The Scottish League’s rules which prevent an individual from owning shares in two clubs are likely to be the major stumbling block, though I under-!stand that in principle at any rate the management committee is open-minded on the question of mergers.

Indeed, Mercer had a private meeting with the Scottish League president, Jack Steedman, before announcing details of his takeover offer. Whether or not 76per cent of Hibs’ shareholders will be able to cross the emotional threshold of selling out to the chairman of Hearts is also another imponderable.

A rival bid to save Hibs could be mounted, though a sum in excess of£14m might be required to better Mercer’s offer. Whether it succeeds or not, there is absolutely no doubt about the radical nature of the initiative, and it’s worth considering for a moment the background to one of the most extra-ordinary Scottish football stories of all.

Two years ago, when Wallace Mercer and I co-authored the book, Heart To Heart: The Anatomy Of A Football Club, the Hearts chairman was unyielding, both privately and publicly, on the subject of clubs amalgamating. He was convinced of the inevitability of such a course of action if Scottish sides outwith the Old Firm of Rangers and Celtic were to have a significant role to play in the changing future of the sport.

He talked of bringing down the barriers of parochialism. Yesterday Mercer, who has always enjoyed a Dallas-style gift for public relations, drove a coach and horses over

The demise of a 112-year rivalry between the capital clubs - Hearts and Hibs first met in February 1878; their last fixture may turn out to have been in March of this year - is sure to provoke a bitter debate between traditionalists and those who view change in football as inevitable.

Before examining the arguments on both sides, it may be worth recalling the views the Hearts chairman put forward regarding the imminent contraction of the Scottish football industry prior to becoming actively involved m seeking the creation of just one major football power in Edinburgh.

Discussing what lay in store for the game in the 1990s, he said: "Inevitably it will mean that the gulf between the haves and the have-nots will increase yet again. It is out of this financial situation that a different structure for the game will emerge.

"I foresee in the long term a variety of European leagues in which the clubs of matching economic resources will band together.

"By then the barriers of parochialism will have been dismantled. That would lead to a market with three or four tiers of competitiveness. I appreciate that we would not be able to compete with the Barcelonas, the Real Madrids and the Liverpools. However we would be in a position to hold our own with just about anyone else.

"This process of international fragmentation will take many years to evolve. In order to cope with what lies ahead it will be imperative to have economic strength. That’s why I envisage amalgamations between clubs and the rationalisation of our industry."

Whether such a promise will be enough to compensate the supporters of Hibs for the imminent demise of their team - never mind the fact that the name Hearts is also likely to disappear by season 1991-92 - is another matter, however.

Football is an emotional business and Mercer was asked in all seriousness if he now feared for his own safety or that of his family He replied that he hoped sensible media coverage would over- come any problems and that by provid- ing a winning team for Edinburgh and the Lothians he would win over the. Hibs' fans in due course.

Before we get that far down the merger road, Mercer has to first secure 76 per cent of the shares in Hibs. It remains to be seen whether he will succeed or not, but the support of David Rowlands, the main shareholder in the Easter Road club, is obviously crucial in that respect.

For let there be no doubt that if the bid comes off then Easter Road will close down. Edinburgh will have just one club in the Premier Division next season, playing at Tvnecastle.

The likelihood is 'that the team will still be called Hearts in season 1990-91, but a change of name and strip would be set to follow in 1991-92. Although Hearts are the buyers and Hibs the sellers in this deal. Mercer knows there has to be give and take on both sides and that the only hope for uniting the city behind one team would involve the eventual introduction of a new name.

It is also fair to say that Mercer, for all that he's. been running Hearts for eight years, is by no means part of the football establishment in Scotland and the football authorities may well turn out to be suspicious of his motives.

Three World Cups ago in 1977, Lothian Region was talking about a combined Hearts/Hibs club and perhaps 13 years on it would take the creation of an Edinburgh United to bring about a situation where planning permission was granted for a new stadium on the west side of the city.

Of course, the passing of Hibs and Hearts would be a cause for regret and many supporters who have favoured the green of Easter Road or the maroon of Tvnecastle might be reluctant to get behind the new team. But just as Maurice Johnston's signing didn't stop the turnstiles clicking at Ibrox, so the emergence of a phoenix in Edinburgh from the ashes of Hearts and Hibs is unlikely to take place in isolation.

Mercer's move to combine the Edinburgh clubs may or may not succeed this time round. But fresh ideas, and an awareness that radical measures are required to steer the game into the next century, mean that amalgamations have been urgently added to football's agenda.

In that sense, lingering questions about who would play in the Premier Division if Hibs go out of business, who would replace them as the 38th league club and what would happen to the players currently employed at Easter Road are details rather than issues. They can be resolved if there's agreement about the big picture!