T'was the night before the derby...

Okay, so it's not quite the heady mix of nerves, nausea and excitement that afflicted me before the cup game and it's not as if the result of this particular game has any sort of specific and meaningful outcome, but nonetheless I'm already looking forward to tomorrow. This feeling requires no explanation, it's a derby. Enough said. Going head to head with your local rivals is about as good as it gets but there are no prizes for second place, it's winner takes all.

For Hearts, this game - like any other - is about finding the points that will take them to Europe. In that respect, it's just as important as every other game we'll play between now and the end of the season. For Hibs, it's about finding themselves a place in the top six and finding some sort of highlight to a generally rotten season. A win against us might just give them the confidence and impetus to go on a last-minute run of form, although the jury is out on whether or not even a fifth place finish would be enough to keep Mixu in the hot seat.

But regardless of the benefits a win would bring for either side, it's so much more than just three points. There's pride at stake, and that's what makes it so special.

While some might be content to revel in the bravado gleaned from a decent league position and a few recent wins, I've never been one to tempt fate. Hibs might be having a difficult time right now but if anything, that makes them infinitely more dangerous than they would be if, for example, the positions were reversed. They got themselves a much needed win but they've been ritually humiliated both on and off the pitch in recent weeks; even their own manager saw fit to blast them in the press. They're not playing nice football but either are we, and the individual quality in their squad doesn't really reflect the performances that they've been churning out. Something has to give, and what better time and place for a renaissance than at home against your greatest rivals?

Of course, this sort of comeback would require some serious grit, commitment, a bit of luck and a dollop of decent football. They'd also need to rely on Hearts coming out and giving far less than we've offered in the past few fixtures against the likes of Motherwell and Dundee United. It wasn't pretty, but it was effective. Can Hearts keep that up and can Hibs find it in them to handle it, overcome it and then win? I'm not one for predictions, but I just hope the Hibs supporters have more faith in their team and manager than I do.

It's a derby and the old cliche is true, you really don't ever know how it's going to work out. But I have faith in the players and the manager, they've earned that this season, and I get the feeling they won't let us down tomorrow.

The strangest feeling...

Having watched the debate unfold on Jambos Kickback regarding Hibs and their current predicament, I have to admit to experiencing the strangest feelings about it all. I don't want them to end up in the bottom six. Not at all.

According to some, it's not the done thing to have anything short of utter contempt and hatred for your local rivals and this is something I've always found a little difficult to comprehend. I don't want Hibs to achieve anything of note and I thoroughly enjoy the opportunities to exercise a little schadenfreude - opportunities which seem to arise with amusing regularity - but I can't find it in me to actually hate them. How can I hate something which brings me such joy?

I know plenty of Hearts supporters who in every other way are perfectly normal, calm and rational human beings, but also have the uncanny ability to morph into hate-filled, snarling gremlins at the mere mention of Hibs. It's just one of those football rivalry things which must have bypassed me during my formative Jambo years, but I'm perfectly comfortable with my approach. Perhaps I'd feel differently about things if Hibs had ever really managed to be a threat to us but that hasn't happened yet, and doesn't look likely in the forseeable future.

So, they're not doing all that well right now. The fans are baying for blood, Mixu's coat is on the shoogliest of shoogly pegs and the players are more interested in cultivating their penchant for ridiculous hairstyles than actually playing football. I actually heard them booing from a nearby street the other day and all in all, it's really quite satisfying to watch weekly disasters unfold at Easter Road. They're currently sitting in 7th and with 3 points separating them and 6th placed Motherwell, not to mention Hamilton Accies only 1 point behind them in 8th, ending up in the bottom six after the split is suddenly a very real possibility.

Hibs fans were hardly sympathetic when we had the same problem last season and yes, it would be nice to be given the chance to redress the balance in that respect, but for me that satisfaction would be outweighed by the things that we'd miss out on. A top six finish is all very well, as is the race for third, but I'd miss having that final derby at Tynecastle and if we want to get really cheeky about it, with a tough fixture list I'd be more comfortable putting money on us getting 3 points at home from Hibs than anyone else. Plus, it's a derby and quite simply, nothing else really compares. Furthermore, by missing out on a derby we'd also miss out on a ton of cash and we don't appear to be in a position to dismiss this sort of revenue out of hand. Finally, a bottom six finish could see the end of Mixu and quite frankly, I'm a big fan. He might well be my favourite Hibs manager.

