Name Roman Romanov | Parents Vladimir Romanov | |
 | ||
Roman Romanov pictures.
Roman Romanov (Russian: Roman Romanov) (born 1976) is a Lithuanian businessman of Russian origin as well as the one time, largely absentee chairman of Scottish Premier League football club Hearts. Romanov is the son of Hearts' former majority shareholder Vladimir Romanov.
Romanov joined Hearts as a non-executive director on 1 February 2005, after his father acquired a controlling interest in the company. Following the departures of George Foulkes and Phil Anderton on 31 October 2005, he was appointed as chairman and interim chief executive. Hearts announced at the time that Romanov would assume the title of chief executive "on a temporary basis... pending a further appointment". As of April 2009 no further appointment to that position has been made, although Campbell Ogilvie has since been promoted to the position of managing director, with responsibility for day-to-day operations of the club.
Like his father, Romanov has embarrassed the club by claiming the Scottish football authorities of conspiring against Hearts. He stated at the club's annual general meeting in April 2008 that the Scottish Premier League was a "fixed" league and that referees had "screwed" Hearts frequently during the 2007–08 season.
As his father's business empire collapsed, Romanov was removed from any link to Hearts by the purchase of the club by Ann Budge in 2014.