Jambo Jefferies and Hibee Hughes , the very best of enemies

IT WAS the novelist Tom Robbins who said that our similarities bring us to a common ground but it's our differences which allow us to be fascinated by each other. On Saturday Jim Jefferies and John Hughes will both be at Tynecastle and while the parallels are evident, their differences are never more distinct than on an Edinburgh derby day.

In the maroon corner of the capital there's Jefferies, the lifelong Hearts fan, one-time player and the captain who led them back to the top flight after a spell in the First Division before, eventually, going on to manage the club. In the green corner stands Hughes, a Hibs supporter boy and man, former player and the guy who captained the Easter Road side as they gained promotion to end their season-long exile from the Premier League in 1999, before, ultimately, going on to manage the club. The experiences so similar, the enduring loyalties so familiar, only the object of their affections differs so significantly.

"It will be great when we play because there is that side to it," concedes Jefferies, with relish. "He was a mad Hibs fan and followed them and I was a mad Hearts fan and followed them and we have captained the teams and we have worked together as player and manager so when you look at all those things, it's got that little bit of spice added to it. It's the first time we have clashed in a derby."

As managerial peers, maybe, but there have been previous derby days when they had battled for bragging rights. At the moment it's honours even. In Jefferies' first stint as Hearts boss, Hughes the player turned out against his team seven times and there were three wins apiece and one draw. Ask them for highs and lows during that spell and again it's the differences which become apparent.

"The 3-0 (at Tynecastle, 19 December 1999]," shoots back Hughes with a beaming grin and barely a millisecond's thought. "There was hardly a Hearts supporter left in the stadium, it was just the Hibs supporters behind the goal dancing away, singing away, fantastic! I played in that game and that is probably the only reason I'm saying that, because I was part of a team that went to Tynecastle and turned them over 3-0. I wish I had been involved in the 6-2 but that was the season after I'd left. But, having said that, I have great respect for Hearts. I'm a big Hibee and come from this side of the town but I have great respect for Hearts as a club and, for me, it's simple: the two clubs need each other. We need a strong Hearts and they need a strong Hibs. It's great for the city and for Scottish football."

That match was part of a five-game unbeaten run for the Leith side, who went from 1997 to 2000 without defeat in Scottish football's oldest derby. The game which ended that sequence is the one Jefferies remembers most fondly, even if it did mean his old mucker ended his playing career at Hibs on the back of a derby defeat.

"No, I can't mind talking to him after that game!" smirks Jefferies. It was the final day of the 1999/2000 season and Hearts needed victory to secure European football the following season. A selection gamble from Jefferies saw Juanjo make his first league start and he netted the first before Gary McSwegan secured the victory following Mixu Paatelainen's equaliser. "We deserved to win that day. I think Alex McLeish was the manager and he had no complaints. We were too busy celebrating and singing European songs and by the time we were off the park they were away and I didn't have much time to rub it in but I am sure one of us will be rubbing it in after the game on Saturday!"

That capital rivalry has always coursed through their relationship, ever since Jefferies inherited the rough-round-the-edges Hughes as a player at Berwick Rangers over two decades ago. And the passions have probably enhanced it rather than detracted. Jefferies tried to send Hughes back to Newtongrange Star once he discovered the size of transfer fee still pending but both have had many occasions since then to be grateful the junior side rebuffed the proposal. "It's a great story," laughs Jefferies. "At Berwick the previous manager was Jimmy Thomson, who knew Yogi well, and I was sitting in the office when Yogi came charging through, wanting to see the chairman about why he'd been sacked. I didn't know who he was but they'd just signed him and we couldn't afford him so I took him back to Newtongrange Star and said: 'Look, you can take him back, we can't afford to pay (the 1,500 fee]', but they didn't want him back! I thought: 'What chance have I got if they don't want him back?'" But it was the start of a long friendship and when Jefferies moved to Falkirk he not only re-enlisted his former captain's services but accommodated him by converting him from a bustling centre-forward to a no-nonsense centre-back. At Berwick their efforts helped the side to a club record 21 games without defeat in 1988-89 and even then Hibs/Hearts loyalties played their part, according to the manager.

"People said to me at Berwick: 'How did you do it?' and I said the secret was most of the boys were Hibees so I never got too close to them. They never knew how to take me!"

But if the deep-seated affection Jefferies and Hughes have for their clubs is obvious, so too is their allegiance to each other. "If I talk about Jim and Billy (Brown, Jefferies' long-time assistant], they are two guys that I am grateful and thankful for, for putting me on the football ladder really, in terms of instilling a discipline in me, putting an arm around me and putting me in the right direction. Two guys, right to this day, that I call right good friends. I talk to them regularly."

Hughes even called Brown for advice when he was approached about the Hibs job. Jefferies, for his part, called Hughes when he returned to Tynecastle in January as Csaba Laszlo's replacement with a good-natured verbal chiming of the bell to signal the next round in their derby-day pugilism.

"I phoned Yogi on the way up to our first game at Perth and said: 'Don't get too comfortable in that third place, I am coming for you,' and he said the same as me, that it will be great for the city when the derby battles come round!"

Aside from the prankster who came across as someone affected by attention deficit hyperactivity disorder in those early days, Jefferies describes Yogi as a great leader, and a friend, and adds that if he had to be sent somewhere and wanted to take one person with him to ensure he'd survive then Yogi would be his chosen companion, "because he's just a fantastic character". His progression into management may have surprised some, but not Jefferies, who saw past the daft laddie act and recognised a keen student of the game and a winner.

"Certainly on the motivational side, if I was one of his players, I would be frightened not to play for him! Sometimes, at Falkirk, we would come in and if we weren't happy with a performance, I would be going to the dressing-room and he would just say: 'Leave them to me.' Not out of disrespect but because he knew me and he knew I would be angry and I would just have a go and what he said at that time would have more of an effect."

But there have never been any fall-outs between the pair. Just plenty of goading. "The only run-ins we had were when I mentioned the 7-0 (Hibs' largest ever victory over their rivals, in 1973, in which Jefferies played]," teased Hughes, "and that got mentioned on many occasions! But we both love the Edinburgh derbies, they're great, and we know what it means to the supporters, we love that environment so bring it on."

Dismissed in his derby-day debut, tempers frayed and a volley of abuse was exchanged between the departing Hughes and the Hearts dug-out but that outburst has been dismissed as heat-of-the-moment venting.

"The ref got conned that day," argues Hughes. "The boy (Stephane] Paille, I just patted him on the heid, but as soon as somebody goes down people think it must be a free-kick but that's not always the case. I always had banter with them. It was every game. but we're getting longer in the tooth, you have to have your game head on and your tactical head on. You have to keep your focus.

"We've often disagreed on decisions and had a quick walk across (the technical area] to give a look but we've never had any real fights and I don't think we ever will," says Jefferies. "We've known each other too long. He'll be desperate to win, so will we but nothing will come between us."

"Yeah, Jim has mellowed so it will be OK next week!" agrees Hughes. "It has to be because there is too much respect. Even if we were to fall out, it would be a laugh and a joke and a shake of hands after it. We have been through too much with each other. But it's not just about Jim Jefferies and John Hughes, it's about Hearts and Hibs and about the players in the dressing room. I want to go there and take their scalps and come away with all three points, because I know what it means to the Hibs supporters. I could sit here and talk about Billy and Jim all day but they know me and know that I want to win and I know how much they want to win." Therein lies the common ground. It's the difference in who they want to win that makes it so fascinating.