Wallace Mercer takeover of Hibs

[JamboJen]

Merger? Lost the first derby afterwards? I'm having doubts about the OP.

 

It was a takeover and we pumped them dry in the first derby after.

Since it takes so long to punt them nowadays I don't even bother pointing them out any more. I can't have been the only person who saw the first post by a user called "bauld Willie" and immediately thought, "Hibs". This place has been so full of infighting and negativity that the undercover Hibs fans don't get the individual confrontations they crave so they start threads about Wallace Mercer and get major facts wrong to get the "debate" they crave. I don't even think he's the only one on this thread.

[Debut 4]

I was at that game.

 

Probably the last Derby with a real venomous feel in the air.

 

Amongst all the incidents mentioned there was another some forget. There was what seemed like a vermin Father and Son being lifted by police and led around the back of the goals at the Party End.

 

The young un seemed to have a brainfart and decided to gesture to the away end as he passed the maroon hordes...a hail of coins was returned with compliments and I could lip read Daddy Vermin telling him what he thought of him.

[neilnunb]

Och I pull this out every time this is discussed but the female Hibs fan running onto the pitch either at halftime or during one of the stoppages, twirling her scarf infront of the Hearts support to chants of "get your t*ts out for the boys" only for the scarf to get tangled inbetween her legs and her falling on her pus will forever be one my Hearts supporting highlights.

 

I know we beat them in a cup final but this is my favourite derby. The pure hatred of the Hibs fans are we totally destroyed them was a joy to behold

 

 

How any Hearts fan could think that's when we lost the unbeaten run is beyond me.

[Mars plastic]

Since it takes so long to punt them nowadays I don't even bother pointing them out any more. I can't have been the only person who saw the first post by a user called "bauld Willie" and immediately thought, "Hibs". This place has been so full of infighting and negativity that the undercover Hibs fans don't get the individual confrontations they crave so they start threads about Wallace Mercer and get major facts wrong to get the "debate" they crave. I don't even think he's the only one on this thread.

You really need to get out more.

[Marvin]

Wallace couldn't give a stuff about hibs. Didn't he want to buy ER for a housing venture but got caught up in the hype generated by the media. It also exposed their owners for the cooks that they were.

The game was the most venomous between us and them I've been too.

Tell the vermin today that Wallace saved them and they still won't believe you.

And yes the polis did ask us to go easy on them after HT that day.

[Mars plastic]

Wallace couldn't give a stuff about hibs. Didn't he want to buy ER for a housing venture but got caught up in the hype generated by the media. It also exposed their owners for the cooks that they were.

The game was the most venomous between us and them I've been too.

Tell the vermin today that Wallace saved them and they still won't believe you.

And yes the polis did ask us to go easy on them after HT that day.

Robbo tells the story about that on the BBC cup final pre march build up in 2012.

[Marvin]

Robbo tells the story about that on the BBC cup final pre march build up in 2012.

I was in hospitality so missed any pre-match build up. The final was great but that game was probably my favourite between us and them.

[gorgie rd eh11]

Since it takes so long to punt them nowadays I don't even bother pointing them out any more. I can't have been the only person who saw the first post by a user called "bauld Willie" and immediately thought, "Hibs". This place has been so full of infighting and negativity that the undercover Hibs fans don't get the individual confrontations they crave so they start threads about Wallace Mercer and get major facts wrong to get the "debate" they crave. I don't even think he's the only one on this thread.

 

 

 

 The place is absolutely crawling with them. Infighting and negativity is what they want, they don't have to try to hard.

[Mars plastic]

I was in hospitality so missed any pre-match build up. The final was great but that game was probably my favourite between us and them.

I sky+'d BBC and Sky coverage. The Sky coverage was abysmal compared to the BBC.

[John Findlay]

My daughter, another ardent Jambo, asked me earlier what I remember of the Wallace Mercer attempt to merge Hearts and Hibs back in 1990. It brought back a lot of memories and made me think there must be quite a few people on here who know very little about it. For what it is worth then, I will try and have a bash at recalling it, but it would be interesting to hear what others can recall from the period.

The first I heard about it was on the ITV news at 10, it was actually a prominent national headline which shows you how big a story it was. Remember, there was no social media and 24 hour news channels didn't exist.

Mercer, the Hearts owner and always a guy who loved the limelight, wanted to merge the clubs together and form some sort of super Edinburgh team to compete with the ugly sisters. Hibs were in trouble and Mercer was trying taking advantage of some reckless investments made by their board in a chain of pubs, which made the underlying Hibs company vulnerable to takeover.

