MANY different qualities can help a player survive the switch from a big city club to their deadly rivals. A self-deprecating sense of humour is fairly high up the list. Andy Watson casts his mind back to 1987 and his cross-Edinburgh transfer from Hearts to Hibernian and recalls that the notion of him winning over a sceptical Easter Road faithful was never really a burning issue. “I didn’t think I was a good enough player to ever do that,” he laughs, some three decades on.
Watson was an Aberdonian who would go on to experience Glasgow’s Old Firm rivalry as an assistant manager, but his involvement as a player on both sides of the Edinburgh derby would leave an imprint on his memory that resides to this day. He will tune in this afternoon from his home in the West Midlands to see the latest chapter unfold as Hearts and Hibernian meet in the fifth round of the William Hill Scottish Cup. Barring the need for a replay, it will be their solitary encounter this season with Hibs a division below their rivals.
It was a different story in the 1980s. Hearts had been back in the top division for a season when Watson returned north from a year with Leeds United in 1984. They would go on to dominate their city rivals over the next decade, amassing a 17-game unbeaten run during Watson’s four-season stint at Tynecastle. Ironically, that sequence would come to an end in the first derby following the midfielder’s switch across the city.
“When I was at Hearts it was during that period where they didn’t lose a derby for years on end,” he recalled. “And then, when I moved to Hibs, the first derby I played in we won at Easter Road. So I like to take credit for that! A few of the Hearts boys were due round my house for dinner after that game so that made for an interesting night. It was actually the same weekend as Walter Kidd’s testimonial game against Everton which must have been a bit of a dampener for them . . .”
Even as a newcomer to the city, Watson did not have to wait too long to learn about the significance of the Edinburgh derby; the roaring, encouraging voices inside the dressing room – on both sides – soon making it clear that this was not an occasion for the faint-hearted. As both a player and then later as the Hibs assistant manager, the derbies would become an occasion to relish.
“You can’t tell Hibs or Hearts fans that their game somehow isn’t as big as the Old Firm derby. To them their game is the only one that matters. Are Hearts or Hibs fans caring about Celtic or Rangers? Not one bit. The derby game is the single most import- ant thing to these supporters.
“On the playing side, there was nothing like them. Especially when some of your team-mates were local guys who knew what it was all about and weren’t slow in telling you. At Hearts we had people like Gary Mackay and John Robertson, and at Hibs I played with Gordon Hunter, Paul Kane, Eddie May and John Collins. They brought an added intensity to those occasions and they made sure everyone else was on the same page.
“The importance of the derby games almost becomes more import- ant when you were on the management team. Every game was about the bragging rights in the city. We knew that and so did all the players.”
It took a sum in the region of £30,000 for Watson to move from Hearts to Hibs in 1987 where he would spend the final two years of his playing career. Having been fairly brazen about it before he left, he soon realised it was a bigger deal than first appreciated.
“I didn’t think it was all that bold a move at the time,” he admitted. “It’s only after you’ve done it that you realise there was a bit more to it than you previously thought. There’s an added pressure on you, there’s no doubt about that.
“You really have to hit the ground running if you’re a player or manager if you go from one team to their local rivals. You really have to be successful to be accepted. I’m sure any player that’s made that transition will have found it a difficult environment.
“You need to have a strong character and a thick skin. If you’re a substitute and you’re sent to warm up, you have to be careful what side you choose to go to. Will I go in front of the opposition fans or my own supporters? Quite often it was easier in front of the opposition!”
Watson is now in the midst of another challenge. After years of serving dutifully as an assistant manager – mainly to Alex McLeish – at Motherwell, Hibs, Rangers, and Birmingham City, he is now, at the age of 56, finally striking out on his own as the boss of Ilkeston FC. Even in the Evo-Stik Northern Premier League – the seventh tier of English football – however, the same pressures remain.
“It’s a total change for me, there’s no doubting that,” he said. “I was working alongside Gavin Strachan and when he got the shout to go to join Darren Ferguson at Doncaster Rovers they offered me the job.
“You get to a certain age and think the opportunity to become a manager has possibly gone. But given the responsibilities I had at various clubs it was probably the obvious thing to take the next step if the chance arose. It did once or twice at Motherwell on an interim basis, when Alex wasn’t well and when he then moved to Hibs and before I joined him. So I was ready for it.”
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