We'd miss out on one opportunity to sneer, but it's not as if it would leave us short on material. Hibs are going nowhere fast and we'd benefit far more from having them in the top six....and most importantly, Mixu must stay if we want to see the same farce unfold all over again next year....

Brown trout

The title of this blog entry may not get us many hits for Hearts related content, but I really couldn't think of anything more appropriate following the events of the weekend. So yes, we went to Easter Road and we won. How tremendous was that? The atmosphere in the Hearts end was just brilliant and having now watched the highlights again on the telly (about 4 zillion times), it was great to hear the Jambos outsinging the Hibbies yet again.

It's easy to be magnanimous when you've just beaten your local rivals in a cup match, and being entirely honest about it I'd have to agree that Fletcher's red card probably was a tad on the unfortunate side, but I have little sympathy for them as a group of supporters at the moment. Yes, they're having a tough time and it's clear to anyone that Mixu just isn't up to the job, but the empty seats at Easter Road on Sunday belied an attitude which deserves nothing other than criticism. They had their team beaten before a ball had even been kicked. How can their team go out on to that pitch with anything approximating self-belief when the fans can't muster up enough faith to get themselves to the game in the first place?

I'd feel sorry for them if it wasn't so wickedly satisfying to take delight in their misfortune. Again. So, it's 108 in a row. They haven't won the big cup since 1902 you know....

But on to Mixu Paatelainen. If he was anyone other than the manager of Hibernian I might actually feel slightly sorry for him. Or at least, I would have done until he saw fit to publicly snipe at our captain. There's no doubt that with the benefit of numerous replays, it's possible to see why the red card might have been considered a harsh call, but similarly, any sensible human being with basic football knowledge can understand why it was given in the first place. For all that Fletcher isn't known as a dirty player, Christophe Berra certainly isn't known for his cheatery either and what Mixu fails to understand is that the chain of events was caused by stupidity on Fletcher's part and not anything more sinister than that. If he wants to take a gamble like that during an important derby, then the consequences of his actions rest with Steven Fletcher and nobody else. A tackle doesn't have to break a leg before it can be considered reckless, and muttering viciously about Berra because he had the audacity to take evasive action won't change the fact that Fletcher screwed up. It's that simple.

The Scotsman reported this morning that Hibs are considering an appeal and forgive me for being a cynic, but I'm not convinced by this move and I seriously doubt whether any of the Hibs fans will be either. Mixu may well be the only man on the planet (other than Pat Nevin) who thinks that they have any grounds for such an appeal and considering that the ref has already reviewed his decision and declared that he was satisfied with the actions he took, who in their right mind would really think they stand a chance of getting anywhere? His coat is on the shoogliest of pegs and desperate attempts to appease the less cerebral of supporters won't change that.

What it will do, however, is make Mixu look like an even bigger fool than he already does.

His lack of intelligence can perhaps be excused as a lack of managerial experience, but there's no way to disguise a lack of class. Mixu's petulant exit from the dugout without pausing to shake hands with Csaba Laszlo on Sunday was every bit as revealing as the 'get it up ye' gesture made by Riordan towards the Hearts fans. Out-witted, out-played, out-thought and most definitely out of their depth.

www.heartsfcnews.com

Big Team, Big Cup (Draw)

Well, I certainly didn't see that one coming. Two derbies in the space of eight days, one home fixture and one away; one league and one Scottish Cup. Much as I'm really quite fond of Santa, turkey and such like, there's only going to be one topic of festive conversation in Edinburgh this year and it certainly isn't going to be the Queen's speech. It's all about the road to Hampden.

A cup that just so happens to look extra attractive when adorned with maroon and white ribbons, if I don't say so myself. A trophy which even managed to make Valdas Ivanauskas smile. A prize that brought the city centre to a standstill (twice).

The Big Cup.

On one hand, it's a little bit sad that these little trips down memory lane always now have to involve a mention of our neighbours in Leith, but credit where it's due - it wouldn't have been the same without them. Sunday 2nd April 2006, Heart of Midlothian 4-0 Hibernian. 43,000 of us had the day of our lives, while 324 of them wished they'd taken the 'wrong turning' off the M8 and disappeared off into the bermuda triangle with the rest of the San Giro faithful. Hartley's hattrick, a blizzard of maroon and mayhem and the White Stripes soundtrack in the background. Two tribes, indeed...and that was only the semi.