Frankly no one could believe it. Mercer didn't really have a football background and I'm sure he was more focused on selling Tynecastle and Easter Road to make money out of it, but he also wanted to relocate this combined team at a new site at Hermiston.

Nothing happened for a while and I'm pretty sure it was the close season at the time, but the longer it went on, the more difficult it became for him. Hibs supporters eventually got their act together in a combined front to try and save their club any way they could, but they weren't alone.

The Hearts support was split right down the middle. As you would expect, many backed Mercer to the hilt and saw this not as a merger but a takeover which would finally eliminate our rivals. Just as many however, thought the loss of Hibs, the derby, the rivalry the office banter was just to much to lose.

Moving to some new out of town large capacity stadium also went down like a lead balloon. No one other than Mercer really believed Hibs supporters would support the new combined team either. I'm pretty sure Mercer also made a comment about asking Alex Ferguson  to be manager, as if he would. Many Hearts supporters actually joined the Hibs fans in their protest marches.

In the end, I'm pretty sure it was the death threats to Mercer that eventually scared him off, but there was never a dull moment during the whole episode.

The hostility at the first derby after it was incredible and I might be wrong here, but I think it also ended our 21 game unbeaten run against them.

Anyone else rember this?

Bullshit.

[Drumelzier]

My daughter, another ardent Jambo, asked me earlier what I remember of the Wallace Mercer attempt to merge Hearts and Hibs back in 1990. It brought back a lot of memories and made me think there must be quite a few people on here who know very little about it. For what it is worth then, I will try and have a bash at recalling it, but it would be interesting to hear what others can recall from the period.

 

The first I heard about it was on the ITV news at 10, it was actually a prominent national headline which shows you how big a story it was. Remember, there was no social media and 24 hour news channels didn't exist.

 

Mercer, the Hearts owner and always a guy who loved the limelight, wanted to merge the clubs together and form some sort of super Edinburgh team to compete with the ugly sisters. Hibs were in trouble and Mercer was trying taking advantage of some reckless investments made by their board in a chain of pubs, which made the underlying Hibs company vulnerable to takeover.

 

Frankly no one could believe it. Mercer didn't really have a football background and I'm sure he was more focused on selling Tynecastle and Easter Road to make money out of it, but he also wanted to relocate this combined team at a new site at Hermiston.

 

Nothing happened for a while and I'm pretty sure it was the close season at the time, but the longer it went on, the more difficult it became for him. Hibs supporters eventually got their act together in a combined front to try and save their club any way they could, but they weren't alone.

 

The Hearts support was split right down the middle. As you would expect, many backed Mercer to the hilt and saw this not as a merger but a takeover which would finally eliminate our rivals. Just as many however, thought the loss of Hibs, the derby, the rivalry the office banter was just to much to lose.

 

Moving to some new out of town large capacity stadium also went down like a lead balloon. No one other than Mercer really believed Hibs supporters would support the new combined team either. I'm pretty sure Mercer also made a comment about asking Alex Ferguson  to be manager, as if he would. Many Hearts supporters actually joined the Hibs fans in their protest marches.

 

In the end, I'm pretty sure it was the death threats to Mercer that eventually scared him off, but there was never a dull moment during the whole episode.

 

The hostility at the first derby after it was incredible and I might be wrong here, but I think it also ended our 21 game unbeaten run against them.

 

Anyone else rember this?

 

No way one of 'us' would post this, imposter imo.

[All roads lead to Gorgie]

I was against the takeover back then but now after the bitterness from the hibs fans during our troubles I wish it had happened. I felt then that we were losing our identity as well and that was my main concern. I was at the game and it was a tasty affair with a huge police presence up town as well as at the game itself.

[Elias Henry Furst]

Awful opening post.

 

If you're going to take the time to write at that length at least get the basics right.

 

I wanted them to die then and I want them to die now.

[brownkg]

My Mrs got me a copy of the offer document sent to their shareholders as a present. I promised to scan it in for someone on here but never got round to it - apologies mysterious stranger.

Anyway, good present, a nice **** you to my wee cousin

That might well have been me there was one  of these in the auction for SOH back in the pieman days but I lost out to Gasman on the bidding. Apology accepted

[JamboJen]

You really need to get out more.

I'll worry the day I need to take any advice from you, sahn.

[Marvin]

I sky+'d BBC and Sky coverage. The Sky coverage was abysmal compared to the BBC.

Haha I had it downloaded (Sky coverage) and it came across ok never did watch BBC's build up.

[Boab]

So...a long winded OP about the merger proposals and it's aftermath....and he got it wrong.

 

We have internet now.....even if you're at it, you can't get it wrong !

