Vladimir Romanov wanted Hearts to go green during his tumultuous tenure as the Tynecastle club's owner.
And while he didn't accept the similarities to Hibs as an argument against it, former managing director David Southern claims he came to the rescue by citing Celtic. Romanov's spell as the main man in Gorgie was as rocky as it gets and fans look back on it with mixed emotions. From Jim Jefferies to Craig Levein, those who worked under him tell toe-curling tales of the eccentric Lithuanian's behaviour behind the scenes, but a pitch to change the kit to a yellow and green outfit was a step too far for Southern.
Romanov wanted the Jambos to ditch the iconic maroon and switch to a kit copying Lithuanian side Kaunas. That would have sparked fury among fans given rivals Hibs play in green, but it's claimed Romanov didn't care - he didn't see Hibs as their rivals and wanted to take on Celtic and Rangers.
And that's when Southern saw his chance. He told The Athletic: “Ali Russell (commercial director) held up a photo of Kaunas celebrating a league title or a cup, the usual thing with ticker tape and beaming smiles. He said, ‘How do you like our new kit?’ Yeah, yeah, yeah. It had been a long day. ‘No, seriously. Romanov wants to change the colour of the shirt. I’m going to speak to him now’.
“I said ‘maroon is our colour, it’s always been our colour’. ‘Doesn’t matter’ was the reply. So I said ‘green is the colour of our biggest rivals’, meaning Hibs. Vladimir gave me this dismissive flick of the hand as if to say Hibs aren’t our rivals. He never thought they were. He thought we were challenging Rangers and Celtic. But that gave me my in. Thinking on my feet, I said, ‘No, I mean Celtic. They use green and yellow’. And when that got translated, I could see his eyes narrowing and him starting to think.
“But beyond that, I told them they could put a zero in the sales column. Produce a shirt with green on it and not a single fan will buy it. That really helped the penny to drop. Ali and I weren’t being presumptuous but, as we got up to leave the meeting, we were thinking ‘mission accomplished’.
“Then Sergejus points to a magazine on the table. There’s a picture of Stephane Adam scoring that iconic goal (when Hearts beat Rangers in the Scottish Cup final in 1998) and a tube of glue. A tartan shortbread wrapper had been cut out and stuck over Adam’s shorts. Sergejus says ‘What about this then?’ I was tired and the only answer I could find was, ‘Sergejus… tartan is for the tourists’. Again, Romanov understood what I meant. That was that.”
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