Hibs v Hearts: Here we go again

Jason Cummings is "buzzing". Prince Buaben is ready to face the "chaser." And Fraser Aird would rather be watching Coronation Street.

Bad news for Fraser. The omnibus of goings on in Weatherfield will finish on ITV2+1 a full ten minutes before kick off at Easter Road. Maybe there's a soap opera closer to home to distract him.

The second Edinburgh derby of this Championship season is upon is.

The form book is supposed to crash out of the window. But the bookies still have Hearts as favourites.

I don't understand how the bookmakers calculate such things. But I'd reckon the 14 point lead Hearts have over Hibs has something to do with it.

And their 10 game unbeaten run. And three wins from the last three derbies.

Hibs themselves are four games undefeated since their 3-1 win at Ibrox. But last week's 4-0 win at Livingston followed two home draws with Raith Rovers and Dumbarton.

Nine wins from ten games is good going. Four wins from ten games isn't so much.

And Hibs have made a stuttering start to the season, handicapped by a disrupted summer.

History doesn't much help either.

This week Pat Stanton told the BBC:

"Too often, Hearts just seem to brush Hibs aside, there's no real resistance. It's almost been inevitable that Hearts would beat us, and Hibs have accepted it."

And on his blog David Farrell wrote:

"I never felt as a team we were ever as fired up as Hearts were. They were snarling and scratching at you from the tunnel onto the pitch. They were pressing all over us, people like Sandison, Black, Kidd, Mackay, Levein and Robertson galvanising and pushing each other. Make no mistake, they were angrier than us. They were ready for a derby, ready for a scrap."

That sums up the historical drift of these games. Recent history too: Hibs have won just 10 of the last 44.

It's true that this season's opening derby at Tynecastle might have been a very different game if Liam Craig had scored his first half penalty.

He didn't. And Hearts, as so often before, took advantage.

So, having left myself thoroughly depressed, what do I see happening at Easter Road today?

I'll be looking to see that form book hurled through a window. I'll be looking to see Hibs play with a pace and incisiveness that hasn't always been evident at Easter Road this season. Too often at home Hibs have done right the things but at such a pedestrian speed that they've been rendered blunt.

I'll be looking to Hibs give their fans something to cheer about.

And, at the end of 90 minutes, I'd be happy to see a draw.

SPFL Premiership: Buddies need help from their friends

As St Mirren prepare to host Motherwell on Saturday they need to start picking up points and hoping results elsewhere go their way.

With only Hearts, still stubbornly refusing to be officially relegated, below them in the league St Mirren's 28 points leave them two points adrift in the play-off game. They remain favourites with Betfair to be in the play-off match against the second placed side from the Scottish Championship.

With the Premiership's annual split about to kick in, a win against Motherwell might give them a bit of momentum going into the final five games. That won't be easy with Motherwell tied with Aberdeen on 60 points in second place. The Steelmen will start the game as heavy favourites with Betfair.

Partick Thistle hover two points above St Mirren after taking a point on the road against St Johnstone. On Saturday they become the latest side to try and relegate Hearts as the Edinburgh side travel to Firhill with four points from their last two games.

Ross County will look to take inspiration from their 1-1 draw at Celtic Park, a point against the champions of the division which proved to be a big upset among Betfair punters. They'll be looking for a similar result in tonight's derby with a stuttering Inverness to keep the pressure on Kilmarnock and a badly out of sorts Hibs above them.

St Mirren manager Danny Lennon will be hoping his side’s home advantage this weekend will help his team gain maximum points and ensure they are in as strong a position as possible to face the crucial final five games of the season. They will be second favourites to get the better of Motherwell and need other results to be favourable to move off ninth place.

Scottish football: A good news round-up

Scottish news update provided by Cole Ryan of BangTheBook.com. follow me on twitter @coleryan9

If the people of Scotland still believe in Scottish football as their national sport then it is a measure of a national trait of defiance. News headlines, front page and back, might still be generated by the sport but too often recently it has been for bad news rather than for outstanding match results.

This summer, as last summer, the biggest story has been financial. While the problems at Rangers hogged the headlines in 2012, 2013 has seen Hearts enter administration amid the collapse of owner Vladimir Romanov’s business empire and the club struggling to pay wages. They’ll start next season on minus 15 points in the top flight.

Dunfermline, too, remain in administration and have now suffered consecutive relegations to find themselves in the third tier of Scottish football where they’ll find themselves battling against Rangers, as the Glasgow club look to continue their progress through the league structure.

Elsewhere a number of club are looking to rebuild squads in the summer transfer window as players move on to search for more bountiful wage packets or are sold to help balance the books in a game that is not awash with money.

But perhaps Scottish football is beginning to see the darkness partly lifted. The 2014 World Cup qualification campaign has been a struggle that has already seen off one manager, Craig Levein, and any chance of qualifying disappearing. But new manager Gordon Strachan finally made his mark before the summer break with a battling 1-0 win over Croatia with a young and inexperienced team.

And the latest news this week from BangTheBook Football has also been more positive. Scottish clubs are long used to starting their European campaigns before the domestic season has started but they’ve not always enjoyed the finest result. This week, however, they could reflect could reflect on two wins from three matches.

If Celtic’s victory of Cliftonville was expected it was a professional performance nonetheless, goals from Mikael Lustig, Georgios Samaras and James Forrest delivering three away goals.

And St Johnstone delivered the result of the week with an unexpected 1-0 victory away to Rosenborg. Frazer Wright gave the Perth men an early lead and they weathered some serious pressure to hold on for the win and to bring a crucial away goal back to Scotland. Manager Tommy Wright was able to reflect on a “magnificent” win in his first competitive match since taking over from Steve Lomas as manager - in what was also St Johnstone's first ever away win in Europe.

If they can get through the home tie, St Johnstone's reward will be a match against Malta's Valetta or FC Minsk from Belarus as they would enter the next qualifying round as seeds.

Hibs were the only Scottish side who couldn’t record an away win this week, losing 2-0 to a superior Malmo side in Sweden. But after conceding two goals in two minutes to be 2-0 inside 15 minutes Hibs might feel they deserve some credit for keeping the score down, relying on some excellent saves from goalkeeper Ben Williams to retain faint hope for the return leg in Edinburgh.

While Scottish football has never lost its ability to make headlines, it is to be hoped there can be many more weeks like this one where the stories relate to good news on the pitch rather than bad news off it.

Hibs: Returning to the scene of the crime

Do Hibs feel the hand of Scottish Cup history on their shoulder? Or does it have them by the throat, threatening to throttle them once again?

They head to Hampden as favourites to beat Falkirk in the semi final - 1.6 to win at Unibet to Falkirk's 5.5 - but demons lurk in every corner.

What do we chew on at the betting online feast? Back the SPL side against a team 20 points off the pace in the First Division?

But what if the SPL side haven't won this cup for 111 years, are attempting to reach back to back finals for the first time since 1924 and haven't played at Hampden since suffering their most traumatic defeat there last May?

What if the SPL team is Hibs?

A third Scottish Cup trip to Hampden for Pat Fenlon in less than two seasons in charge.

He might wish it was only the second but, as I said before last year's final "incident," his record in reaching finals in Ireland proved attractive to the Hibs board when they gave him the job. The limited evidence to hand suggests he might struggle to convert finals into trophies but, still, he got us there.

That Fenlon has brought Hibs to consecutive semi finals in the Scottish Cup belies his league record. While Fenlon inherited a mess from Colin Calderwood, just 15 wins from over 50 SPL games shows how difficult he's found it to wade through the rubbish.

The league form includes a run of just 16 points from the last 60 available, just one more than Dundee. A season of progress?

So Hibs, being Hibs, battle not just history this weekend but also fling a dollop of dreadful form into the mix.

What's gone wrong?

It seems a long time ago that they were topping the table in the autumn, putting together an early run of results that looked like making a top six place little more than a formality.

Players have lost form, an over reliance on Leigh Griffiths - who has so often sparkled on the pitch and covered a myriad of his team's sins - has been exacerbated by a roster of senior strikers that includes only the departing Eoin Doyle and the never-quite-here Shefki Kuqi.

Injuries and loss of form have highlighted a lack of cover in defence and if the signing of midfielders - extending beyond the transfer window with the reintroduction of Kevin Thomson - has become a fetish, it's not always led to satisfaction in the middle of the park.

At times inept, occasionally overly cautious and often just devoid of ideas, the promise of an Easter Road resurrection has been replaced by hints of insurrection.

Rod Petrie's towering 'tache might not yet be twitching but there are many in the support now convinced that a Petrie board has yet again picked the wrong manager.

Despite it all, just like they did last year, Hibs have carried on regardless in the Scottish Cup.

A mildly cathartic deflection in the Edinburgh derby, a hen's tooth of a stotter from Gary Deegan against Aberdeen, a Griffiths hat-trick at Kilmarnock.

And now just another 90 minutes away from a chance to laugh at 111 years of history while curing a little of the post traumatic stress suffered in Leith since last year.

Better to forget all that. Hibs have suffered at Hampden as underdogs and as favourites, Falkirk have upset the odds against better teams than this.

