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Former Edinburgh coach George Burley's wife Jill stated that she believes her husband was fired because she disagreed with the club's owner, Lithuanian businessman Vladimir Romanov.
"George often had lunch on Saturdays with Mr. Romanov," Jill Burley told the Scottish newspaper "Sunday Mail." "The week before he was fired, I also had lunch with him, and Mr. Romanov seemed very rude to me."
"Without mentioning anything else, he had already eaten by the time we arrived," continued the coach's wife. "I found it unbelievable, but maybe that's a Russian tradition."
"We didn't find common ground and he didn't like me at all. He didn't speak English and talked through an interpreter, but it's fair to say that it didn't bother us at all."
G. Burley left the Scottish champions Hearts last weekend, and the official reason for his departure was "irreconcilable differences" with the team's owner. The coach was fired just a day after Romanov's "Ukio Bank Investment Group," raised its shareholding to 55.5% and made an offer to buy all remaining shares.
Under G. Burley's leadership, the team had not lost a single match, but on Saturday they suffered their first defeat as they lost 2-0 to their arch-rivals Hibernian.
"It is obvious that both of us were stunned and shocked about the dismissal," J. Burley spoke about her husband's dismissal. "But we felt that George's merits were not appreciated. Maybe if he hadn't achieved so much, he would still be leading Hearts? Who knows."
She also added that G. Burley has not received any serious offers to lead any team yet.
Meanwhile, V. Romanov's spokesperson Charlie Mann told the press that "V. Romanov apologizes to Mrs. Burley if he in any way offended her, as that was certainly not his intention."
