Former Hearts chairman George Foulkes believes the current malaise at the club can be resolved if the Tynecastle hierarchy take the views of others involved into account.
Foulkes was at the helm of the Tynecastle club when majority shareholder Vladimir Romanov moved into the Edinburgh club.
But Foulkes quit his post in the wake of the sacking of chief executive Phil Anderton a year ago.
However, after Hearts captain Steven Pressley revealed "significant unrest" in the dressing room, the lifelong Jambos fan admitted he could not see the situation becoming as bad as it has.
Now, though, Foulkes is still convinced the current problems can be sorted out if the Hearts hierarchy listen to others involved in the Edinburgh club.
Foulkes said: 'It can be resolved if people realise nobody has a monopoly on wisdom and that everybody has to be brought along with the vision.
'That will need some degree of adjustment by Romanov and others, but it is only through that co-operation to achieve the success Hearts deserve.
'We have a sell-out crowd for every game, a terrific squad and are second in the SPL. We should be surging forward instead of bickering and that does need some tolerance and understanding by all concerned.'
He added: 'To be honest, it has reached a worse stage than I envisaged. There are two sides to Vladimir Romanov, the first of which is a sympathetic side and that needs to come out now rather than the authoritarian side, which currently seems to be in the ascendancy.'
Hearts head coach Valdas Ivanauskas stepped down for a fortnight earlier this week due to ill health.
But Pressley, 33, insists the temporary departure of the Lithuanian was 'incidental' to the problems behind the scenes.
Football consultant Eduard Malofeev will take charge of the team for the visit of the Pars.
Romanov is alleged to have told the players they would be leaving the club if they did not defeat the Pars at Tynecastle, prompting Pressley's statement.
Pressley said: 'This is a statement on behalf of a number of the players. This statement is no reflection on Eduard, who, from my initial impressions, seems a very honest and diligent man.
'I would like to wish Valdas a speedy recovery, but whether he returns or not is almost incidental in relation to the problems associated with this football club.
'I have tried along with the coaching staff and certain colleagues to implement the correct values and disciplines, but it has become an impossible task.
'There is only so much a coaching staff, a captain and certain colleagues can do without the full backing, direction and coherence of the manager and those running the football club.
'While, publicly, I have expressed the need for unity behind the scenes, I have made my concerns abundantly clear.
'The last two years have been very testing for the players. Together, we have faced a number of challenges and worked hard at retaining some degree of unity.
'However, due to the circumstances, morale, understandably, is not good and there is significant unrest within the dressing room.'
Romanov refused to comment at the club's training academy, but his response will be required after the players effectively called a state of emergency at Tynecastle.