A semi final win is the only thing that can energise this comatose season at Easter Road.

Why wouldn't Falkirk revel in the chance to deny Hibs even an outside shot at redemption? Nothing sweetens an upset like the sight of suffering on the other side.

Hibs must find focus where too often they've looked detached, leaders must rediscover their qualities, players who have spent too many games coasting must find a spark.

Defeating 111 years of misery can wait, this semi final is about throwing off the pain of another wasted season.

What's gone before will show itself in empty terraces but there will be passion there.

Passion too from Falkirk. Will the Hibs players match it?

I'll troop loyally to Hampden once again, joining the rest of the victims returning to the scene of the crime.

All too often I've been mugged by own team.

Not this time, boys. Please, not this time.

SPL: Breaking bad?

The SPL's winter leave of absence seems to have taken a few people by surprise.

It is only a fortnight though and we're not supposed to have a winter break as such, so they've maybe been trying to keep it quiet.

There also seems a reasonable chance that the holiday will land plum in the middle of the most clement stretch of winter weather.

Maybe somebody could ask Neil Doncaster what the chances of that would be, of the SPL ushering in a winter break through the back door only for the bad weather to arrive in grand style just as we get back to the football?

They'd need to find him first. The Scarlet Pimpernel of Hampden is Mr Doncaster.

They seek him here, they seek him there. And then they just give up because he's never got anything useful to say anyway.

Still, the Doncaster Bank Holiday is a fine time to look back on the season so far. A chance to savour what we've seen and look ahead to the joys still to come.

So: Celtic will win the SPL. Dundee will be relegated. The ten other teams will fill the remaining ten positions, the order to be decided when their befuddling mutual pattern of inconsistency settles into a more readable pattern of inconsistency.

Simple game, punditry.

Celtic, certainly, have huffed and puffed. Heroic carrying of the standard in Europe doesn't always equal domestic bliss. As Churchill was rudely awakened by the order of the boot in 1945, so the SPL is blowing a giant raspberry at Georgios Samaras this season.

Theories abound on their SPL stutters.

I got a close up view last Saturday at Easter Road. It didn't appear to a be a Krypton Factor-esque teaser.

There are good enough players in the SPL to take advantage of bad defending and there is spirit enough in most teams to stand up to Celtic's attempts to get back on terms.

They might do that standing up physically, aggressively, energetically and in your face-dly. The answer, it seems to me, is not to get increasingly miffed and give up the ghost but to try and match the chippy upstarts.

When Celtic do that consistently - or when other teams find they have other battles sapping their energy - they will accelerate clear.

And the acceleration will be smoother if they avoid entrusting their best chance of any given game to Efe Ambrose's knee.

Dundee's board this week stepped back from the brink of sacking manager Barry Smith and promised to spend some cash in January.

I fear this might mean poor Barry gets his jotters in February after Dundee whittle away January spending no money.

Either way they look doomed. They look like a side that fell short of promotion getting an unexpected promotion with little chance to prepare for the challenges of that promotion.

Strange that. The unluckiest winners of Scottish football's daft summer.

If the job Smith did in taking Dundee to second in the First Division was good enough for his board, then the job he's doing for them in the SPL should be good enough for his board.

The rest? Stick a pin in them. Few will splash the cash in January so the transfer window is likely to be a study in survival, of holding on to assets and snapping up the odd bargain.

Relaxing at Butlins or Haggerston Castle this coming fortnight each manager will be able to reflect on good games, a few decent results and bad games, the odd poor run.

"We're building something here" say managers in the English Premier League and Scottish national coaches on the brink of being sacked.

Most SPL managers are only ever building a work in progress. The one that emerges with the most competent transitory package will grab second place in the league. High stakes when you're trying to build a house on sand.

High stakes and high pressure.

Kenny Shiels has gone the full Colonel Kurtz in Kilmarnock. Every post match interview Terry Butcher gives is a coded plea for help as his red wine dependency grows in Inverness. John McGlynn was reduced to tramping about in the Dingwall puddles wearing a shirt and tie coupled with tracksuit bottoms.

Will nobody think of the managers?

Or the accountants?

Money. Money. Money.

Neil Lennon bought Celtic the winning lottery ticket with Champions League progress.

Things have been bleaker elsewhere.

Hearts extended the begging bowl, counted the takings and still don't look as if they're completely sure how the fiscal circle can be comfortably squared.

Rod Petrie produced a set of accounts at Hibs that proved that frugalness and disastrous leadership create a black hole. 0 + 0 = -£900,000.

I've started building a scale model of Aberdeen's proposed new stadium out of matchsticks. It will be finished before Stewart Milne is able to pull the trigger and discharge the silver bullet of leaving Pittodrie.

We must concede that it's not been a season awash with cash. That, of course, has been the SPL way for a number of years.

Will any of the impecunious and infirm die on the operating table? That can't be discounted, as much as we hope it can be avoided.

The shouts of "hell mend you, it's your own fault" emanate from another place.

But no club in the SPL is a financial basket case because of events in 2012.

Those events might yet quicken a monetary decline. Eventually they might be pinpointed as the tumbling pebbles that set off an avalanche of doom at some clubs.

It's likely, however, that any club that falls victim will already have been flirting with financial insanity.

Most clubs need to think smarter. There's a leadership deficit in Scottish football and it's evident at club level and national level.

There's nothing inherently wrong with accountants and marketing men running clubs or running the game.

There is a problem if we have incompetent accountants and incompetent marketing men running clubs and running the game.

And that's been a problem since Motherwell-born billionaires were still Motherwell-born billionaires.

What solace can be sought from the football?

Some games have been absolutely honking.

The winter break by any other name was ushered in with a derby howler at Tynecastle.

Funny thing though. As Hearts racked up 500 corners in a 15 minute spell, as the Hibs defence heroically repelled the maroon advance then stood heroically about looking glaikit in the six yard box waiting for the next barrage, I was involved in that game.

Purple of face, hoarse of throat involvement.

The Sky sponsored imperialism of English football and the Scottish media's "no such thing as a meaningless Old Firm game" mantra can hide an obvious truth: without an emotional attachment to one of the teams, televised games are often pish.

People tell me - I say it myself - that nobody outside Scotland is interested in the SPL.

People - often the very same people - tell me that a lot of televised games are dire adverts for the SPL.

Surely we can take comfort from that? Crap, aye. But in the SPL nobody can see you being crap.

And we've given our TV masters a few moments of excitement, the odd flash of skill, the unearthing of a player or two who might, with a fair wind, one day be talked up during Sky's coverage of Swansea v Wigan.

The patient still has a pulse.

I once overheard a chat in my local:

"Seen Joe lately?"

"Aye, awffy limp he's got now."

"Aye, right enough. Bad limp. He's a quick limper though, he can limp at quite a rate."

Armageddon is not catching up with us yet.

Hearts still beating

I'm currently in the Netherlands.

In a town called Dordrecht.

The town where Craig Levein sourced Mark de Vries, that one time hammer of Hibs, for Hearts.

It's just over a decade since de Vries arrived at Tynecastle.

Hearts have crammed a lot of living into those ten years.

At stages over the past fortnight it has looked like the club might have been no more when I returned from my Dutch perambulations.

That immediate threat has now passed, the taxman has agreed terms over outstanding payments.

But Hearts remain at a crossroads.

In the short term funding has to be found to see them through the season, to meet wage bills, pay future taxes and cover overheads.

And in the longer term answers need to be found about the future direction of the club.

They've found themselves in a similar position before. They were in a similar spot in the aftermath of the de Vries era, when things were grim and Vladimir Romanov stepped in with funding, the promise of salvation and a barrel load of dreams.

He's taken them on quite a trip - I need no reminder of the most recent good times - but the eventual destination remains unclear.

There has been little to suggest over the crisis of the past couple of weeks that Romanov is set to start funding Hearts again.

Yet it is his banking group that controls the club's debt. Hearts remain his club, their assets his assets.

He is part of the all powerful new footballing aristocracy. Men of various means who revel in the 'cult of the owner' and have a dictatorial grip over their estates.

Not paid your basketball team? Make a joke about sending them food parcels. Let them eat cake indeed.

Preening and egotistical, these modern day Marie Antoinettes lap up the adulation but they never forget that they have their clubs in a vice-like grip.

Football seems paralysed in the face of such interlocutors. We've seen over the past couple of weeks, as we saw in the summer and we've seen elsewhere before, how governments and footballing authorities are quick to react when things go wrong.

Yet it is always reactive. There seems no way - or no will - to make proactive changes in the way clubs are run.

Either clubs are businesses - and thus at the mercy of fly-by-nights, asset strippers and rich men who get bored - or they really are special institutions with a unique place in our communities.

In which case a way of protecting that status should be found.

Because, as events at Tynecastle have shown, it is a universal truth of such situations that it is the fans who will be shafted.

It will be the fans who most keenly feel the emotional threat of oblivion, the fans who are asked to dig ever deeper to find the cash needed for survival.

And the Hearts fans have responded, social media has been harnessed to launch fundraising initiatives, spread the key messages about what is needed and why and incubate a spirit of fraternalism in getting the job done.

They will need to keep that effort going in the face of an uncertain future.

