No time for catch-up as Hibs boss comes up against old mentors at Hearts

Published on Thursday 18 March 2010 08:52

JOHN HUGHES has always credited Jim Jefferies and Billy Brown with having a huge influence on both his footballing career and personal life. But Kevin McAllister reckons that friendship will be forgotten for 90 minutes when they go head-to-head in this weekend's Edinburgh derby at Tynecastle.

Falkirk legend Crunchie played alongside Hughes when Jefferies and Brown – installed as the Hearts management team just over a month ago – were in charge of the Bairns during the early 1990s. In total McAllister spent ten years at the Bairns over four separate spells in between playing for Chelsea and Hibs.

He was even voted by Falkirk fans as their "Player of the Millennium" such was their admiration for him..

Having since moved into coaching himself, Hughes will clash with his old mentors when the Jambos host Hibs in the third Capital derby of the season on Saturday.

With Hughes' time as Falkirk boss coinciding with Jefferies' stewardship of Kilmarnock, it's not the first occasion the management teams have crossed swords in the SPL but McAllister believes a derby setting will give this particular meeting an added edge.

He said: "They've worked together right the way through their careers at Berwick and at Falkirk but don't let any of them kid you on.

"I'm sure that they will shake hands and have a few words before the game but when that whistle blows they'll be going all out for a result.

"They won't be caring about what the other one is doing for that 90 minutes, as long as they're winning.

"Jim has got great respect for Yogi, he always admired him as a player – but he knew that (as a diehard Hibby] he could never have taken him to Hearts when he was appointed manager there the first time around.

"I know that this isn't the first time they have come up against one another but it's the first time they will have done so in an Edinburgh derby.

"I think it will be something really special for the two of them."

McAllister feels the Scottish element in the Hibs dressing room could well give the Easter Road side the edge at Tynecastle when the action kicks off at 12.15pm on Saturday.

However, he knows that Jefferies, Brown and coach Gary Locke, in particular, will leave their players in absolutely no doubt about the magnitude of the match and what a victory over their old rivals would mean to the Hearts supporters.

He continued: "I don't know an awful lot about the players at Hearts right now but I do know there are quite a few boys at Easter Road who are Scottish, who are Hibs fans and who know what these derby matches are all about.

"That might just give Hibs a bit of an edge on Saturday although I am sure that Jim, Billy and Gary Locke will this week be trying to impress the importance of the game to their players.

"Hibs have slipped to fifth in the league in the last week or so and Hearts are fighting to stay ahead of the likes of St Johnstone for a place in the top six, so there's a lot at stake for both sides.

"I'm sure they'll both be giving it everything they've got to get the right result."

Crunchie returned to Falkirk in 1991 for his second spell with the club, 12 months after Hughes, Jefferies and Brown had arrived at Brockville. During the three years he spent working with them, he recalls the Falkirk dressing room as having one of the best atmospheres he has ever experienced. He believes that was partly down to Jefferies' style of man management and to the effervescent character of players like Yogi, revealing: "I played alongside Yogi and under Jim as a manager when I was at Falkirk.

"As a manager Jim was very passionate and demanded the best from his players in terms of performance and effort.

"I would imagine that Yogi will be exactly the same now that he is a manager.

"When you see Jim on television or hear him on radio interviews, I think that he comes across as quite a mild-mannered guy – but that's definitely not the case in the dressing room if things haven't been going to plan.

"He always wanted 100 per cent from his players – and I think John will be exactly the same – and, when your manager has an approach like that, it transfers to the players and then everyone is singing from the same hymn sheet. One of Jim's priorities has always been to have a good dressing room, a good atmosphere among the players.

"The dressing room he helped to cultivate at Falkirk was just fantastic. We had some great characters in there, none bigger than Yogi really.

"He was probably part of everything that went on in that dressing room, all of the wind-ups and the laughs that we had. But he's also the kind of guy who, if he's got something to say, will just come right out and say it.

"He speaks his mind and I think that is a good thing. And if you have got something to say to him then he welcomes that and takes everything that you say on board. It's just the way that he is and it means that if something has to be sorted out then it is dealt with and over and done with within five minutes."

McAllister says that Hughes would love to still be out there fighting on every blade of grass at Tynecastle but instead will be kicking every ball from the dugout with his players, adding: "I don't think that there's any doubt that he would love to still be playing the game but this is the next best thing."

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