The last Mann standing PUBLIC RELATIONS: ROMANOV His boss is Scottish football's most controversial figures, but for PR supremo Charlie Mann it's a dream job

This has meant quite a ride for Mann, who heads public relations agency Weber Shandwick's Glasgow office and has a reputation for playing it straighter than most in his business.

Not only has he had to deal with some very negative stories, it has also become personal. He has risked his reputation, lost two close friends, resigned a job, and even committed PR's cardinal sin.

As Alastair Campbell can testify, you should never become the story.

How distant the halcyon days of last August and September must seem now.

Back then Romanov was being lauded as a saviour of Hearts for ending plans to sell its Tynecastle home. The club was riding high after a string of league victories under George Burley, the kind of top-drawer manager the club would never have attracted before Romanov.

Mann even took a group of sports writers to Lithuania to visit the HQ of Romanov's bank Ukio Bankas, in the country's second city Kaunas. This rapidly dispelled their scepticism about his financial credibility.

But the party came to an abrupt end on October 23, when Burley left by mutual consent amid rumours Romanov was interfering in team selection. Stunned football reporters were left trawling the records for the last time a manager departed when his team were in such a strong position.

Mann had other worries. The story broke as he was crossing Glasgow's Kingston Bridge on his way to cover a St Mirren match in his role as a BBC football commentator. It was the first of a series of Hearts events in which he was said to have been out of the loop.

As we sit in Weber Shandwick's smart boardroom with the rain teeming down outside, he tells me that he had visited Tynecastle a day before the Burley story broke to talk about the manager's potential departure. He knew it was likely, he just didn't know when.

In any case, he says, the first call on the bridge came from Sergejus Fedotovas, Romanov's usual go-between, asking Mann to come straight to Tynecastle.

Journalists started calling before he had turned his car around.

Whatever he thought of the decision he now had to defend, it was straightforward crisis management at this stage. All he had to say was that confidentiality clauses prevented him from saying anything.

It did not stop there, of course. Phil Anderton, Hearts's highly-regarded chief executive, was sacked the following week because, says Mann, "he was going to resign". Then chairman George Foulkes resigned in protest, loudly denouncing Romanov.

At this stage, Mann wants to make one thing clear: "I never briefed against Burley, Anderton or Foulkes. I would not do that. That can make it more difficult to get the client's point across, but what can you do?"

And how do spokesmen handle decisions they strongly disagree with?

"You can't throw your toys out of the pram. You debate it with your employer and you agree how it is progressed from there, " he says.

Back at Tynecastle, things were about to get worse. There were already rumblings about Romanov installing his 29-year-old son Roman as chairman and acting chief executive, but then Graham Rix was hired as the new coach.

Not only was he a minnow compared to Burley or the other names being touted for the job, he had gone to prison for having sex with a 15-year-old and his name was on the Sex Offenders Register.

Mann is believed to have had serious misgivings about the job being given to a man with Rix's background. All he will say now is that like most people, he had an image of the coach before he met him.

"As soon as I met him, I could see it in his eyes that he's the real deal in terms of this job. That made it easier for me to do my job, " he says.

Then he claims it increased his respect for Romanov that he would give someone such as Rix a second chance.

What? Surely the main attraction was that Rix could be paid tens of thousands a year rather than the half-million or so that Burley was thought to have earned?

"It's a different role. Graham is the first-team coach, which is why Jim Duffy is the director of football, " he says, obviously not encouraging me to add the two salaries together and see if they reach a half million.

Meanwhile, there was TV trouble on the way. BBC Scotland was pulling together a Frontline Scotland special entitled The Romanov Revolution, which accused Romanov of shady business dealings and debt investigations in Eastern Europe.

No doubt because of his close ties to the BBC, Mann arranged for his client to appear. Little did he expect that when it aired in November it would carry footage of him intervening to end the interview.

He was so angry that he resigned his 12-year-long commentary role. There ensued a war of words in the press, with BBC Scotland saying the interview was stopped before Romanov could answer accusations about his business activities.

Mann says the interview ran twice as long as agreed, making them late for the Herald Politician of the Year awards in Edinburgh's National Museum of Scotland.

He maintains he only intervened after asking three times in the course of 10 minutes for the interview to wind up.

"I am more than happy to debate that with the guy face to face, " he says. "It might work for the BBC again, but I would always support my client."

Mann says he was not compensated by Weber Shandwick or Romanov, and he would not have dreamed of asking them. He also makes it clear the decision to quit was entirely his own.

There was fresh trouble in February, when it leaked from the training ground that Rix told players Romanov had picked the team to play Dundee United in a midweek fixture at Tannadice. Amid the press furore, Mann appeared on BBC Radio Scotland to be quizzed by presenter Richard Gordon.

He gave a stuttering performance and was lampooned in the press for appearing not to be sure of the facts. He now concedes he did not have enough information to do the show and should not have done it. But more importantly, his 20-year friendship with Gordon ended after he asked him five times whether Romanov had picked the team.

"No matter how many times he asked the question, I wasn't going to answer it, " he says, with real emotion in his voice.

He has also fallen out with BBC commentator Chick Young. "He said that I had said something that I didn't say and had used the information without talking to me, " he says, refusing to elaborate.

While the stakes have risen higher for him with each incident, he blames the strong emotions that football arouses.

"Look at the words that have been used to describe me over the last period.

'A muppet', 'beleaguered', 'brilliant', 'honourable', 'dishonourable. That's what I mean by polarised views."

Other than maybe the Gordon interview, he insists he has no regrets about Romanov and even calls it the best PR job he has ever had. Asked whether his reputation has been damaged, he looks upwards. "Hmm. That would be for other people to say. I hope I have been honourable and treated people in the way that I would wish to be treated."

With his client's plane touching down some time this morning, the reflection must end there for now.

NEED TO KNOW

THE FACTS Charlie Mann has had a tough ride since becoming spokesman for Hearts owner Vladimir Romanov. Having lost thousands of pounds and two close friends, it is no longer just a PR brief.

BACKGROUND Once the saviour of Tynecastle stadium, a series of sackings, strange appointments and alleged team interference have kept Romanov on the front pages.

NEED TO KNOW MORE?

www. weber shandwick. com For details about Mann's public relations agency