Omonoia Nicosia's link with Hearts dating back to Vladimir Romanov era
The Cypriot club are in Edinburgh on Conference League duty this week
From Saints to Cypriots is quite an adjustment for Hearts this week as they enter their second UEFA Conference League tie. New head coach Neil Critchley might still be tinkering with the height settings on his Riccarton office chair, but his first European match is looming. Saturday’s 4-0 Premiership win over St Mirren marked a fine dugout debut for the Englishman, now he faces an Omonoia Nicosia team with a few intriguing links to Gorgie.
Many Hearts supporters might remember this particular Cypriot club with some disdain. They did, after all, lure popular figures Bruno Aguiar and Christos Karipidis from Edinburgh to Nicosia in 2009 by waving lucrative contracts under their noses. The then-Hearts owner Vladimir Romanov chose not to wrangle over salaries and the Portuguese midfielder and Greek centre-back headed for the Mediterranean.
A far lesser-known name in Scotland at that time was Vladas Dambrauskas, the current Omonoia coach. He was in charge of Lithuania’s under-17 side and would later progress to the under-19s whilst establishing a burgeoning reputation in eastern Europe in his mid-30s. This young manager was on Romanov’s radar as one for the future and there were discussions about a potential role for him at Hearts in later years.
That did not materialise before Romanov and his associates fled Tynecastle Park in 2013, leaving the club in administration and fighting for its very existence. Dambrauskas had made an impression on one Hearts official, though. Mindaugas Nikolicius was employed by Romanov’s company, Ukio Bankas Investment Group, and performed a sporting director-type role at Tynecastle during 2008 and 2009.
He joined Zalgiris Vilnius as sporting CEO in 2010 and watched Dambrauskas progress to manage Ekranas Panevėžys. When Ekranas went bankrupt in 2014, Nikolicius appointed Dambrauskas head coach at Zalgiris. It was an inspired decision and the start of a long partnership. Zalgiris won every league title and cup in Lithuania from 2014 to 2017, including a quadruple in 2016, under Dambrauskas.
Nikolicius became sporting CEO at the Croatian club HNK Gorica in 2018 and appointed Dambrauskas head coach there in 2020. The following year, Nikolicius was named sporting director at Hajduk Split. By November that year, you can guess who was in charge of the Hajduk first team. The pair’s relationship goes back many years.
Fast forward to 2024 and Dambrauskas, now 47, finds himself under some pressure in Cyprus as he prepares for Thursday’s European assignment against Hearts. The Lithuanian arrived to take charge of Omonoia, one of the island’s richest clubs, in June and guided them through Conference League qualifiers to reach the competition’s new-look league phase. Whilst Hearts were beating Dinamo Minsk 2-1 in Azerbaijan earlier this month, Omonoia were executing a 4-0 destruction of Icelandic side Vikingur Reykjavik in Nicosia to start their Conference League campaign in style.
Domestically, inconsistency is undermining Dambrauskas’ efforts. Omonoia sit sixth in the Cypriot First Division and trail leaders Paphos by seven points after seven games. They have won four and lost three of those fixtures but remain unbeaten in Europe so far. The head coach issued a public apology following Saturday’s 1-0 home league defeat against Enosis Neon Paralimni in an effort to quell some unrest.
“I want to apologise to our fans,” said Dambrauskas. “I don't want to say anything negative about the players because it was one of those games where we did everything except score a goal. But there's no getting away from the fact it's a very bad result and I take all the responsibility, I have no complaints about my players, I repeat that. They gave everything, they dominated, we created chances, we did a good job, but unfortunately, we conceded a goal.
“It's my fault, it seems I wasn't able to convey the information I needed to the players. And it's the second game in a row we have failed to score a goal. We just lost, it can happen, no player was to blame. I have never underestimated any opponent in my career and I didn't do it here. We have to find the solutions against Hearts and be better.”
Often favouring a 4-2-3-1 formation, Dambrauskas now brings his squad to Edinburgh. He is unlikely to know his name was on a list of Lithuanians Romanov coveted for possible work there. He finds himself managing players from varying backgrounds in Cyprus. The former Rangers centre-back Filip Helander is a regular, forward Steven Jovetic is captain of Montenegro and a living legend in his homeland, although he was not signed in time to play in the Conference League. Veljko Simic is a Serbian international winger and midfielder Roman Bezus holds 24 caps for Ukraine.
Other internationalists in the Omonoia squad include midfielder Charalampos Charalampous [Cyprus], attacking midfielder Omer Atzili [Israel], winger Willy Semedo [Cape Verde] and defender Senou Coulibaly [Mali]. Their technical-style game is based largely around ball retention and short passing, aided by pace in the final third.