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I was sacked because I didn’t play the owner against Barcelona, claims former Hearts boss

Published 15:30 28 Jul 2015 BST

Gareth Makim
I was sacked because I didn’t play the owner against Barcelona, claims former Hearts boss

Homesport

Sure why not?

Anatoly Korobochka has claimed that his refusal to bow to his owner's demand to be picked in the Hearts team to face Barcelona in an important preseason friendly cost him the manager's job. The club were playing a glamour friendly against a Barca side featuring Andres Iniesta, Thierry Henry, Xavi and Ronaldinho at Murrayfield before the start of the 2007 season and Korobochka tells the Edinburgh Evening News that he was presented with an unusual request prior to the game by owner Vladimir Romanov. “Before the game, Romanov approached me and told me he wants to play in the game,' the  He wanted me to pick him. He wasn’t joking. I refused and told him he had done no training and therefore he couldn’t play. He said to me ‘Fine, but you will not be the coach for long’. He sacked me soon after.” [h/t Guardian]

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