BOTH HIBERNIAN AND HEARTS have called for "mature debate" on the issue of a ground share at Straiton, so I hope we can begin by asking that they are straight with the support on their plans. There is, already, at this early stage, a fair amount of misinformation flying around, and that¹s not helpful, if the respective Boards hope to carry the fan base with them in this new potential 'adventure'.

First of all, it would be nice to see Chris Robinson being a bit more upfront about the reasons for Hearts needing to leave Tynecastle. It has in my view nothing to do with the size of the pitch and UEFA regulations. Even before this week¹s information that UEFA would be highly unlikely to ban Hearts from competition for the size of their playing area, there was information in the public arena overriding such a concern. The City of Edinburgh ten year plan states quite clearly that it is the intention to replace the current Tynecastle High School with a building on a nearby Council owned site (presumably Russell Road Cleansing Depot). Such a development would easily free up the few dozen yards required to expand the Tynecastle pitch to UEFA standards.

Clearly Hearts need to sell Tynie to offset huge debt; they shouldn¹t be coy about this: without the guarantor status of Sir Tom Farmer, Hibs would be in exactly the same position.

Secondly, why does Rod Petrie state "If the move would be significantly financially advantageous to Hibs" it would happen? Clearly under the details so far announced, it would be a financial boost to the club, there¹s no denying that; so, is he saying the decision is already made?  The question is, of course, as both Boards emphasise, how will this affect the long term futures of the clubs? And this, undoubtedly, involves more than just finance.

As has been written elsewhere, the emotional investment in Easter Road cannot be overlooked, and, ultimately, this also equates to financial matters. When we look at the current Hibs¹ fan base, at how many season ticket holders even, decided to miss home games last season, we can be under no illusion that we are down to the bedrock support. These are the seven thousand for whom Hibs, as Barcelona would have it, are Œmes que un club¹ - more than a club.

A long gone view of Easter Road stadium - stadium improvements should be finished (hibs.net archive)

Speak to any of these supporters and they will tell you tales from childhood, of granddads and uncles, fathers and neighbours, who nurtured their interest in, and eventual devotion to, Hibernian. Teenagers can point out where their great granddad sat, the middle aged can¹t look at the right hand post of the Dunbar end goal without replaying Pat Stanton¹s penalty miss against Leeds, the oldsters muse on Gordon Smith playing keepie uppie down the wing or Tommy Younger¹s heroics at the bottom of the slope. My own fifteen year old son will even point out the spot where he sat for his first Hibs game only nine years ago. I merely watch the ghost of my uncle playing on the right wing for Hibs in the mid twenties.

It is this continuity that preserves the fan base in an age when youngsters have far more to do than watch live football on a Saturday afternoon. For those of us who still believe that Hibs are one of the world¹s great clubs, how do we justify that greatness when we compare ourselves to teams with a similar turnover such as Sheffield United or Charlton? Our stature lies in our history, and Easter Road is an integral part of that. Although Hibs are seen as a Leith team, we should remember that, in reality, they are, if anything, a Southside Edinburgh Irish club - but, unlike, our cousins in the west, we have managed to integrate all the pieces of our history to become an inclusive club. My concern is not that Hibs should stay in Leith, but rather that they should remain at their traditional ground.

When folk propose ground sharing, the successful examples they quote are never near at hand: Milan and Turin, like Buenos Aires, are cities with a far different football social history than Britain¹s. In these places, the clubs¹ offices and facilities are seldom located at the stadium, and there is little geographical base to the support. The stature of these teams is secured by their huge wealth rather than their traditions; they have a shorter and less socially based history. Do we have any examples of successful ground sharing in Britain?

I have grave doubts that my son, in time, would be able to convince his own child that a trip out to a breezeblock emporium off the by pass would be in some way maintaining a family tradition. The cost of a new build stadium being quoted for Straiton suggests an edifice more in keeping with the pink bus shelters than the level of quality in the Easter Road Stadium. Inverness and St Johnstone both have such stadia in walking distance of city centres and yet suffer from such poor crowds that even after so few years, Inverness are considering selling up and moving to a city centre site. In North America, out of city stadia are being abandoned wholesale in exchange for expensive but necessary relocation in city central positions.

Relocation success stories in Britain do not feature ground sharing, and Sunderland, Middlesbrough and Bolton all had huge injections of cash to play with, rather than merely asset stripping to clear debts. So a shift to Straiton, in the long term, could well rob the teams of that bedrock traditional support that they need to survive. It¹s doubtful, even if modest playing success was achieved with the limited amounts of cash being available in the new set up, that a large number of fans would suddenly discover a commitment to Hibs or Hearts.

But, if the Boards are set on a ground share, for financial reasons, and, if, from the support potential, this would be better inside the city limits, and also, if the Council are desperate to get involved, what could be the solution?

Take one ground that is three quarters complete to a superb specification. That would be Easter Road. Let Hearts sell Tynecastle to clear their debts and then buy half of Easter Road - to help Hibs clear their debts. They can build their own Main Stand on the East Terrace and replace the green seats in the South Stand with maroon if they want. Hearts fans will not like being at Easter Rd, but then Hibs fans won¹t like Hearts owning half their ground - so that¹s a kind of trade off. The Council, in their review of Meadowbank¹s facilities, can show some vision for once, and go for a sports campus, including a refurbished Meadowbank, additional facilities at Easter Rd and possibly including the Leith Academy sports facilities, the Commonwealth Pool and the Moray House P.E. Department at Holyrood Rd - all within two or three miles of each other and within walking distance of the city centre, making Edinburgh a real force to reckon with in the European sports scene - and at a fraction of the cost of new build and road reconstruction at Straiton.

If you¹re interested in football and sport, of course, this all makes some kind of sense - economically and socially. If there¹s some kind of hidden agenda, it¹s a non-starter, I suppose.