Mark Reynolds knows the pain that the Hearts players are experiencing as they await relegation from the SPFL Premiership - and the probability of losing their jobs should the club fail to avoid liquidation.
The Aberdeen centre-back's career hovered on the precipice of uncertainty when, as a youngster with Motherwell, the club escaped the drop only on the final day of the season.
He is, therefore, sympathetic to the plight of the players, though his focus tonight, when the sides meet in the capital, will be on beating them for the first time this season and securing more valuable points in the race for the runners-up spot in the league. "The three points are becoming bigger and bigger with each game as the season nears the end," he said.
Reynolds, who has been offered a contract extension until 2018, recalled the difficult times at Motherwell under then manager, Maurice Malpas. "It [the fight to avoid relegation] isn't nice to be involved in," he said. "We finished 11th. Malpas had come in after Terry Butcher went to Australia and we just avoided the drop on the last day. I think we lost to Dunfermline, but someone else got beat and that kept us in the league.
"The big thing for the Hearts players is that, no matter how scary or imminent it is, they can't influence the relegation issue.
"They are under contract, so they just need to sit tight. The only escape they get from it is 90 minutes; that is what they can influence. It makes playing football that much better and more enjoyable. It is finding something you can influence when everything else is falling down around you."
Derek McInnes, the Aberdeen manager, is full of admiration for the Hearts players. "They deserved their win against Hibs on Sunday and they will go into this game confident, so it will be a really tough match," he insisted.
"It will be a poorer league without Hearts next season. They have had to suffer the consequences of mismanagement, but throughout it all Gary Locke [their manager] has managed his team strongly and he comes out of this with tremendous credit."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article