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Are Hearts Matches Being Fixed?

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Once again the disappointment and sheer exasperation within the Hearts support has gotten to the stage where people are desperately searching for any possible explanation that they can to shed light on the club’s alarming decline over the past two seasons.

Those who still ‘believe’ (God I hate that word!) that Romanov and co can’t possibly want the core business of the club (the football team) to perform poorly are still hopeful that this summer will see Hearts finally getting things sorted out, starting with the appointment of a new manager. They also feel that the disappointing results and performances we’ve seen this season, which arguably hit the lowest of low ebbs last night at Fir Park, is actually a good thing for the club in that it will only serve to further spur the owners into action, making them realise that the way they’ve been running things simply isn’t going to work.

While I do admire the optimism of the hardy few who are still in that category, are they merely continuing to delude themselves as much as many of us had done up until this season with regards to Romanov’s intentions for Hearts?

As I’ve hinted at on this site before, it was suggested to me a long time ago that the Romanovs were merely here to ‘use’ Hearts in the extreme to make some quick and dirty money. The primary focus I was told, was a betting syndicate who would be given privileged information about various things in relation to Hearts, from team line-ups and transfers to match results.

I scoffed at these suggestions at the time and thought that they were yet more jealous ramblings from fans of other clubs – and let’s face it I had justification in doing so given the fact that Hearts were being shot at from every sniper the media could find when they were riding high at the top of the SPL in 2005. A lot of the jibes about ‘significant unrest behind the scenes’ and ‘Tynecastle will be turned into flats’ had a very hollow ring to them back then, and tended to be communicated more in hope rather than expectation from those who were allegedly ‘ in the know’.

But what do we think of all this now I wonder? There certainly was ‘significant unrest’ as our former captain revealed to us on that infamous afternoon at Riccarton, and the subsequent mis-management of the Hearts first team since then has been so bad it’s left most of us desperately trying to find the right words to describe it. In fact, during the whole time that the Romanovs have been in power at Tynecastle, we have been regularly asking questions like ‘why are our best players not being picked?’, ‘why was he allowed to leave the club?’, ‘why are our tactics and team line-ups so inexplicably different every week?’ and more recently, ‘why are we continually playing with only a single player in attack, even at home against botttom-of-the-league opposition?’.

Without wanting to say for sure what is actually going on behind the scenes at Tynecastle (cos I haven’t a clue), am I the only one who thinks that these questions would all be answered in a single sweep if the truth was that certain influential figures at our club were involved in sticking the odd bet on certain things related to Hearts happening? It would make a lot of sense, especially those who cannot get their heads around why it is that Hearts appear to be so intent on doing all they can to make sure that the team doesn’t perform well.

Of course, this could well be a load of nonsense – a malicious rumour started by someone in the media or even the pub who clearly wants Hearts to remain in their current damaged state. But without anything in the way of proper communication coming out of Tynecastle at the moment, then as far as your average Jambo is concerned, literally anything is possible.

Trying times…….

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MrH

Come on the famous!

16 comments

  • Dalien says:

    I think if the games were rigged I would feel better. I honestly think we are just THAT bad.

  • MrH says:

    We probably are, but you can’t deny there’s definitely something very strange about the way our owners don’t seem to even care if the team do well or not?

  • Specs Haver says:

    Its a stretch to believe that this is all being done to support a betting scam. Things would become clearer if we knew why Frail keeps playing Ivaskevicius and Cesnauskas, with only 1 forward – I mean if he genuinely thinks Elliot is a good player, then its possible he rates these 2 as well, meaning that its not a scam, just a useless coach.

  • MrH says:

    All of these things could be true!

  • Specs Haver says:

    Right enough …. the 2 Liths do have a consistent habit of NOT causing any danger to the opposing goalkeeper. The question is – could this be a deliberate act on their part, or are they just useless ?

