Of course 1-5 hurt...was gutted at the time. But in the grand scheme of things out of the 3 results, 0-7, 6-2 and that one then I will always think in my head the 7-0 game was best because there was more of a level playing field. And it wasn't as if they had a bad team because they beat us 4-1 in the next game. Last years game as has been pointed out would never have gone ahead if the SPL had the bottle to cap wages for struggling teams long ago. The 6-2 was great but even then the wages we were paying almost crippled us. Gunts do seem obsessed by us, on the other hand many Hibs supporters are obsessed with goings on over there..as the long thread of their demise proves...and I am a guilty party in that.
But that is part of the reason why i want derbies to continue, because I get far more pleasure from a win against that lot...though the downs are as bad. But I do want them to now have to meet us with a much much reduced budget according to their means.
The whole thing will be good for Scotland as the amount of young players coming through is finally on the increase across all clubs. Gunts will most likely come out of this; and that by rearing their own youth, and lets face it did we not enjoy last week even more because here saw so many local young lads playing? Don't get me wrong, guys like Sauzee were a revelation and showed their love for the club...something missing from many players on the books nowadays.
I bought the Hibernian history handbook today and read that while no club would play Hibs, Gunts were the first team to go against the football league orders and play a match against us which went a long way to people recognising Hibs as a worthwhile team. As I have said before, my grandad on my Mother's side and all their family were jambos so I am not going to call them scum or anything else...but I am the first to tell my mum the score if we win.
Kind of agree with you - sort of !. Like you, I won't call them scum or anything - that term is reserved purely for the OF, plus, I wasn't brought up to take them seriously. My dad used to call them 'The East Coast version of Partick Thistle - every granny's favourite team' - that and I also remember John Robertson walking onto the stage at the Usher Hall for the 'Hands Off Hibs' campaign - (for which he was carpeted by Mercer) personally, I'll never forget that !.
where things changed (I admit to sounding like a broken-record here)' IMHO, was when Mercer took them over and that's when they started to BUY the derbies - at that time it was just after the 70's and Hibs were THE team without doubt and hearts were, well, where they are now, on the verge of extinction. I honestly believe that Mercer was determined that they would never endure another decade like the 70's, where we didn't just beat them regularly - (as Jimmy O'Rourke said to me, once) -we OWNED them !. Mercer started their year-on-year 'running at a loss' I honestly believe, not with cups or leagues as his main-aim, but to be THE team in Edinburgh !. When the debt got too much, he handed it over to Robinson, who maintained that 'Business-Model' and when he ran out of money (app 20m iirc) Romanov stepped in to, eventually, more than DOUBLE that debt !!. That's over 30 YEARS - THREE DECADES - of fielding teams/players that, quite simply, they could NOT afford and were way, way above their standard. 30 years of running up a debt that they never had the slightest intention, or realistic capability, of paying back !!. That's 3 generations of their fans being brought up, whether we like it or not, to seeing their team falsely enjoy regular derby-dominance (even though 6-2 was achieved at one point). All that time has bred an arrogance, a belief from them that their club is THE club and that has led to the increase in bad feeling as we KNOW the last 3 decades the derby has NOT been played on a level playing-field !!
Now that the money has finally ran out, many hearts-supporters (the realistic ones) dread the thought of the derby returning to 'Pre-Mercer' times and we, quite rightly, cannot WAIT for this to happen. I just hope that IF these times happen, we do it with a bit more class, style and aplomb than they ever have - WITHOUT the arrogance !. As an older Hibee who was fortunate enough to personally witness 7-0, I cannot stress enough the feeling you get from seeing what a REAL Hibs team can do to a REAL hearts team - but a lot of us have experienced the hurt of KNOWING we haven't been playing a REAL hearts team for over 30 years ! And that is THE reason I don't want them to die, I can't 'hate' them but I do (hopefully) want to see us take revenge for all those years of 'Financially-enhanced-Football' and that we do it the 'Hibernian-Way' - on the pitch with quality and superior players !.
(And then we can get back to taking on our REAL enemies - the OF !!)
(Sorry for the rant but I do feel better now !!)