Already this week we've seen attempts made to buy the club from Romanov, attempts build a sustainable Hearts with fan involvement at its heart.

So far those moves have been rebuffed. Romanov holds the cards and isn't for dealing yet. Salvation remains within his gift. But so to do the most immediate routes into administration or liquidation.

Thus Hearts might stand on the brink of an uncertain but sustainable future or more of the threats and panic of the last couple of weeks.

That the state of Romanov's pride or the fluctuations of the Lithuanian banking system might decide that future should be a warning about how football clubs are governed.

I've been asked a lot how I feel about this situation over the last few days.

I have no sympathy for Romanov or any others who have steered the club to this stage. If - and this remains to be seen - the Hearts situation does indeed begin to mirror that of Rangers then Hearts must be dealt with in the same way.

I have a lot of sympathy for clubs who have made swingeing cuts, worked hard to keep up with their tax obligations and make payments on time while the quality they provide on the pitch and the service they offer off the pitch has suffered. Now they find yet another club in their midst has become an extreme financial basket case.

And I have sympathy for the fans. It's not pleasant to think your club might disappear from the footballing map.

Not all Hibs fans share that view. Some have been revelling in the prospect of Heart' demise.

Football means different things to different people. I think rivalry enhances the game. You need a rival to have a rivalry.

I've never thought of Edinburgh as a city divided by football nor football as a reason to hate this club or that club, this fan or that fan. Dislike passionately over the course of 90 minutes maybe. But never hate.

Maybe I'm a man out of time, longing for days when footballing rivalries didn't mean disengaging your brain and leaving your manners outside by the coal bunker.

But there we are. As much as dark times and never ending gloating can upset one's equilibrium, I'm not sure the demise of any club is a cause for celebration.

What the fans have shown over the last few days is that Hearts won't die. If even darker times lie ahead we can be confident that some form of the club will remain in Scottish football.

Hearts aren't finished.

We can only hope that the era of men like Vladimir Romanov soon will be.

Save the Leith One?

A strange Tuesday for Hibs. With their city rivals toiling under the threat of financial calamity, it was Hibs who ended the day with a dismissed employee and something of a PR storm.

At half time in Sunday's game against Dundee United the tannoy at Easter Road blasted out a few lines of George Harrison's Taxman.

A dig at Hearts, a gentle, chuckle inducing diversion during the tedium of half time.

A short blast of a short Beatles track that was picked up in a few reports on Monday morning, was described by one Hearts supporter's representative as "crass" - which it was - and the world continued to turn.

End of story?

Not quite.

It later emerged that the man responsible for playing the track, Hibs' tannoy announcer Willie Docherty, had been relieved of his duties at the club.

And so something of a social media storm developed. A 'Bring Back Willie Docherty' Facebook page has over 1100 likes at the time of writing, a #JusticeForWillieDocherty hashtag has sprung up on Twitter and forums - on both sides of the city divide - have seen fans post their support for the "Leith One."

Eventually Hibs released a statement:

The Club stressed that speculation that the action had been taken as a song played may have offended supporters of another club is not correct. 

Rather the action has been taken because the individual chose to wilfully disregard specific instructions given in the pre-match briefing which itself was consistent with guidance given during the week in the run-up to the match at Easter Road Stadium on Sunday, which was broadcast live on television.

The stadium announcer is not an employee of the Club, but is contracted to provide the service. In doing so, he operates as part of the Club's official channels of communications - which also includes the Club website and match day programme. 

Under SPL and SFA rules, the Club is directly responsible for what the Stadium Announcer does, says and plays. For that reason, the Club has specific guidelines in place and before each match detailed briefings take place. 

These reflect the values and behaviours the Club and its Supporters believe Hibernian FC should stand for. The conduct of other clubs is a matter for them. 

Before our recent home match against Dundee United discussions took place and specific instructions were given. The individual concerned has admitted that he deliberately breached the terms of the instructions the Club had given. The Club was left with no option but to take the course of action it did.

So there we are.

There are rules in place and they were broken. Specific instructions were given for this game - I'm unsure why the game being broadcast on TV is relevant - and they were ignored.

Why are rules in place if not to govern the fun?

Maybe playing the song - or a snippet of the song - was a needless dig at Hearts, at a situation Hibs have no interest in getting involved in.

But surely it was an inoffensive enough aberration. Certainly not one that necessitated the club setting itself so apart from what seems to be the prevailing public opinion, to make such a magnificent job of turning a molehill into a mountain.

In their statement Hibs said: "This is not an issue about having or not having a sense of humour."

If you have to point that out then you're probably doing a poor job of showing people that you've actually got a sense of humour.

Hibs went top of the league on Sunday and their star striker was called into the Scotland squad. It's taken them a gargantuan mishandling of a daft situation to get people talking about a song and a DJ instead.

Willie Docherty might have shot himself in the foot on Sunday. He's far from the only person guilty of that at Easter Road.

Banter

A lot of the arguments around Wille Docherty's treatment have centred on Hibs becoming the latest organisation to launch an attack on football "banter."

I'm not quite sure what that means.

Does embracing "banter" mean Tim Lovejoy and Paul Merson should front Sportscene?

And "banter" can be used to cover a lot of ills.

If Hibs wanted to make a stand about something that happened on Sunday then they might have chosen to speak out about the "refugee" chants continually and tiresomely aimed at Rudi Skacel.

Harmless "banter" in the eyes of some.

But harmless "banter" that was aimed at Skacel even when Shefki Kuqi was on the pitch for Hibs.

Kuqi was a Kosovar Albanian immigrant to Finland, as his family escaped the Balkan conflict of the 1990s. They were refugees.

Go figure.

I find Skacel as hard to warm to as any Hibs fan. But he's not a refugee. Which makes the song both nonsensical and potentially more offensive to a Hibs player than its target.

A "banter" double whammy.

If Hibs really wanted to launch a war on "banter" on the back of Sunday afternoon they missed the target.

SPL: The Joy of Six

A Saturday Superstore tomorrow. With Neil Doncaster as Mike Read and a half time interview with Craig Brown filling in for a wacky live link with Cheggers.

A splendid SPL smorgasbord seeing out September. Alarming alliteration aside, we can sit back and enjoy six games in the top flight.

Aberdeen v Hibs

The good lord of scheduling giveth and he taketh away. Thus the joy of a Saturday game is diminished by a noon kick off.

Hibs are looking to make it seven games undefeated in the SPL, Aberdeen are looking to make it nine undefeated in all competitions.

Last week Hibs threw away a two goal lead, Aberdeen salvaged a point after being two goals behind.

They served up some fetid feasts of boredom last season but current form suggests this might be a darn good match up.

When they weren't being hauled back last week Hibs looked confident, aggressive, capable of playing a bit of football.

Far from the finished article and still lacking any real depth to the squad. But Pat Fenlon deserves praise for how his work in progress is, eh, progressing.

Fools and bairns shouldn't see unfinished jobs? A football manager doesn't have that luxury. Fenlon must work under the glare of a support still haunted by recent experiences.

He's making a decent fist of it. And that's more than his predecessor managed.

Aberdeen's start to the season - efficiently low key but lacking goals - was vintage Craig Brown but belied a summer spent assembling what looks to be a half decent squad.

A point salvaged last week and a late win against Dunfermline on Wednesday might just give them the burst of urgency they need.

This could be tight. Certainly a Hibs win at 23/10 or the draw at the same odds look better prices than an Aberdeen win at 6/5.

Regular readers will know I don't like publicly declaring Hibs predictions on the blog.

But at more than 2/1 I will be backing them.

Dundee v St Johnstone

All that time without a win, a bit of a Moaning Minnie harrumph when they lost to Hibs at Easter Road.

What a difference a month makes.

September has delivered seven SPL points from nine and a league cup win for St Johnstone.

It started equally well for Dundee but a win at Tynecastle has been followed by two defeats. Bottom of the league, four points from seven games.

Still early but it's form that makes you think of a long struggle ahead.

If they want to haul themselves out of their current fug then winning home games against St Johnstone would be the sensible way to start.

The home win is out at 23/10 though. So is the draw. St Johnstone are 6/5 to make it ten points out of 12. I suspect they'll do just that.

Hearts v Kilmarnock

Up and doon.

That's pretty much the season so far for both Hearts and Kilmarnock.

For a number of clubs actually. This could be an excitingly unpredictable season. It could also be a turgid affair with eight or nine clubs trapped together in a tedious waltz of shared mediocrity.

Depending on how full or empty your glass is.

Hearts vaulted past Dundee United last week to record their first SPL win since the opening day.

Kilmarnock eased past St Mirren to record their second SPL win of the season.

Going into this game both have played seven, won two and amassed nine points with a goal difference of plus two.

Anything John McGlynn can do, Kenny Shiels can do pretty much the same.

Which will make this a tight one today?

Hearts don't look to offer much value at 10/11, Kilmarnock might be a tad generous at 3/1.

A draw for me though. 12/5.

Inverness v Dundee United

Inverness looked in danger of being overrun as Hibs went two ahead last Saturday.

There, laid bare, were their limitations.

