Hearts have been fined £10,000 by the Scottish FA after majority shareholder Vladimir Romanov criticised the country's referees.

The Scottish Premier League club were also warned about their future conduct after being found guilty of bringing the game into disrepute by carrying the comments on their website.

Romanov was critical of the conduct of match officials during last year's Scottish Cup campaign that ended in a triumph on penalties over Gretna in the final in May.  An individual disrepute charge against Romanov was deferred because the Lithuanian was unable to attend Tuesday's meeting with the SFA.

Romanov said: "Last season, you didn't manage to protect the Scottish Cup and gave it to Hearts, despite all the referees' efforts and intrigues."

Romanov also faces a Uefa inquiry after criticising Russian referee Iouri Baskakov following his handling of the 3-0 defeat by AEK Athens in the third qualifying round of the Champions League in August when Hearts had two players sent off.