 

1/10.

[Notts1874]

You really need to get out more.

Says the person who makes up stories to make themselves seem interesting on a football forum.

[manaliveits105]

Sir Wallace absolute legend he knew vermin need to be eradicated

[bauld willie]

So...a long winded OP about the merger proposals and it's aftermath....and he got it wrong.

 

We have internet now.....even if you're at it, you can't get it wrong !

 

1/10.

Can't believe I'm getting grief for starting this thread and even worse, being called a Hibby.

 

If I wanted to give a detailed factual account of could just have posted a link.

 

I simply tried to give a personal recollection and open it up here for discussion.

[Boab]

Can't believe I'm getting grief for starting this thread and even worse, being called a Hibby.

 

If I wanted to give a detailed factual account of could just have posted a link.

 

I simply tried to give a personal recollection and open it up here for discussion.

If you remember the hostility at that derby, you would have known the score, for crying out loud.

No one who was there would forget an occasion like that.....even 27 years later.

[bauld willie]

If you remember the hostility at that derby, you would have known the score, for crying out loud.

No one who was there would forget an occasion like that.....even 27 years later.

I bow to your superior memory skills.

[Joey J J Jr Shabadoo]

If you remember the hostility at that derby, you would have known the score, for crying out loud.

No one who was there would forget an occasion like that.....even 27 years later.

Correct. No hearts fan who was there would forget the Mercer derby.

[Deevers]

No way one of 'us' would post this, imposter imo.

 

Exactly. This board is absolutely reeking with them just now.

[Son Of Anarchy]

Exactly. This board is absolutely reeking with them just now.

Yip stinking.

[Mars plastic]

Says the person who makes up stories to make themselves seem interesting on a football forum.

This will be interesting. What stories have I made up, sahn?

[Boab]

I bow to your superior memory skills.

Aye, very good.

 

You're not dealing with muppets here !

[Libertarian]

The plan for Hearts to buy Hibs became public on June 4th 1990. I started a new job in Edinburgh that day and was driving through from Glasgow on the M8 to start a back shift when I heard the announcement on the 1pm news on Radio Clyde.. My new office was in Brunswick Road only a short walk from Easter Road, so during my evening break I went for a walk across to see what was going on around Easter Road. It was like a scene from Petrograd 1917. The Hibbies were out in force and had a bonfire going. It was only then that I remembered I had a small metal Hearts badge on my lapel so in order to ensure I wasn't thrown onto the bonfire I quickly covered this up. Personally I think it would have been great for Edinburgh to have only one team that could compete with the OF. Of course that team would play in maroon and white and be called Heart of Midlothian!

[All roads lead to Gorgie]

The plan for Hearts to buy Hibs became public on June 4th 1990. I started a new job in Edinburgh that day and was driving through from Glasgow on the M8 to start a back shift when I heard the announcement on the 1pm news on Radio Clyde.. My new office was in Brunswick Road only a short walk from Easter Road, so during my evening break I went for a walk across to see what was going on around Easter Road. It was like a scene from Petrograd 1917. The Hibbies were out in force and had a bonfire going. It was only then that I remembered I had a small metal Hearts badge on my lapel so in order to ensure I wasn't thrown onto the bonfire I quickly covered this up. Personally I think it would have been great for Edinburgh to have only one team that could compete with the OF. Of course that team would play in maroon and white and be called Heart of Midlothian!

It would only have worked if the hibs fans were willing to support the one team. They were more likely to support one of the said OF teams we were trying to compete with and we would have had to contend with even more Edinburgh fans heading west and boosting the arse cheeks bank balances even more. It might have happened in time that our crowds were boosted by a following generation but it would have taken a long, long time.

[manaliveits105]

Instead hobbits remained an independent club and became what they are today Celtic Lite

[Jamhammer]

At the time I was glad it failed and even attended Hands off Hibs rallies. After their attitude/behaviour when we were toiling I wouldn't piss on them if they were on fire now. **** them and **** their muppet support.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[MikeySimpson]

We were in financial trouble because of years of overspending, our demise had nothing to do with Hibs as far as I'm concerned.

 

A few morons from .net taking the time out of their pathetic lives to write emails to Lithuania did nothing to delay the administration process and it reflects worse on them that they even bothered doing it in the first place.

 

Don't see why it would make people hate them more, it's funny really, shows how much we used to get under their skin. They were that sick of losing derbies they wanted us dead, it's a back-handed compliment if you think about it

[Debut 4]

Never had any sympathy for they counts.

 

I was at Stevenson College for some sort of careers meeting as I was about to leave secondary school. Two Hobos I knew came into the hall with the news.