From adversity, strength. With Richie Foran leading the line they hauled themselves back into it with a determination and resilience which makes you think they can again be more than the sum of their parts.

If anyone stumbles across the Dundee United side that were apparently best placed to challenge for the title could they please post it back to a Mr P Houston at Tannadice.

After winning their first two game 3-0, United are now four without a win and suffered a 3-0 defeat of their own at home to Hearts last week.

Injuries haven't helped of course. But there seems to be nobody ready to take responsibility when key players are missing.

It will be a worry for Peter Houston that they've also shipped three goals in losing to Kilmarnock and Hearts.

Not scoring and not always defending very well. 'Tis a bad combination.

I'm not sure if Inverness, still without a league win, will be able to capitalise though. They're certainly thrawn but I'm unconvinced by their ability to take the initiative.

So Inverness at 2/1? Don't fancy it. Dundee United at 13/10? Not sure.

The draw at 9/4. Go on then.

Motherwell v Celtic

In the last week Motherwell have lost a two goal lead against an Aberdeen side that couldn't score and been dispatched from the league cup by a Third Division side.

That's pish, frankly.

The manner of their defeat to Rangers - not just the lack of marking at the goals, but the stumbling, pedestrian ineptitude of much of their play - should be a cause for concern.

But they're top of the league so everything is rosy? Hmmm. They are both bad results.

I'd be astonished if Celtic don't win this game.

The most interesting thing about it is the kick off time: The first Saturday 3pm kick off for a Celtic away game in the SPL since October 2005 when Livingston were on the wrong end of a 5-0 drubbing.

A drubbing inspired by "youngsters Stephen McManus and Shaun Maloney."

Gary Hooper looks in the mood. The Motherwell defence looks generous. The Celtic win is likely but it's a low value 8/13.

St Mirren v Ross County

Kenny Shiels was ebullient in his praise of St Mirren last week. But his Kilmarnock side had just won the game.

Defeat too for Ross County, that lengthy unbeaten league run finally coming to an end against a rejuvenated St Johnstone.

So something for both teams to bounce back from tomorrow.

It took St Mirren until injury time to slide past Hamilton in the league cup on Tuesday.

That will please Derek Adams. County are nothing if not obstinate and he might well fancy their chances of rendering St Mirren pretty but ineffective - which is the praise Shiels faintly damned them with last week.

St Mirren go into this one as favourites at evens. The County win is 11/5.

I'd be more tempted by the draw at the same price.

Coupon crazy

OK, so where are we?

The tightness of many matches and the inconsistency of many sides is making calling SPL matches something of a challenge so far this season.

Tomorrow:

Hibs to win
St Johnstone to win
Hearts and Kilmarnock to draw
Inverness and Dundee United to draw
Celtic to win
St Mirren and Ross County to draw

An accumulator on that little lot comes in at 414.69/1. A daft bet. But this might just be a daft season.

All odds from Ladbrokes

Always remembering www.gambleaware.co.uk

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Europa League: Hearts v Liverpool

"When are games versus Scottish teams ever as easy as they should be?"

So asked one Liverpool fan after his team were drawn against Hearts in their Europa League play off.

The answer, a bittersweet truth to be sure, is that too many clubs from too many countries have found games against Scottish teams clubs to be all too easy in recent years.

Liverpool themselves have endured a few hard battles but five times out of six they've prevailed in the cross-border clashes that have punctuated their six decades of European participation.

The first test allowed two men on the road to greatness to meet head on in the Cup Winner's Cup.

Celtic v Liverpool.

Jock Stein v Bill Shankly.

It was Shankly who triumphed in 1966, a 2-0 win at Anfield securing a 2-1 win on aggregate.

The 1970-71 Fairs Cup saw Liverpool make their first competitive trip to Edinburgh with a 1-0 win over Hibs.

"Hibs are one down and are playing in front of the Kop. Need I say more?" asked Shankly.

Apparently not. A 2-0 win at Anfield completed the job.

Hibs had another crack in the 1975/76 UEFA Cup. This time a Joe Harper goal gave them a home win before John Toshack dominated the return leg at Anfield.

With Kevin Keegan providing the service, Toshack's hat-trick secured a 3-1 on the night.

By 1980 Liverpool were a major force in European football, Aberdeen the coming force in Scottish football.

In the second round of Alex Ferguson's first European Cup campaign Aberdeen lost only 1-0 at Pittodrie but were undone at Anfield by the eventual winners.

Ferguson said of that defeat:

"The 4-0 beating we suffered in the second was far too emphatic to to allow us to plead mitigating circumstances on the basis of the players missing because of injury. All we could was try to ensure that we learned from painful exposure to the proven masters of the techniques and discipline required in European competitions."

By 1997 Celtic and Liverpool didn't quite offer the same promise as they had when Stein and Shankly were building dynasties and taking the fight to the world.

They could still put on a show though. A goalless draw at Anfield was followed by a Michael Owen goal early in the second leg.

Celtic fought back. A Simon Donnelly penalty had them 2-1 up with 15 minutes to go before Steve McManaman settled matters with a late equaliser to seal a win on away goals.

This time Celtic didn't have quite as long to wait for revenge. The first leg of the 2002-03 UEFA Cup quarter final finished 1-1 in Glasgow.

Advantage Liverpool. But this was a determined - and very good - Celtic team.

A clean sheet and goals for Alan Thompson and John Hartson sent Celtic closer to the final and, after 37 years of sporadic attempts, finally gave a Scottish club a win over Liverpool.

As Liverpool made occasional visits across north, Hearts had to bide their time for a Scotland v England clash.

Not until last year - 53 years and 72 games since their European debut - did they face English opposition.

A long wait that ended rather abruptly.

A 5-0 win for Tottenham at Tynecastle in the first leg, a display of utter dominance.

The 0-0 draw in the White Hart Lane was creditable but irrelevant.

It was Hearts misfortune - there but for someone's grace go any number of clubs - that it was on their patch that the disparity between the SPL and the EPL would be most starkly illustrated.

Their misfortune too that the Liverpool game - lucrative as it will be - should follow so hot on the heels of their first stab at establishing cross-border relations.

The temptation is to look at what happened last year and allow that to inform our predictions for what will happen tonight.

Thus the challenge that Hearts are being set is not to make history but to stop history repeating itself. Don't reach for the stars, reach for the damage limitation manual.

Maybe that's symptomatic of Scottish football's drained confidence or maybe it's an example of brutally honest realism.

Either way I don't think it helps manager John McGlynn's cause.

Spurs were the better team by some distance last year but the constant pre-game reminders that they were up against a big side, a better side, can't have helped Hearts.

When the game started and Hearts froze the outcome was not only predictable, it could have been a lot worse.

With a younger team, with last year so fresh in the memory, there is a risk we'll see the same thing happen again.

Liverpool have travelled without Steven Gerrard, Luis Suarez, Martin Skrtel and Glen Johnson.

Big names missing as part of a European rotation policy. Mind you, those big names played last weekend in the 3-0 defeat to West Brom.

For their part Hearts might start with debutant goalkeeper Peter Enckleman.

Unlikely heroes can emerge on nights such as these.

Hearts will need as many of them as they can get.

How will it go?

Ladbrokes tell me it doesn't look good. Odds of 11/2 on a Hearts win and 8/15 on a Liverpool win tell their own story.

4-0 Liverpool is 28/1, a repeat of Spurs' 5-0 win is 66/1. Andy Carroll is 25/1 to score a hat-trick.

I suspect Hearts will do well to score (John Sutton is 9/4 to score anytime) though so their best hope might well to a 0-0 draw, keeping the tie alive for the second leg.

You'll get 10/1 for that.

It's never nice to be reminded how well off your neighbours are. And we're forever reminded of the riches that flow into English football.

The reality is that Liverpool's second string would stand out in the SPL.

With nothing to lose Tynecastle will be in full voice. It could be a long night for Hearts.

What a boost it would be for Scottish football if it could also be a famous night for them.

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SPL: Hibs v Hearts

Bliss it was that dawn to be alive.

19th May 2012.

They were happy coaches that travelled from Leith to the Scottish Cup final that day in May, fuelled by hope and expectation. Songs filled the air. This was Hibs' time.

They delivered fans not to a green and pleasant land but a dystopian nightmare.

From Wordsworth to Orwell, the Scottish Cup final as imagined by a hungover Danny Boyle with Pa Kujabi and Pat Fenlon auditioning to play Mr Bean.

That was then. This is now.

Even a club as unresponsive as Hibs realised something had to change.

A number of players who trudged off the pitch at Hampden were quickly shipped out.

A new team would be built, a team with "bottle," ready to make a fresh start. Ready to restore the reputation of a club that had invented new ways to fail in the past couple of season.

Fast forward to the competitive debut of this "new" Hibs.

A 3-0 defeat to Dundee United in which Hibs were variously clueless in defence, weak in midfield and toothless in attack.

You'll have had your summer of change.

And now another test.

Hearts at Easter Road. Just the second game of the season. Hearts fresh from a comfortable 2-0 win over St Johnstone, Hearts fans set on another party to mark that Scottish Cup win, this one in their neighbour's backyard.

Things don't get much easier for Hibs. But that's what happens when a club gets so much wrong.

