I wanted John Hughes for Hearts, says Jim Jefferies

Published on Thursday 18 March 2010 22:09

IT HAS long been known that one of the pivotal moments of recent decades in Edinburgh football was the day a young forward called John Robertson opted to sign for Hearts rather than Hibernian. If the striker had chosen instead to go to Easter Road to play for the team he had watched as a boy, what a difference that might have made to the history of the derby.

Yesterday, Hearts manager Jim Jefferies proposed a very different, but equally intriguing, hypothesis: what if John Hughes, now his opposite number at Hibs, had joined Hearts as a player? Might the defender have gone on to become as great a hero in Gorgie as Robertson?

Jefferies believes Hughes could have done so, and went as far as making enquiries about the player during his first spell in charge of Hearts. He knew Hughes' affection for Hibs might have been problematic for some Hearts supporters at first, but is convinced the enthusiasm and passion shown by a player with whom he worked at Berwick Rangers and Falkirk would have swiftly won the fans round.

Hearts never even got as far as tabling an offer for Hughes, and the current Hibs manager responded to Jefferies' comments by saying it was a non-starter. While the two bosses agreed to disagree on that issue, however, there was no disguising the mutual respect between the men, who go head-to-head at Tynecastle tomorrow in the third Edinburgh derby of the season.

"It was an enquiry," Jefferies said. "I don't think it lasted too long. Because of the Hibs connection it might have been a bit (difficult]. But I definitely think John would have come – for Billy (Brown, Hearts' assistant manager] and me."

The sight of Hughes in a maroon jersey would have been incongruous at the time. Back in the mid-1990s, however, it might just have become an everyday occurrence. "That wouldn't have been a concern, because Yogi would have won the supporters over," Jefferies continued. "John Robertson is a perfect example – he turned out to be a great Hearts man, but he grew up as a Hibs supporter. These things happen in football. John soon became a Hearts man and that is what you try to get people to do.

"(Hughes] is a winner, a survivor. He has come into the game late, come in at the bottom and worked his way up. Nobody can match the enthusiasm he has got for the game, his determination."

At Berwick, Jefferies converted Hughes into a striker for a while, but knew that was only a stop-gap measure. "You could always see he was a natural defender, and that's where he became a hero," the Hearts boss added. "A great boy to have in the dressing room."

Hughes, who still calls Jefferies "Gaffer", learned a lot from the former Hearts player's approach to the game. He insisted, though, that he would never have adapted to playing for the Tynecastle club in the manner Jefferies thought he could have done.

"No matter where (he] went, Jim was a guy I enjoyed playing for. I quickly worked out what he was looking for and that was for you to give everything you had every day.

"If you do that, you have a guy who will back you 100 per cent through thick and thin. I was clever enough to work that out. But there was also the enjoyment of training and it was great – I really, really enjoyed it."

But no level of enjoyment, apparently, would have persuaded Hughes to join Jefferies and Brown when they left Falkirk to take over at Hearts. "No, I very much doubt that," Hughes continued. "It was around the time Jim and Billy left Falkirk and went to Hearts. I left not too long after them to go and join Celtic.

"I would possibly have said 'thanks but no thanks'. I would possibly have stayed at Falkirk, to tell you the truth.

"I was in the process of negotiating a new contract which tied in with a testimonial and all that stuff. I was close to that, because it was a club close to my heart.

"But when Celtic come calling it is a no-brainer. Everybody in Scottish football wants to go and play for one half of the Old Firm.

"Having said that, I hate to see all these guys in Leith jumping on the Celtic and Rangers buses. You should always support your local club. I'm not going to sit here and patronise the Hibs supporters, but at Falkirk it was always rumoured I was coming to Hibs. And it was always my ambition to come.

"Even when I was at Celtic there were a number of clubs who came in for me. There was only one club I would have left Celtic for if I was going to stay in Scotland and that was Hibs. And I am grateful I got the opportunity to play for them and captain them."

Hughes stayed a year at Celtic before moving to Easter Road in 1996. He left Hibs in 2000, returning as a manager last summer.

Having been in charge of Falkirk for six years from 2003 he has come up against Jefferies many times during the past few years when the latter was in charge at Kilmarnock. This will be the first time the pair have met while in their present posts, with Jefferies only having returned to Tynecastle in late January.

"I look forward to Saturday's game," said Hughes. "I'm locking horns with Jim and Billy again, Stadler and Waldorf!

"But this is the first time we have come together in an Edinburgh derby. I regard the two of them as real close friends. They have always been on the phone to me right throughout my career. But having said all that, my game head will be on come this game and I'll be focused on trying to get this result for Hibs."

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