 

I just smirked. **** them.

[Deevers]

Yip stinking.

No knowledge of that period and a user name that seeks to take the piss out of one of our greatest players. Reeking.

[Morgan]

No knowledge of that period and a user name that seeks to take the piss out of one of our greatest players. Reeking.

[martoon]

Couldn't resist a spot of schadenfreude on the day the story broke and got my mate to take a wee detour in the car along Albion Road that evening. I was expecting a huge angry mob, burning effigies...all I saw was half a dozen Hibbies standing around looking confused and bewildered.

 

Bloody disappointing.

 

The Mercer derby was epic. The entire day. I was only 5 when we beat them 4-1 in '73, and have no recollection of it at the time so, 3-0 at half time/full time was the biggest derby win I'd experienced up until then.

 

Any win would have been great that day but to wipe the floor with them was awesome. Shame about the HT directive from plod.

[martoon]

The op is about as subtle as an email to Lithuania.

 

Feckin honks of Hibby.

[Glamorgan Jambo]

I was living in Brussels at the time and as I remember it got reported on the BBC national news.

 

I couldn't stop laughing for a good few days......

[queensferryjambo]

Probably the last Derby with a real venomous feel in the air.

 

 

 

 

Not so sure about that. Thought the tensions got pretty high administration / relegation season. 

 

The thing I remember about that day was all the hundreds of Hibs casuals swaying about on the terrace and pretended they were trying to get on the pitch whilst being held back by a couple of stewards. I really don't remember any trouble outside the ground. The Wayne Foster cup game was the opposite it was a full scale riot up near the Playhouse after the game.

 

22 in a row was an amazing time to watch Hearts I was at all 22 games and unlike the Hibstory written and splaffed nowadays I reckon only on two or three occasions in that run they possibly deserved to sneak a win. My pet hate is also when Hibs fans - generally ones who were not at the games - say it was all draws. 

 

Oh and yeah the thread OP is reeking and has been on multiple threads. The disrespectful board name isn't helping them right enough.

[avhudtheteeshirt]

Spot on.

 

Remember working in Ferranti at the time.  All the greetin faced Hobos.  Happy days.

 

Did you happen to work in the Machine shop at Crewe Toll?

[Silvery_Moon]

My daughter, another ardent Jambo, asked me earlier what I remember of the Wallace Mercer attempt to merge Hearts and Hibs back in 1990. It brought back a lot of memories and made me think there must be quite a few people on here who know very little about it. For what it is worth then, I will try and have a bash at recalling it, but it would be interesting to hear what others can recall from the period.

 

The first I heard about it was on the ITV news at 10, it was actually a prominent national headline which shows you how big a story it was. Remember, there was no social media and 24 hour news channels didn't exist.

 

Mercer, the Hearts owner and always a guy who loved the limelight, wanted to merge the clubs together and form some sort of super Edinburgh team to compete with the ugly sisters. Hibs were in trouble and Mercer was trying taking advantage of some reckless investments made by their board in a chain of pubs, which made the underlying Hibs company vulnerable to takeover.

 

Frankly no one could believe it. Mercer didn't really have a football background and I'm sure he was more focused on selling Tynecastle and Easter Road to make money out of it, but he also wanted to relocate this combined team at a new site at Hermiston.

 

Nothing happened for a while and I'm pretty sure it was the close season at the time, but the longer it went on, the more difficult it became for him. Hibs supporters eventually got their act together in a combined front to try and save their club any way they could, but they weren't alone.

 

The Hearts support was split right down the middle. As you would expect, many backed Mercer to the hilt and saw this not as a merger but a takeover which would finally eliminate our rivals. Just as many however, thought the loss of Hibs, the derby, the rivalry the office banter was just to much to lose.

 

Moving to some new out of town large capacity stadium also went down like a lead balloon. No one other than Mercer really believed Hibs supporters would support the new combined team either. I'm pretty sure Mercer also made a comment about asking Alex Ferguson to be manager, as if he would. Many Hearts supporters actually joined the Hibs fans in their protest marches.

 

In the end, I'm pretty sure it was the death threats to Mercer that eventually scared him off, but there was never a dull moment during the whole episode.

 

The hostility at the first derby after it was incredible and I might be wrong here, but I think it also ended our 21 game unbeaten run against them.

 

Anyone else rember this?

 

It was game 6 of our 22 game run. Not just all Hearts fans but all Hibs fans know Hearts won the match!

[socrates82]

Mercer saved hibs.

 

Hibs were a financial basket case and approached Hearts.

