[AndyM]

The story I have heard from an individual who was involved at the time was that Wallace Mercer's plans were actually far more advanced than many in the media actually realised but they would have been the death knell for 115 years of Edinburgh football rivalry. The plan was to buy Hibs and close them down as a functioning football club.

What Mercer never really explained well to the drooling baboons at Tynecastle was that the following season would have seen Hearts play their last season at Tynecastle for they also would have been shut down and their place taken on by an Edinburgh United team playing in black and white colours at a new purpose built stadium on the city bypass.

Apart from the strength of feeling that he stirred up what Waldo did not realise was that the Hibs players contracts after takeover woud have reverted to the SFA and not to Hearts (goodbye any thoughts of getting Andy Goram and John Collins then) and that 15000 Hearts fans and 15000 Hibs fans attending games in Edinburgh would not equal 30000 fans of Edinburgh United. It would have been more like 8500.

As for challenging the Old Firm - probably not then and doubtfully even now, History would have just judged it to be a vile act of vandalism against 2 fine old Edinburgh clubs and my own opinion is that Hibs would have resurfaced with a likely takeover of Meadowbank Thistle by Hibs minded businessmen - the team an awful lot of Hibs fans would have gone to see anyway including me.

Thank God for Sir Tom Farmer.
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