Former Hearts chairman George Foulkes insists Vladimir Romanov is simply "reaping what he has sown" after the club's majority shareholder was snubbed by a prospective manager for the third time this summer.

German Jurgen Rober has followed Motherwell boss Mark McGhee and Slovakian Vladimir Weiss in deciding not to take up the vacant post at Tynecastle.

Rober, who took Hertha Berlin from the Bundesliga's Second Division in to the Champions League, met Romanov in Lithuania on Friday but hinted that he feared interference from the Lithuanian businessman, who has admitted meddling in team affairs in the past.

Foulkes was originally a supporter of Romanov but resigned in controversial circumstances in October 2005 after chief executive Phil Anderton was sacked, their departures coming just 10 days after that of George Burley.

The former Jambos chairman revealed he was not surprised that Romanov, who claimed in January that he would be targeting a British-style manager, has failed again to get his man.

"Vladimir Romanov is reaping what he has sown," Foulkes said.

"His reputation goes before him and potential managers have noted how he has treated previous managers, George Burley in particular.

"Any manager worth his salt will want a free hand to choose his own players and put his own ideas into action.

"I believe, and a majority of Hearts fans believe, that Vladimir Romanov needs to change his views.

"Despite the promise he made in January that he would be looking for a British-style manager and all that that implies, it is clear that prospective managers are wary of taking the job on.

"The only kind of person who will take the job under present circumstances will be a puppet from one of the eastern European countries like Russia, Belarus or Lithuania and that is not what the Hearts fans want.

"I bought my season ticket again along with around 10,000 others on the understanding that we would have a manager by now and we would be going in to pre-season in an co-ordinated way.

"But I have become increasingly dismayed and despondent."

Foulkes admits having sympathy for caretaker boss Stevie Frail who was sent home from the club's Riccarton training complex on the first day of pre-season training last Tuesday after a meeting with sport director Anatoly Korobochka.

He said: "I have total sympathy for Stevie Frail. The way he has been dealt with has been disgraceful.

"He has been cast him aside like an old piece of clothing. He has been very loyal to Mr Romanov and the club and has had to work under very difficult times and he did everything that he could."

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