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The owner of Lithuanian champion club FBK "Kaunas" Vladimir Romanov has ambitious plans, and in Scotland with the Edinburgh club he wants to rival the giants "Celtic" and "Rangers", as reported by the Scottish press.
The shareholder of "Ukio bankas" V.Romanov, who is considered one of the most influential figures in the Lithuanian football world, already owns shares in "Hearts" and should buy enough next week to take over the club's management. He promises to appoint his close former coach of the Russian national team Anatoliy Byshovets as the general director.
Speaking about his goals, the Lithuanian businessman said: "I want the team to achieve better results than all other clubs in the country, and make more people support 'Hearts' than 'Rangers' and 'Celtic'. In addition, we need a better stadium, as Tynecastle arena is currently not good enough."
The debt-laden "Hearts", with a debt of £20 million (about 100 million litas), has agreed to sell the Tynecastle stadium to a construction company, causing great dissatisfaction among the club's fans.
In turn, V.Romanov promised to consider whether it would be possible to cancel this deal: "I understand that this stadium is the spiritual home of 'Hearts' fans. I will try to maintain the stadium and build an even better one than those in Glasgow. In order to develop the infrastructure of the stadium, we would need more land around it, but we are considering various possibilities."
However, Romanov did not promise large investments immediately, as in his opinion, it is better to invest gradually and achieve better results in the future. When asked why he doesn't stay at home and try to implement his plans with "Kaunas", the businessman replied that in Lithuania "football is the second branch of sports after basketball."
