FBK Kaunas to Hearts

Vladimir Romanov, a Russian born Lithuanian businessman, initially acquired 19.6% stake at Hearts during the 2004–05 season. After Romanov made financial guarantees, his stake increased to 29.9%, which was welcomed by a fans representatives. Romanov eventually increased his majority share in Hearts to 82%. Romanov no longer has any links to HMFC as both Ukio Bankas and UBIG have become insolvent. His shares are held by the liquidators of UBIG. An arrest warrant has supposedly been issued in his name to answer a number of irregularities in the accounts of both Ukio Bankas and UBIG.

Hearts, like many other Scottish Premier League clubs, ran into severe financial difficulties during the early part of the 2000s. An assessment by PWC in the autumn of 2003 found that Hearts, along with four other SPL clubs, were technically insolvent.Dundee and Livingston subsequently went into administration, while Hibs and Dunfermline both took drastic measures to balance their finances, cutting their player budgets severely and selling assets. Hearts also cut their player budget and, more significantly, proposed to sell Tynecastle to eradicate the club's debt. The fans protested against the latter course of action, forming a group called Save Our Hearts.

Hearts made a deal with the Scottish Rugby Union to use Murrayfield Stadium in order that they could sell Tynecastle. Originally this was meant to happen during the summer of 2004, but was then delayed for a season. During this period, Hearts were a public limited company. Ownership of the club was very fractured, with no individual shareholder owning more than 20% of the club. This meant that minority shareholders, including supporters' groups and the McGrail brothers, could realistically hope to acquire other minority stakes in order to block the proposals to sell Tynecastle. In August 2004, Hearts made a deal to sell Tynecastle to Cala Homes (a housing developer), but the deal had an escape clause which meant that Hearts could withdraw from the deal before 31 January 2005 if a viable alternative could be found.

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