There are those on the board at Easter Road who like to extol the virtues of their budget driven management of the club while looking haughtily across the city.

It's not that simple.

Hibs youth policy has been stuttery since the last of the impressive - and profitable - "golden generation" left.

Last weekend Hearts trumped them for the number of youth graduates in the squad and in the starting line up.

And Hibs, whose miserliness some like to present as a masterful, are brassic.

Maybe not as skint as some clubs but too many seasons of paying off managers, making bad signings whose contracts need to be bought out and not producing any saleable assets has taken its toll.

They have a fine stadium. But no money. Some clubs buy success, Hibs wouldn't do that so ended up spending a fortune on failure. That makes rebuilding a team very hard.

It's a rum do indeed in Leith.

All of which is ground I've covered before and will again. But it's important to give Sunday's game context.

The first derby of the season - and it's an early season clash - always had to be targetted as a big step on the road to recovery.

The cup final is gone, history can't be changed, the jokes and jubiliation in Gorgie will never end.

But a sound performance against Hearts - a much, much overdue win in this fixture - would be evidence of progress, a measure of the rebuilding job.

Yet Hibs appear to be entering the game as the SPL's Benidorm hotel.

They might one day be fine. But right now the work has stalled, the owner has stopped paying the builder, the windows haven't been fitted and the swimming pool isn't tiled.

Hearts have had changes themselves. John McGlynn has been given the tricky job of taking over from the cup winning Paulo Sergio and remoulding the team with a focus on youth.

But the players were already at the club, ready to take the step up, immersed in the ethos of the club. An ethos that very much includes winning derby games.

What hope for Hibs?

Last week's showing could have been a bad day at the office, United had already played a European tie and their early goal might just have caught Hibs off guard.

The arrival of Gary Deegan might bolster that powder puff midfield.

Fenlon's promise of a new look and a new attitude might have blossomed on the lush green grass of that expensive training centre this week.

A young Hearts side might fall victim to inconsistency, their lack of striking options might become a problem.

But you'd struggle to find a Hibs fan to bet on any of that.

Losing the first two games of the season needn't be disastrous but losing this game would be a problem for Hibs.

In the battle for hearts and minds losing another battle to Hearts will make up more minds about the direction the club is taking.

Hibs v Hearts: the odds

Ladbrokes offer 11/5 for a Hibs win, 5/4 for a Hearts win and 9/4 for the draw.

The optimistic Hibs fan might be interested to see that 2-1 win with Leigh Griffiths as first scorer comes in at 40/1.

James McPake - scorer of the cup final consolation goal - is a 12/1 anytime scorer.

And perhaps some of those Hearts fans for whom confidence is not a problem will fancy a John Sutton hat trick at 33/1.

Champions League: The result

What snivelling wretches we have running football.

Michel Platini and his Eurocrat acolytes make our own dear Neil Doncaster look heroic.

When it's clear that the eyes of global football should be focused on El Broon Sauce Clásico at Hampden, they attempt to divert football lovers the world over with a sideshow in Munich.

The Champions League final. Pfft. A mere sapling of a game compared to the stately oak of a match taking place in Glasgow.

Who exactly are Bayern Munich and Chelsea when Hibs and Hearts are battling it out in the game of the century? They're nobody.

Anywhere here's a tip to remember as you browse your sportsbook review and decide where best to place your money.

Bayern Munich will beat Chelsea. They will beat them 2-0 and Chelsea will be absolutely raging at the result.

This game, and this will save you bother of watching so by all means just go and get steaming after the final whistle blows at Hampden, has been played out before.

For Chelsea read Leeds. For 2012 read 1975. For Champions League read the European Cup (a proper tournament that.)

Chelsea have an ageing squad. Check.

Chelsea hire a young manager who's enjoyed success elsewhere. Check.

Chelsea's ageing squad don't like young manager. Check.

Chelsea's ageing squad force young manager out. Check.

Chelsea replace young manager with manager who's enjoyed some success with an unheralded side. Check.

Chelsea progress through Europe's premier competition. Check.

Chelsea beat Barcelona in European semi final. Check.

Chelsea lose controversially to Bayern Munich in European final. Get a bet on.

The damned Chelsea? Written in the stars.

I mentioned this on The Footy Pod between the first and second legs of the semi final and I've been proved right so far.

And Jonathan Wilson put far more meat on the bones of the theory than I ever could for The Guardian.

Fill your boots.*

*Scottish Football Blog predictions often crash and burn.

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Scottish Cup: Hibs for the cup?

Time, I think, to take Rudyard Kipling's advice about triumph and disaster and fling it in the Water of Leith.

Those two impostors are the only things up for grabs at Hampden tomorrow.

The ultimate triumph. The ultimate disaster.

An all Edinburgh Scottish Cup final. The first for 116 years. Games don't come bigger for these two clubs. They might never have a bigger game.

Good luck to any fan of either team who manages to greet victory or defeat just the same.

Less than 24 hours to go now.

I've spent the week talking about this blasted game, it's been impossible to escape, a date with destiny looming ever closer on the horizon.

The dull ache of Hibs' hopeless history in this dear old tournaments has been replaced, as the days and hours have been counted down, with a gut wrenching desire to seem them finally bloody win it.

Not, I think, a gut wrenching desire to avoid defeat nor a gut wrenching fear of defeat.

Just the thrilling thought that seeing the trophy come down Easter Road could be so close.

So close. But still so far. It's the waiting that is so agonising.

How do I feel?

A bit nervous, a bit caught up in the whirlwind that the game has created, a bit scared, a bit confident, sort of looking forward to it, sort of dreading it.

Emotional at times too, for the friends who won't be there tomorrow who would have relished every minute of this, who would have danced for joy just seeing Hibs on the cusp of something this special.

Their memory marches on.

Can Hibs win?

Yes.

That's not to say they will.

But they can.

Hearts have better players at their disposal, they've dominated this season's derbies and Hibs have failed to land a punch on them in over three years.

Hearts have a mentality in these games that is admirable. Pat Fenlon upset some by talking about them "bullying" Hibs.

An unfortunate word to use but I understand his point. In recent clashes Hearts have taken to the field with an assured self-belief, they've approached the games thinking that they will dominate. And dominate they most surely have.

There isn't any real reason to suppose that will change tomorrow. But Hibs have slowly shown some improvement, gradually developed a cohesion. A brittle recovery for sure but a recovery nonetheless.

League positions point to the story of the season. An average year for Hearts punctuated by some fine performances. An instantly forgettable season for Hibs punctuated by some genuine relegation worries.

A divergence in the SPL for sure, but less marked than the one Kilmarnock scaled in the League Cup final. Less, even, than the gap Hearts leapt in their semi final win over Celtic.

Hibs need to produce the performance of their season, they need to hope that Hearts aren't quite on their game.

But Hampden's seen upsets this year.

Anything can happen.

Who do you fear the most?

I fear a collective. Or rather a couple of collectives.

Hearts' midfield and Hibs' midfield.

If Ian Black can control the game and Rudi Skacel finds freedom to roam lazily before pouncing with lethal intent then Hibs are surely doomed.

I suspect the Hibs midfield will be Stevenson, Claros, Osbourne and Soares.

What games they need to have. Stevenson needs confidence and belief, Claros needs to show he now "gets" the Scottish game, Osbourne needs 90 minutes of concentration, Soares needs to shrug off his lapses into laziness.

Still that might not be enough, but they've at least got to make a game of it.

It's the middle of the park or bust.

Is Pat Fenlon up to the job?

A question that's cropped up from Hibs fans and from supporters of other clubs. People seem unconvinced.

I honestly don't know. He's impressed me at times and he's disappointed me at times.

As I pointed out before the semi final against Aberdeen when he came head to head with Craig Brown, Fenlon has experience of getting the job done in the closing stages of tournaments.

Transferable skills that have made the hop across the Irish Sea?

We'll need to wait and see.

I like him and I think he'll be good for Hibs in the long term.

If he pulls off a win tomorrow I would happily marry him.

How big is this game for Hibs?

Absolutely massive, insanely huge.

More than a derby because it's a Scottish Cup final. More than a Scottish Cup final because it's a derby.

A green and white crackerjack.

If Pat Fenlon has managed to play that down among the players then good on him.

But there's no point in the fans trying to do the same.

Walk around Leith tonight, chat to the fans from Australia, America, Norway, Belgium and the rest.

Spend some time in the company of Jimmy O'Rourke, Paul Kane or Lawrie Reilly.

It won't take you long to realise what a spectacle this is, what it means to so many people.

Something no living person has ever seen before.

Monumentally big.

Has fate decided this is Hibs' year?

I suppose that depends if you believe in fate.

I'd say no. Fate hasn't decided against Hibs every other year in this decades long wait either.

They've just not been good enough. Not good enough even, agonisingly, in the seasons when you might have expected them to be more than good enough.

Conversely, of course, a team that is to all intents and purposes not good enough now have a chance to show that they are, in fact, good enough on the day.

A funny game, football. But not one decided by twists of fate or a butterfly flapping its wings in the Amazonian jungle.

How will you feel?