 

Indirectly in the same way Hearts were saved by Romanov. In fact they were eventually saved by Hibs fans - with the support of plenty of Hearts fans - which made their efforts to kill us off even harder to stomach. If I could go back in time I wouldn't lift a hand to help them now.

 

And that makes it twice we've helped them out in their time in need. 

 

It has to be remembered that Kenny Waugh and others were willing to sell out the club to Mercer. In all of the stuff that has gone on at Hearts, we have never ever tried to flog the club to our rivals!

[Debut 4]

Not so sure about that. Thought the tensions got pretty high administration / relegation season.

 

The thing I remember about that day was all the hundreds of Hibs casuals swaying about on the terrace and pretended they were trying to get on the pitch whilst being held back by a couple of stewards. I really don't remember any trouble outside the ground. The Wayne Foster cup game was the opposite it was a full scale riot up near the Playhouse after the game.

 

22 in a row was an amazing time to watch Hearts I was at all 22 games and unlike the Hibstory written and splaffed nowadays I reckon only on two or three occasions in that run they possibly deserved to sneak a win. My pet hate is also when Hibs fans - generally ones who were not at the games - say it was all draws.

 

Oh and yeah the thread OP is reeking and has been on multiple threads. The disrespectful board name isn't helping them right enough.

Inside the ground I was really meaning. There's not been many matches where a Hearts player held a Hibs fan and a Jam Tart ran on the park and skelped him

 

PS... I was at the Fozzie game but cannae remember the riot? I go that way to get home.

 

Not doubting you though, I must've missed it obviously

[WoolfordsHearts]

You only have to watch this for a brief synopsis of the events back then.

 

Enjoyed that video.

 

Interesting to see the hibs supporters were over exuberant even back then.

[queensferryjambo]

Inside the ground I was really meaning. There's not been many matches where a Hearts player held a Hibs fan and a Jam Tart ran on the park and skelped him

 

PS... I was at the Fozzie game but cannae remember the riot? I go that way to get home.

 

Not doubting you though, I must've missed it obviously

 

 

The Fozzy game we probably made it up the road a little bit later than most Hearts fans as one of our mates was on crutches at the time due to a knee injury. We were luckily on the other side of the road when it kicked off. I always remember my mate with the injury looking at me and saying he had absolutely no chance of getting out the way of it - and he was right LOL.

 

Luckily we moved to the top of a small flight of steps entering one of the buildings (think it might be Mamma Roma now) and everyone fighting seemed much more interested in each other rather than us

 

It started at the corner of Elm Row and carried on up past the Playhouse. The Police got there in vans and on horses and they had the dogs there as well to try to disperse it but really only spread it further up the road. 

 

A guy I know who was of the Hibs casual persuasion reckoned it kept going in bursts of fighting up to the corner of Princess Street and I have no reason to doubt him from what I saw happen.

[Boab]

The Fozzy game we probably made it up the road a little bit later than most Hearts fans as one of our mates was on crutches at the time due to a knee injury. We were luckily on the other side of the road when it kicked off. I always remember my mate with the injury looking at me and saying he had absolutely no chance of getting out the way of it - and he was right LOL.

 

Luckily we moved to the top of a small flight of steps entering one of the buildings (think it might be Mamma Roma now) and everyone fighting seemed much more interested in each other rather than us

 

It started at the corner of Elm Row and carried on up past the Playhouse. The Police got there in vans and on horses and they had the dogs there as well to try to disperse it but really only spread it further up the road. 

 

A guy I know who was of the Hibs casual persuasion reckoned it kept going in bursts of fighting up to the corner of Princess Street and I have no reason to doubt him from what I saw happen.

 

 

It was nuts but to go back to the Mercer derby......it did get a bit tasty at half time when the casuals did attempt another attack. It was one of the few times in Scottish Football when I seen a line of polis using the old batons with vigour. Good half time entertainment !

[queensferryjambo]

It was nuts but to go back to the Mercer derby.....

 

I wish I could go back to the Mercer derby Boab

 

I always remember work on the Monday with another one of the apprentices trying to save face telling me how good Hibs were in the second half - he couldn't even convince himself of that. 

 

It absolutely knocked the stuffing out of them at the time as they were so convinced  that 'justice' would be done at Easter Road that day. 

[Rudy T]

Quite a few pitch invasions & scraps back then. They really hated Waldo with a passion after that too. [emoji1]

We actually got the bus from where we stayed down to easter road that day with a few hibs fans we knew well from school. About 20 mins in one of said hibs mates was being dragged across the pitch by the police....He got it tight for weeks after.

[Silvery_Moon]

No way one of 'us' would post this, imposter imo.

Or just clueless