points to relegation favorites Gretna (out of Gretna’s six points overall). The reason, according to many fans, is also nothing new: Vlad.

Hearts owner Vladimir Romanov, the clown prince of the SPL, has brought every possible emotion to Tynecastle. His infusion of cash certainly had a part in Hearts’ second-place league finish in 2005-06. His need to control all aspects of his team just as certainly led to the loss of manager George Burley, who had, at the time of his leaving Hearts, put them on top of the league. Since then, the team has had a new manager every six months or so, and have spent this season under Stephen Frail as assistant manager, assisting (officially) no one. Everyone knows who is calling the shots, including team selections, and that is none other than Mad Vlad Romanov.

Now, a section of fans is supposedly planning a boycott of the upcoming Gretna match at Tynecastle on February 9th, to protest Romanov’s meddling in affairs that are best left to Frail, or even better, to an actual manager who is yet to be named. It’s an interesting choice of fixture. Either the folks over at JambosKickBack, the website organizing the boycott, are thinking that the Gretna match is the perfect time because Hearts’ failures against Gretna are the most glaring dark spots in the season so far … or that’s a match they just don’t care to watch. If I supported a team that had drawn twice against (by far) the worst team in the league, I’m not sure I’d make a trip to see it a third time either.

Hearts supporters’ chief Derek Watson has made his thoughts known about the boycott, calling it a “knee-jerk reaction”. If fans getting up in arms about Romanov now, after years of this sort of thing at Tynecastle, is a knee-jerk reaction, that’s a knee in need of some serious surgery. Personally, I don’t know if the kind of numbers JambosKickBack can muster will make much difference to the team’s billionaire boss, but I can’t say I blame them for trying. I’m no Hearts fan, but I feel for them, supporting a team that has traded a musical-chairs management rotation for no proper manager at all. Empty that stadium, and maybe, just maybe, Vlad will take some notice.

If he’s even watching the match.