I'll feel miserable sitting on the bus to Hampden. I always do.

I'll feel appreciative of being there for all of five minutes then I'll fret and worry and curse the smoking ban and try to make secret trades with those same gods of fate that I don't even believe in.

If Hibs lose?

I'll be beside myself, gutted, a pitiful shell of a man.

Then I'll recover.

I'll hear a million jokes cracked at my team's expense and I'll get the usual stick on Twitter. I'll have a few pints, sing a few songs, and the world will keep on turning.

It will be horribly impossible to forget but I'll move on.

If Hibs win?

Ah, if Hibs win...

It's difficult to know. The longing for this trophy has lasted so long, the pain caused by 110 years of misery being laid to rest against the auldest of enemies would bring such relief and such euphoria that I find it hard to even imagine the feeling.

There will be tears. They'll come in victory but not in defeat. Defeats happen and it's best to learn to cope with them.

But this could be a victory that I never thought I'd see: Hibs can make me cry at Hampden tomorrow but Hearts can't.

Tears of joy, disbelieving tears that would greet the final whistle and flow through Sunshine on Leith. They might actually flow all the way along the M8.

Sharing that moment, a moment that has been the collective will of all Hibs fan for so long, with good mates, perfect strangers and my brother.

It would be a special, special feeling.

Who'll win?

I steer clear of predictions before games like this. The more people that tell me they think Hibs will win, the less I want to hear it.

What will be will either painfully or gloriously be.

A hard game. Nervy, jittery, disjointed and frantic to begin with. It will be crucial to see who emerges from that opening period the stronger.

The bookies say Hearts are favourites. The bookies are right.

History to beat, form to beat, a better team to beat.

After 110 years Hibs were always going to have to do this the hard way.

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Scottish Cup: Hearts and soul

The end of a 116 year wait draws ever closer. Hearts, Hibs and the Scottish Cup final. Excitement is growing, nerves are jangling.

I'm delighted to welcome Laurie Dunsire back to the blog to give a Hearts fan's view of why the stakes are so high and why this is a game that will mean so much to families across Edinburgh and beyond.

Nothing is preordained. So who will have the last laugh?

If the climactic closing weekend of the English Premier League taught us anything, it's that football can offer more twists and turns, more dramatic endings and more far fetched tales of glory than any Hollywood script could ever dream of.

As the respective league campaigns north and south of the border came to an end, the attention shifted to the Scottish Cup Final - as a Hearts supporter the biggest game of my life, and probably the biggest game in each club's history.

116 years since the two rivals met in the final of Scotland's premier cup competition, and, as we all know, 110 years since the green half of Edinburgh emerged victorious in this tournament.

As Saturday draws ever closer, both sides appear to be drawing on superstition and history to convince themselves that their team's name is already on the cup. For Hearts fans confidence is taken from our fantastic recent form against Hibs, and the fact they NEVER win the cup. Do they...?

For Hibs it would seem that all the pieces are falling into place. When they last won it, in 1902, they had an Irishman in charge. Step forward, Pat Fenlon. The clock outside the Balmoral Hotel apparently stopped in 1902, and did so again this year. Indeed, if this WAS a Hollywood script then Hibs would be the winners. Surely life would not be so cruel as to allow them to get so close to changing history, only to be denied by HEARTS. Would it...?

Life, and football, can be cruel though. But equally records are there to be broken, and no matter what has gone before, this is just 90 minutes (or 120 minutes plus penalties), and anything can happen.

I have never felt so nervous prior to a football game. I'm close to being downright terrified. This is bigger than an Old Firm final, MUCH bigger. If Rangers or Celtic lose a cup final to their greatest rivals, how long will they have to wait to avenge it? Maybe a year, possibly two at most? For Hearts and Hibs this might be the last time they'll meet in such a game. This could mean eternal bragging rights.

One thing IS clear to me. Nothing is preordained in football.

Past form goes out the window, superstition means nothing. Two teams go head to head on Saturday and until the final whistle is blown, both sides are in with a chance of glory. The stakes are high, and I'm far from confident!

There is NO name on the cup. Yet.

As a Hearts fan I often get a bit of stick for not disliking Hibs as much as I'm 'supposed to'. But, for me, the Edinburgh derby is a healthy but controlled rivalry, and although I love nothing more than spanking the other lot from down Leith way, I couldn't imagine life without them!

Maybe this respect for our greatest rivals comes from my family background, as my late grandfather, Andrew Dunsire, was a Hibs fan. In fact he regularly took my dad to see Hibs back in the 50s, during the famous five era when, many would argue, Hibs had their greatest ever team.

But, for whatever reason, my dad didn't take to Easter Road, and began sneaking off to watch Hearts instead. Eventually he came clean, and he has remained a Jambo ever since.

My dad didn't take me to see Hearts for quite a while when I was young, not until I actually became interested and asked if he would. Was it fear that I'd reject them and become a Hibs fan if he forced my interest, like he had done to his father? Probably not, but either way I followed a maroon path.

Sadly my grandfather passed away in 2003, but I do recall the last Edinburgh Derby I watched with him - on TV of course. Hibs won 2-1 at Easter Road, and my lasting memory is just his laugh as my dad and I became increasingly frustrated as Hearts pushed forward, in vain, for an equaliser.

By this point he didn't get too flustered over football, and he'd drunk a few glasses of whisky - I think he probably preferred whisky to Hibs by this stage to be honest. But maybe the cheerful chortling was just his way of enjoying a victory. Needless to say he had the last laugh on that occasion.

But he was my Grandad first and foremost, and a Hibs fan second. He would always have me round to watch the Hearts match if it was on TV, and sit and 'enjoy' it with me. Football means an awful lot to me, sometimes too much, but there are things that are more important.

That said, like any other Jambo I'll be celebrating deliriously if we win on Saturday, and I'll be contemplating ending it all there and then if we lose. This game is simply MASSIVE.

I've tried not to think about the match itself too much, as it makes me far too nervous. I can't call it at the moment. I still believe we have a stronger team than Hibs, and if we turn up on the day and perform to the best of our ability then we will prevail. But the gap isn't huge, and Hibs have shown a bit of fight recently, with McPake in particular appearing like an impressive presence at the back.

The Griffiths and O'Connor strikeforce are always going to pose a threat as well, and I certainly wouldn't bet against either of them getting on the scoresheet at some point.

But the game could be won and lost in the middle of the park, and I feel that's where we are strongest. If Ian Black can keep his head right and perform as he has done in previous derbies then he can dictate the play, and with Rudi Skacel ahead of him we can always pose a threat going forward.

There are too many ifs and buts at this stage though. It's a game that either side COULD win, but only one side WILL win.

Nothing is decided yet, the two sets of players will determine their own fate come Saturday afternoon. There will be tears, there will be laughter. Of course I hope on this occasion it is my father and I who have the last laugh, but regardless of the end result, I'll take a moment after the game to sip on a glass of whisky and remember my Grandad.

Andrew Dunsire, 1914-2003.

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Scottish Cup: Talking about waiting

Like children before Christmas we wait with increasing excitement for the all-Edinburgh Scottish Cup final.

For those of us with an emotional attachment, of course, this Santa delivers either the greatest gift of all or a ginormous slap in the face.

High stakes.

Given I can think of little else it was a pleasure to join The SPL Podcast for a cup final preview show.

We also took a look at the SPL season that was with Celtic flying high and Dunfermline plumbing the depths.

Thanks to Robert (@RMcCracken91), Paul (@steakheed) and Simon (@SFurnivall) for the hospitable welcome.

Listen here or subscribe on iTunes.

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Scottish Cup: Hibs head for the (Irish) hills

Some consternation among the fourth estate as Hibs announce that their media open day ahead of the Scottish Cup final will be held in Ireland.

An away media open day.

With budgets being squeezed across the land, sports editors might be loathe to send journalists off on a Ryanair adventure.

It is us, dear reader, who will suffer, denied the insight and access that make the build-up to the cup final so unique every year.

A void needs filled.

Fear not.

Here's exclusive filler for that very void: The Scottish Football Blog's Copy and Paste Hibs Media Guide.

Speaking at his side's training camp in Ireland, captain James McPake said:

"All the boys know the history, it will be a huge occasion but a hard game, we'd all love to win it for the fans."

From his team's luxury training base outside Dublin, on-loan striker and boyhood Hibs fan Leigh Griffiths said:

"We'd all love to win it for the fans, all the boys know the history, it will be a huge occasion but a hard game."

At the side's training camp across the Irish Sea, Lewis Stevenson, one of the true Hibs fans in Pat Fenlon's squad, said:

"It will be a huge occasion but a hard game, we'd all love to win it for the fans, all the boys know the history."

Masterminding Hibs' final challenge from a luxury base in Ireland, manager Pat Fenlon said:

"The fans all know the history, all the boys know it will be a huge but hard occasion, we'd love to win it."

Billy Brown, Fenlon's assistant who started the season with cup final opponents Hearts, speaking at the side's Irish training camp, said:

"The fans and the boys all know the history, obviously for me there's even more recent history as well. But that's football and there's a job to do here.

"The occasion will be both huge and hard but I'd love to see us win it for both the boys and the fans."

