Hearts show a cruel side

Five days after Celtic lost to Hearts at Parkhead in 2000, John Barnes lost his job as manager. When Martin O'Neill suffered the same fate last month, he must have wondered if this was the end: it was for John Robertson.

Five days after Celtic lost to Hearts at Parkhead in 2000, John Barnes lost his job as manager. When Martin O'Neill suffered the same fate last month, he must have wondered if this was the end: it was for John Robertson.

Just six weeks after guiding Hearts to their first win in the east of Glasgow in five years, Robertson is on the dole. Even O'Neill's understanding of the capricious world of management must have been tested by the events of the last week that will leave him staring at an empty dugout when the teams meet again at Tynecastle today.

Just 35 games after replacing Craig Levein last November, Robertson has been cut adrift by the club which he symbolises. His 18 years at Hearts as a player - and record scorer, with over 300 goals - are mockingly contrasted by his six months as manager.

Robertson's departure has left a bad taste in the mouths of Hearts fans, who may use today's encounter to protest against the decision of Vladimir Romanov, the club's new owner. The Lithuanian millionaire has been portrayed as a poor man's Roman Abramovich - his wealth is just £260m - but the way Robertson was jettisoned makes the treatment of Claudio Ranieri at Chelsea seem humane.

Was Robertson a failure? Two cup semi-finals and wins at Parkhead and Basle in the Uefa Cup would seem to indicate otherwise. However, the impressive young manager - who gave up a safe job at Inverness Caledonian Thistle when his old team headhunted him - seems to have paid the price for failing to secure European football for a third successive campaign.

Hearts earned around £2m from this season's Uefa Cup run, but Romanov would appear to be impatient for a ret- urn on his investment. When he arrived in Edinburgh before Christmas, Romanov - who owns a bank but began his working life on a Russian submarine - promised a £20m five-year plan to help Hearts mount a genuine challenge to Celtic and Rangers. Now that money is likely to go to Dick Advocaat or Roy Hodgson, who are tipped as the experienced successors to Robertson.

Anatoly Byshovets was employed by Romanov as an adviser to keep tabs on the training ground at Hearts. "There is absolutely no doubt that he wants to achieve something in football," said the former Russia national coach. "Yet behind that there are business goals. At the point Romanov arrived at Hearts, they were a long way off from Chelsea. There is an awful lot of work ahead, but I do think that he has laid the foundations for the future."

Steven Pressley, the captain, will take on a dual role today after agreeing to take charge of the team for the final two games of the season. The Scotland defender extended the Stamford Bridge motif. "John's departure was similar to Ranieri," said Pressley. "It would have been an easy and popular option to keep John. The board made a brave decision and only time will tell if they have got it right."