  • DigitalTwisted says:

    Do you mark your diary to depress me Mr H? Dear god. Where’s my shotgun…..

  • Donatasp says:

    I think I have to step in to defend my fellow Lithuanians. I think you guys are a little bit biased here. From the sevral games I seen on TV here, Mikoliunas and Cesnauskis are at least trying, Maybe they are unlucky sometimes, but you cannot blame them for deliberate acts or whatever. If you do not like Romanov, you shouldn’t direct your anger at the players only because they are of the same nationality. There is a number of players in the squad of other nationalities who are completely useless, but only Romanov and LITHS, as you call them, are constantly discussed here.

  • sam-d says:

    I remember saying at the time that the defeat to rangers where Kurkis threw the ball in the net in the last minuet to give the Hun a win, plus taking Velicka off as soon as he scored, was the most plausible fixed game that I’ve ever seen.

    And Donatasp, the reason Lithuanians are discussed most is because they are the only nationality who get picked regardless of ability, commitment or workrate. Of the dozen or more Lithuanians who have played in our first team, only Velicka was consistently worth a game. Chesney plays well one game in twenty (when he doesn’t have Vlad Flu) and while Miko is at least trying most of the itme now, he remains (a) a diver and (b) rubbish. And those two are probably the best Lithuanians to play for us after AV.

  • MrH says:

    Donatasp I think you’re being a wee bit unfair here. I can’t think of many (if any) articles on this site directly slating Lithuanians – I think all the players are in the same boat to be honest, although it is true to say that certain players from that country have been given preferential treatment. I am directing my own anger at Romanov and his management team, not the players.

    PS Apologies DT – from now on I’ll do my Stevie Frail act and attempt tp play up a depressing situation!

  • itsnomarooned says:

    I’m not convinced about the betting scam idea but I think this is mostly because I probably don’t have the wit to arrange one and I just can’t see how it’s all that viable a way to make money. Surely if you bet against the team and make them lose, the odds will change to reflect this and then it doesn’t make sense to bet on them losing as that is then a sure thing ??!! – unless I’ve missed a step. I prefer to think like Dalien and Specs – we’re just utter garbage. sam-d – Kurskis certainly did chuck the ball in the net but then so did Craig Gordon against Celtic!

  • Specs Haver says:

    Danatasp – by calling them Liths, I didn’t mean any disrespect to your nationality – apologies if you took it the wrong way. And, believe me, we have many Scots under-performing at Hearts too !! We’d be very glad to have your views on Hearts (and your fellow countrymen players) at any time on this site. In my opinion, it is strange and bizarre that 2 talented ball players like Miko and Cesnauskas can be SO ineffective within the team – Cesnauskas especially. You say theu look as if they are trying, but whenever they get near the goal they just lose all composure and consistently make the wrong decision. Is it poor coaching, poor discipline, poor attitude or something more sinister ? Hmmm…

  • MrH says:

    itsnomarooned you’re probably right, but I just thought that it was a theory worth throwing into the mix as we really don’t have a clue what’s going on. As for it being a viable way to make money, what if all of a sudden the plan was to make Hearts so poor that no-one would ever back them……..then all of a sudden ludicrous investment goes into the first team, covering the appointment of a top manager and huge amounts of money go on Hearts winning the championship………..?!

  • itsnomarooned says:

    Have you been drinking ??

  • MrH says:

    No but I was up early after a night on the sauce and it admittedly makes for rather drunken reading right now!

  • Specs Haver says:

    Nice theory, Mr H – except that ludicrous amounts of money have already been invested, and look where its got us !! Hang on though – I get it now – they deliberately don’t let Pinilla play, and run the club down … then when the bookies offer 1000-1 against us winning the SPL, they unleash him to score 40 goals and clinch the title. Brilliant !!! Almost as cunning as Baldrick’s cunning plans.

  • MrH says:

    …more cunning than a fox who has just been awarded the Professor Of Cunning title from Oxford University in fact…….

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