Me? I'd quite happily hibernate until 3pm on Saturday 19th May.

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Albion Road: Risk and opportunity

As promised I've made a swift return to the halcyon pages of Albion Road.

This week I'm taking a look at the outstanding SPL issues of the season as four go mad for Europe and two are driven crazy by relegation pressure:

Just five games left now in the 2011/12 SPL season.

The rather artificial construct that sees the league fracture into a top and bottom six clubs just a few weeks from the finish line runs the risk of creating something of an anti-climatic SPL conclusion.

That risk is heightened when, as with Celtic this year, the title is done and dusted with a handful games to spare.

We're left searching for alternative distractions. This season an intriguing battle for Europe and a prolonged relegation struggle should be enough to keep interest alive.

At the bottom we wonder just how good a season could this yet be for Hibs?

Remarkably it could be one of their best since their league-winning glory days in the 1950s.

Remarkable because for the largest chunk of this season Hibs have been a weak impersonation of a top flight football club.

Read the whole article here

I'll be back on Albion Road in May with a round-up of the SPL season. And I might even take a look back at the Scottish Cup final.

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Scottish Cup: Edinburgh's big day

As Craig Beattie set off on his mad celebratory dash around the Hampden track on Sunday the realisation dawned: not without controversy, perhaps, but Hearts were on their way to an unlikely all-Edinburgh Scottish Cup final.

Unlikely because Hearts went into the semi-final against SPL champions Celtic as underdogs. Unlikely because Hibs have suffered such misery and woe over the course of this long, hard season.

Unlikely but now very, very real.

Hibs v Hearts in the Scottish Cup final. The first Edinburgh derby Scottish Cup final since 1896.

I was asked a lot in the hours between Hibs’ 2-1 win over Aberdeen and the second semi final if I’d prefer Hearts or Celtic in the final.

“I’d rather just enjoy the moment and worry about the final later” was my standard response.

How do I feel now?

Nervous. Already. The minute Hearts’ win over Celtic was confirmed I felt as nervous as I would have if the final had been half an hour away rather than five weeks away.

I can’t remember feeling like that so far in advance of any game. Maybe before the Scotland v England clashes of 1996 and 1999 or when the draw for the 1998 World Cup pitted Jim Leighton against Ronaldo.

But even those games were different. Because this is Hibs and Hearts in a Scottish Cup final.

It’s been playing on mind since. On the train today I found that “Garry O’Connor, he’s one of our own” ditty trapped in my head. Those of you have charted my relationship with O’Connor over the course of the season might realise that sort of behaviour is out of character.

Predictably we’ve already had a full airing of the “Murrayfield or Hampden” debate. Murrayfield’s size and location offer benefits.

But have many Hibs fans dreamt, over the course of this tortuous 110 year Scottish Cup jinx, of seeing a green and white clad captain raise the old trophy at the home of Scottish rugby?

Probably not.

So Hampden it is. The chance of a first ever Scottish Cup win for Hibs at the “third Hampden.” Their 1887 win came at the second incarnation of the national stadium while the 1902 victory over Celtic came at Celtic Park with a new Hampden being built on its current site and Ibrox out of use following the disaster of April that year.

The 1896 “Edinburgh” cup final was played in the capital. But Hearts won that day at Logie Green so I’m unimpressed by the precedent.

Oddly enough the club’s had fought against that decision and lobbied for a switch to either Hampden or Ibrox because:

"It was accepted that the 22,001st man who entered the ground would stand an even-money chance of being crushed to death. The man in the street was in no hurry to die at one shilling admission."

Changed days.

With the venue debate dismissed by a cursory SFA statement - actually a rehash of a statement made on the very same issue at the end of last week - we can concentrate on the build-up.

Sort of.

Along the way Hibs need to confirm their SPL status and Hearts will still fancy a run at the vacant Champions League spot.

Yet even such important matters of league housekeeping are unlikely to dampen enthusiasm for the cup final. Nor will they distract the queue of Hearts fans itching to tell me the game is already won or their equally bombastic brethren among the Hibs support prematurely claiming bragging rights.

I’d prefer it all to be a bit calmer. In fact, I’d love to disappear for a few weeks then magically reappear in Glasgow at about 2.55pm on Saturday 19th May. Not least because five weeks of nervousness is likely to leave me with a ticker too dicky to cope with the strains of the game.

But that’s not an option.

So I’ll need to embrace the Edinburgh Evening News - current cup final state: feverish - and the TV and radio chats, the stories of derring-do as sons and daughters of Leith and Gorgie abseil down Kilimanjaro and cross the Andes on a yak to get back for the greatest game these two clubs haven’t yet seen.

I might as well enjoy it.

A lifetime of supporting Hibs is a vicissitudinous enough love affair to allow one to build the resilience to cope with whatever is flung at us on this day of destiny.

No point, then, worrying about a defeat that might never come.

Not when there are dreams of glory unsurpassed to be dreamt, not when there are hats, wigs and commemorative t-shirts to be bought, tickets to be queued for, travel plans to be finalised and a few more dreams of glory to be dreamt.

Edinburgh might never have seen anything like it. Who knows, maybe at 4.45pm on that Saturday in May even the Jenners tannoy will burst into life and tell any straggling shoppers that the “champions of Edinburgh are...”

Ninety minutes from immortality and joy unconfined. Or an hour and a half from infamy.

And five weeks before all that to revel in it, to soak it all up, get picked up and carried along on a wave of enthusiasm.

It’s going to be quite something. And, if all else fails, drink will probably take care of those lingering nerves.

Source:

• The Scotsman, 27/03/2006

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Scottish Cup: Dream on

That time of year when each paper has a riff on the same theme: "Hibs fans don't need reminding that it's been 110 years since their side won the Scottish Cup."

Well, no. We don't.

Yet everybody does remind us. Constantly.

The scraggy punchline of a 110 year joke. Mostly a joke that bludgeons you about the head with no attempt at subtlety. Or, largely, any attempt at humour.

But you can't point that out. Because it's been 110 years. And that, even in the hands of a bar room bore or a five year old in the playground, is indeed a joke.

1902 and all that. The journey continues.

2012 and all that. A season's journey of some discomfort. Tomorrow Ayr United and a shot at redemption in a tournament that so rarely offers Hibs any succour.

Ayr dumped Colin Calderwood's Hibs out of the cup last season. It's not that many years, but many a manager, since they dumped Franck Sauzee's sorry soldiers out of the league cup at Hampden.

Pat Fenlon will know that you don't need to beat Ayr to enjoy a fruitful reign at Easter Road. But it helps.

It won't be easy. An away tie against a lower division team that have already conquered Inverness, Hearts and St Mirren this season.

Cup assassins, stalking the Brylcreem boys of the SPL.

That's the chosen narrative.

Mind you, Ayr have only won four league games at home this season and lost to Annan Athletic, two divisions below them, at home in the Challenge Cup.

Lies, damned lies and peculiarly ambivalent statistics.

It won't be easy for Hibs. Partly because it's rarely ever easy for Hibs.

And partly because Ayr are a sound team who have been here before. They'll be lying in wait, ready to offer the hand of friendship with a traditional Somerset Park welcome.

Prediction?

Not on your nelly. I wouldn't want to jinx it.

Jinxing things is something I often do.

Last week I wrote a hagiographic appraisal of Celtic's season so far. The very next day they only managed a draw at Aberdeen.

That's the thing about football.

You build up your aura of invincibility, you look like you might finish the season undefeated. But there's always something lurking round the corner ready to bite you on the bum.

Often that something is shaped like a dogged Aberdeen, drilled to within an inch of their lives by a pair of unimpressed curmudgeons like Craig Brown and Archie Knox.

That's the way soccer's cookie crumbles.

But the treble chase is still on, a tricky quarter final trip to Tannadice notwithstanding.

Tricky? United are bubbling along quite the thing, Houdini Houston is fair putting the season's earlier struggles behind him. United are reaching for the European stars.

Unfortunately for United it's Celtic who have the better of these Tannadice tear-ups. And the last time somebody knocked both Rangers and Celtic out of the Scottish Cup Alex Ferguson was using Doug Rougvie as a human gargoyle.

Celtic's dominance at Tannadice has lasted slightly longer than Motherwell's over Aberdeen. It won't feel like that for Craig Brown and Archie Knox.

Since they hot-footed it to the greener pastures of Pittodrie our dynamic duo have seen their current side huff and puff against their former charges with little success.

On one occasion Brown even found time to have actual physical fisticuffs with John Boyle. Really.

Aberdeen look a different proposition now. It's taken longer than he'd have hoped but Brown has located a backbone in his team. They're much harder to beat, if still not exactly licensed purveyors of the beautiful game.

So a better Aberdeen. But Motherwell are better still.

A strange one this for Motherwell. They're now just a few games here and there away from consecutive Scottish Cup finals. And a Champion's League qualifier.

I'm sure Stuart McCall has every confidence in his own ability as a manager but I suspect even he wouldn't have thought this season had the potential to turn out quite as well as it might.

The man with the ginger mane has become the man with the golden touch.

Which just about seamlessly segues to Hearts whose ginger touch in front of goal has hamstrung them in recent weeks.

