He told BBC Scotland that managers here are part of a "Scottish Mafia" and too set in their ways.

Romanov says that in the past he has offered the job to a coach currently working in the Chinese league but could not convince him to come to Scotland.

He did not totally rule out appointing a Scottish manager, but would only say: "Never say never."

However, he also said that the Old Firm's dominance of the game in Scotland is not healthy.

"It can lead to a decline in Scottish football, those teams have a huge budget and it is very difficult for other teams to compete against them," he said.

"It is basically unfair competition.

"We had a period when we had red cards and penalties against us but nobody supported us," he said.

"But when Craig Levein (the Dundee United manager) brought the issue up it was nice to see that someone thought we've got problems."