So here we are again. Maybe they'll also petition to have this game moved from Easter Road on account of the advantage we're bound to enjoy after having won more derbies at their ground than they have? Bad me, it's really not kind to mock the afflicted but the opportunity to watch 106 years without a Scottish Cup turn into 107 is just far too appealing. The alternative is too awful to contemplate at this point, and if I find myself having a particularly bad day in the coming weeks I might well broach that subject, but not today. To be honest, I just wanted an excuse to post lots of gratuitous links to Scottish Cup things....

No, we have open top bus parades to remember... that huge, bouncing, maroon mob following the bus down the Mound to Princes Street, an impromptu twirly at Haymarket and then off home to Tynecastle. Sadly, there aren't quite as many videos to pick from for the 1998 Scottish Cup win but there are a few, including footage of Colin Cameron's penalty , Baggio's 'mazy' run into the box and a whole load of dancing Jambos.

What I'd pay for another day like that. Roll on, December...let's get started....

No flair please - we're Jambos

I'm almost scared to say it. What if the simple act of typing the words is enough to put you straight into the bad books of the wickedly fickle gods of football? Imaginary entities they may well be, but given the turnaround in fortunes for Hearts of late, the whims of ancient spirits may well be one of the more believable explanations for the current run of results...

October wasn't really the most enjoyable of months for the average Jambo and while two draws and one loss may seem reasonable enough for a club which finished in the lower echelons of the SPL last season, it was the complete and utter lack of anything approximating competence in the art of football which had the fans rushing to the exits. Please don't misunderstand me, it's not as if many of us really believed that the SPL's 3rd highest paid squad was actually the third most talented, but when the worst of the deadwood was chopped away around the time of Csaba's arrival in Gorgie this summer, perhaps we thought we'd already seen the players at their very worst. We were effectively left with a patchwork quilt of a squad comprising a handful of talented types such as Kingston, Berra or Driver, and the remaining maroon jerseys were filled with players who might not be huge stars but seemed adequate for the task in hand. At the start of the season, they put in some decent workhorse-esque performances and we had a few pleasing results. Things were looking slightly rosier in the Gorgie garden.

But then we went to Tannadice on 27th September and all of a sudden, our modestly competent workhorses were found to be lame, Andy Driver picked up an injury, Larry Kingston started preparing for winter hibernation and poor old Berra was left to try and shore up a team who seemed to be about as 'together' as quicksand in a string vest. The result wasn't just the crap football on show, it was an attitude which manifested itself much more deeply in the players and later, also in the fans. The players were slow, disjointed, apathetic, spiritless and uncoordinated; and the fans were all of these things plus a few extra ailments in the form of frustration, anger, fear and despair.

Dundee Utd humped us 3-0 that day and a week later, Kilmarnock compounded our misery by beating us 2-1. The fans were not feeling supremely confident as the derby approached and the nervous anxiety was only slightly alleviated by the news that Hibs form had also started to slip. So derby day arrived and to cut a long story short, both sides put in typically frenzied derby-esque performances which might not have been the most skilful displays of football but inspired the Jambos to believe that the slump in form may have been a temporary glitch and that better days were on the horizon. But then we made extremely hard work of holding a struggling Aberdeen to a draw before promptly falling apart again a week later and losing to Celtic in a game that might well have ended up with a more embarassing score than 2-0 had their players not been suffering from Champions League lethargy.

So amidst rumours that the club was on the verge of hurtling head first into the administration abyss (again), the Jambos were busy contemplating what appeared to be a very long season ahead. But then it all became a little bit weird and in only 7 days, Hearts have picked up 12 points from 3 wins on the trot. Admittedly, these fixtures all featured teams languishing in the lower half of the SPL and could well have relied partly upon occasional bits of luck but there 's no doubting that a remarkable and pleasant change has occurred. The players might not have morphed overnight into budding Ronaldos or Messi's, but there's no mistaking the emergence of a new, gritty, tenacious and motivated approach. They seem stronger and more robust, and I don't know if the jaffa cake technique is back in use but they're definitely looking like they have bags more energy than they did last month.