A five game run that was unrivalled in the league for the paucity of points gathered was finally halted with victory at Ibrox last week.

Whatever the circumstances, victory in Govan should replenish and revitalise like a weekend spa. Hearts need to build on it.

Wins have proved even more elusive for St Mirren. Danny Lennon has built a side that concedes very little and scores not a lot.

The result is the current sequence of low scoring draws. Those of us of a certain age will recall that Lennon's first tentative footballing steps were taken at Easter Road under the dourly defensive tutelage of Alex Miller.

Nobody's ever rocked a sequence of dull draws like mid to late eighties vintage Lexo Miller. The apprentice is paying homage to the master.

St Mirren's last visit to Tynecastle was in January. They conceded in the first minute, were 2-1 up inside 20 and eventually lost 5-2.

The current run is perhaps an antidote - maybe not the most inspiring one - to that sort of result.

Will they be doughty but blunt again tomorrow? Will Hearts be enterprisingly comfortable but toothless?

Eight teams. 90 minutes (or 180 or 200 or 200 plus penalties) away from a Hampden semi-final.

Dreams used to be made of this. It would be nice if this weekend could go some way to proving that they still are.

Heart v St Mirren: Draw
Ayr United v Hibs: No comment
Dundee United v Celtic: Away win
Motherwell v Aberdeen: Home win

Frugality, Whyte knights and January gambles

A week away from the blog.

I'd like to explain my absence with exciting tales of derring do. But I can't. The most excitement I got was watching Hibs beat Kilmarnock in the Scottish Cup, nailbiting to the end.

No, I've been away largely because I couldn't be arsed for the last week. One of the many dividing lines between the humdrum blogger and the paid chronicler of our beautiful game is that my can't-be-arsedness means very little to anyone, can't-be-arsedness on their part means children go unfed.

What great events did I miss?

Well, speaking of paid chroniclers, last week was the week that the Daily Record - oft referred to as the Daily Ranger in the more unforgiving corners of our footballing society, a newspaper once literally printed on blue paper - suggested that, whatever else he may be, Rangers owner Craig Whyte is not, after all, a white knight.

Rangers, said the Record, are screwed. One way or t'other, to differing degrees dependent on a variable here or there, but screwed nonetheless.

"Not so," responded Craig Whyte.

This, largely, is all Craig Whyte does. Deny things. Sometimes he also issues legal threats. But largely he denies and denies and denies. He's either incredibly wronged or he's the boy who cried wolf until he was hoarse.

One thing he's not, right now, is the owner of a football club with any momentum. Behind in the league, out of the cup - all the cups - and shorn of their star striker.

Rangers lost the the transfer window just as surely as they lost to Dundee United in that meek Scottish Cup capitulation on Sunday.

Gone is Nikica Jelavić, in is the initially phonetically amusing and initially underwhelming Mervan Celik.

A January devoted to frugality? Perhaps. But it's hard to see how this window's business has done anything but further deflate the Ibrox championship challenge.

And still, perhaps, even bigger battles lie ahead.

Rangers January's travails allowed Celtic to complete a quiet month looking like the biggest winners. Ahead in the SPL and getting past opponents of all shapes and sizes in the three domestic competitions, Celtic brought in Pawel Brozek, Rabiu Ibrahim and Michael Lustig.

What impact the three recruits will have remains to be seen. In a strange January, however, Celtic kept hold of their best players. That may well be enough in what has become a treble chasing season.

Holding on to your best players; Hearts managed that as well, despite talk of a financially motivated fire sale.

That looked to have set them up for a real tilt at third place. Best-of-the-rest might still be a realistic possibility but less than a week into February and Hearts have apparently all but dispensed with the services of 'keeper Marián Kello after a move to Austria Wien fell through.

And then the taxman - who has become as ubiquitous as the SFA compliance officer this SPL season - came calling once again with a bill to be settled and a court date to hammer home the point.

It looks like whatever Hearts achieve this season - and they could still achieve a lot - it will be done against an economically unsettled backdrop. Paulo Sergio must surely be getting used to having to do things the hard way.

Doing things the hard way seems to be a capital trend right now. A beleaguered Hibs team has once again been subjected to a January revolution.

Colin Calderwood's miracle cure lasted for about six games last season. That was enough to win him a manager of the month award and save Easter Road from hosting First Division football.

Then things settled down and the incredulous faithful realised that Calderwood had built something even worse than what had gone before.

The hope is that Pat Fenlon's reshaping will have more sticking power, although the short term goal remains the same - to finish the season in 11th place or better.

There was relief but also a certain belief as Hibs got past Kilmarnock on Saturday. But they face Aberdeen next weekend joint bottom of the table. The proof of whether Hibs have gathered another bunch of puddings lies in the weeks and games ahead.

Elsewhere prudence prevailed. Aberdeen brought in five players with Russell Anderson, Stephen Hughes and Gavin Rae addressing any problems Craig Brown felt he had with experience in the squad. And I'm intrigued to see how Danny Uchechi - a 22 year who stupendously reverses any Pittodrie strategy of making signings with senior experience in mind - fares. Scouting reports from elsewhere suggest his pedigree falls somewhere below middling.

St Mirren bought - the very act of "buying" seems something of a throwback these days, especially when the fee is £35,000 - Dougie Imrie and were boosted by Jim Goodwin deciding to stay put, a decision which would suggest that belief remains in the Danny Lennon Project.

The benefit of holding on should also be felt at St Johnstone where Francisco Sandaza remains until the end of the season, a rumoured victim of the general cack-handedness of Rangers' current recruitment policy.

Early reports suggest Motherwell have unearthed something a wee bit special in Henrik Ojamaa and Dean Shiels has made a video montage with a Cat Stevens soundtrack pretty much compulsory in the build up to the league cup final by staying on at Kilmarnock.

Dundee United brought in only Richie Ryan and Miloš Lačný but the crucial business at Tannadice was keeping a tight rein on Johnny Russell as vultures swooped.

Inverness were restricted to a couple of loan deals and the free transfer of Claude Gnakpa - an "exciting asset" according to Terry Butcher, whose word I'll need to trust for now.

Dunfermline, the church mice of the SPL whose fiscal travails would have inspired Charles Dickens, brought in Kyle Hutton on loan from Rangers and raided the same discount store to get Jordan McMillan on a free.

A 1-1 draw with Kilmarnock last night - their first home point since November - brought Dunfermline level with Hibs having played a game more.

Where Pat Fenlon has chosen scalpel wielding and reconstructive surgery, Jim McIntyre has been left to largely make do and mend.

If off-field events could still impact on the top of the league, at the bottom it looks like being a battle of wits between those two managers.

One was given resource enough to take a January gamble. How that works out will decide this relegation battle.

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Hearts: Pay up, pay up or play the blame game

"We paid our wages on time," say Hearts.

"Naw. You didnae," say the SPL.

A prize to whoever identifies the voice of reason and truth in the parcel of rogues contributing to the latest farrago over Hearts and the saga of the paid/unpaid wages.

As it stands Hearts are to be charged "under SPL Rule A3.1 with failing to behave with the utmost good faith to the SPL."

Hearts refute this and lay claim to "documentary evidence" which proves the players were paid by the 16th January deadline that the SPL - and the player's contracts - stipulated.

If Hearts are right then one might have thought that this could have been sorted out quite quickly. Someone on the SPL board must have the phone number of someone at Tynecastle. And someone at Tynecastle must have access to a fax machine.

The situation now seems to have gone beyond that.

Semantics hint at a softening of the SPL's stance. A first statement yesterday seemed certain of a failure to meet the deadline. A second statement announcing the charge referenced an "alleged failure."

But there's a risk of reading too much into such things.

What does the charge actually mean?

It seems a woolly way of saying "enough is enough, you're just taking the piss now, this is no time to be playing silly beggars."

Or, if you're a fan of such conspiracies, it's the SPL ganging up on a club - and an owner - they disdain.

So it drags on. The SPL would seem - somewhat uncharacteristically - to have confirmed that they're now up for a fight. Hearts haven't done anything to suggest that they're not ready to go toe-to-toe.

Somebody's going to lose.

Should the rest of us care about a little local difficulty in Gorgie?

Probably. Such an imbroglio involving our perennial third force does little to enhance the tarnished image of the SPL.

And, even if it transpires that they have the might of being right on their side this time, the SPL's handling of the whole situation has seemed typically confused.

That could have repercussions. Scottish football is skint. It's Hearts right now. But there but for the grace of creative accounting, a benevolent director or a winter rush on Bovril, goes your team.

Are we about to see a precedent set in how the SPL deal with such situations when they crop up - as they surely must - in the future?

Perhaps. It's someone else's soap opera right now. But it could be your club next season.

> A word, as ever, for the players at Hearts.

Not since Jimmy Hill became a footballing Spartacus in the early 1960s can the collective salaries of a group of players been subject to such scrutiny.

That can't be pleasant.

The way they've risen above that in the past few weeks to move up to third in the table - while delivering some impressive performances - is a remarkable tribute to their perseverance.

A feat that fairly dents the stereotype of the modern footballer as a mollycoddled mercenary.