This team have managed to dig out three 1-0 wins in the space of only 7 days and while the football itself might still be a bit crap, there's a real sense of dogged determination amongst the players which, if nutured, may well end up being the reason behind us doing not too badly at all this season. Admittedly, the 10 non-OF teams are fairly closely packed together on the current league board but with the exception of perhaps Dundee United, none of them look like teams we shouldn't be able to handle comfortably. As Csaba so eloquently explained:
"You cannot win ugly or pretty, you can win and if you win, you are always beautiful."

Wise words indeed and while the longevity of this change in attitude remains to be seen, I would certainly be more than happy to sacrifice pretty football if it means picking up 3 points on a regular basis. We're currently working with a very young team and if we happen to land that lucrative European spot, we can then maybe give more attention to the aesthetics of the football that they're churning out, but in the meantime I'm happy to stick with ugly. Jambos don't do flair anyway.

Are we expecting too much, too soon?

It's probably never a good idea to kick off a blog with a moaning session but it's impossible to avoid one after watching Hearts wither like chocolate in an oven on Sunday when they turned out against Celtic. There's no denying that as football fans, we've been through the mill in recent months (or years) and the appointment of Csaba Laszlo appeared to inject the club, players and to a certain extent the supporters with a renewed sense of vigour. Progress has been made since the beginning of the current season and improvements are visible across the board, from the club's communication with the fans right down to the squad's team spirit, and to our surprise, we've even seen the press writing some vaguely nice things about us of late. Add a cracker of a derby against Hibs and a courageous performance against the Dons to that mix and you can maybe see why, for a moment, we were thinking things might be on the mend down Gorgie way.

But then we played Celtic.

I was full of positivity and superstitiously concealed hope before the game. I cast my eye over the news in the days leading up to the match and noted that a few of their key players were injured and bolstered this little seed of confidence with the fact that their recent performances in the SPL have been a little less than brilliant. I made my way to Tynecastle on Sunday with a spring in my step, convinced that even if we didn't take 3 points, we were sure to give them a game. I was oh so wrong.

From kick off, we seemed lethargic and disorganised. Our defence which had held so well against Aberdeen the previous week looked fragile and disorientated, our midfield which had controlled the previous few SPL encounters with such confidence was disjointed and sloppy and our lone striker was very, very alone. I'll exclude Janos Balogh from any criticism given that was rarely troubled by Celtic, couldn't have done anything about Maloney's goal and Caldwell's second was the result of scrappy antics at the goalmouth which should perhaps have been ruled out anyway, but most of the outfield players just didn't seem to have turned up at all.

Our lynchpin players such as Stewart, Driver, Berra and more recently added to this list, Bruno Aguiar, all seemed to choose the same date for their 'off day' and most were anonymous throughout. We perhaps only have inconsistent refereeing to thank for the fact that Mikey managed to stay on the pitch for the whole 90 minutes given that his discipline appeared to disintegrate as the match went on and his frustrations started to bubble over into his attempts to win the ball back from a greedy, ball-hogging Celtic. However, I was just glad to see that at least one of our boys in maroon hadn't completely given up so I won't slate him for that. The only other individual worth a mention would be Christian Nade who continues to look more like the striker we thought we had bought all those months ago. He harried, nipped, bustled and at times, seemed like the only Hearts player capable of controlling a football or making an accurate pass. Gold star for him, and I look forward to seeing his continued improvement in the coming weeks. So, yes...it wasn't the most enjoyable 90 minutes I've ever spent in Tynecastle and the only reason I really managed to stay for the duration was the knowledge that it probably really couldn't get any worse.

Post-match comments from Csaba were a little odd, given that he seemed reluctant to direct any sort of criticism at the players but I'm working on the assumption that his aim here was probably damage limitation of some description, given that his comments on the club website since then have been rather less kind. Understandably, Jambos everywhere will be gutted at the result, but reactions to the team's performance are likely to be borne of a much more deeply held concern that some of this current crop just are not good enough. It has to be said that we're weaker in some positions than others, I'm hoping to see the defence bolstered by new recruits in January and regardless of how Tullberg does when he recovers from injury, I still want to see reinforcements brought in there too. But other than that, I'm quite prepared to treat last Sunday as a glitch if we can get back to the kind of performances we witnessed in the weeks prior to that. Improvements are visible and progress has been made, so maybe we need to be a little restrained and try not to expect too much too soon. By Christmas, we'll know whether or not we really do have a renewed sense of direction or whether this is the shape of things to come. Seatbelts on, it's looking like it might be a bumpy ride.