I WON'T pretend it was a JFK moment, but I can remember exactly where I was when Harry Reid, then deputy editor of the Glasgow Herald, phoned to inform me that Wallace Mercer was about to host a press conference in Edinburgh.

The late Waldo, attired in a splendid cream suit for his big day, was in his pomp when an incredulous press pack arrived at an Edinburgh hotel to hear his plans for merging Hearts and Hibs.

But almost as soon as he opened his mouth, the roof fell in on his plan - which was inevitably interpreted as the death knell for Hibs. A clever campaign, which needed little encouragement from the media, ensued, and Hibs fans won the argument. But even though hindsight is a great thing, my jaw dropped, while researching this article, to come across the following statement in Wikipedia, "the free encyclopedia", to which anybody can contribute.

"Mercer was a visionary, way ahead of his time," any surfer, say in Papua New Guinea, will be informed. "He saw the financial power being wielded by the Glasgow teams, and realised the only way to combat it was with a single Edinburgh team."

What's the point of being a devil's advocate when this stuff is in the public domain? History has been rewritten, but recent events only confirm that there is more than a little validity - if you stand back from the emotion - in questioning exactly what fans of both clubs enjoy about Hearts and Hibs continuing to trudge along as extras in the Premier League.

Hell will freeze over, as they say, before the two clubs merge, but then again you might have said that about Martin McGuinness and the Rev Ian Paisley allowing themselves to be snapped in public enjoying a convivial joke. It happened last week.

For me, the final insult to both clubs was the suggestion that the first Edinburgh derby of the season might be staged on a Monday night to suit the paymaster that is Setanta television. Don't get me wrong, it's a good station with above average punditry, but can you imagine Glasgow's gruesome twosome ever being asked to stage their biggest game on the death slot that is Monday night?

What makes it worse is that the Edinburgh derby has been a far better product, certainly for the neutral, than that involving the Old Firm in recent seasons.

It's not necessarily technically good, but in terms of providing drama and the unexpected it has been unsurpassed and provided just about everything you would expect from a derby.

As we await a new season, you feel - sadly - that a great window of opportunity has closed for both clubs. An average Celtic side has been allowed to dominate the domestic agenda for the last two seasons, while Rangers have been so insipid that they were just asking to be trampled on.

Granted, Hearts won the Tennent's Scottish Cup last year - although it has to be acknowledged that their opponents in the final were Gretna. They also finished second to Celtic in the Premier League.

But far from being the stepping stone to something better that it appeared to be at the time, it proved to be a turning point and the Tynecastle club went backwards last season for reasons which have been aired ad nauseam.

Hibs, meanwhile, failed to capitalise on a crop of young footballers who may be unparalleled in our time for the richness of their ability. Even worse, the best have either drifted, or been sold, westwards along the M8.

To some Hibs fans I know, this is simply an inevitable process. The argument goes: "I know Hibs will never win the league, but as long as the team is entertaining that's all I'm looking for." Idealistic, but hardly ambitious.

Forgive me if my memory is failing - and the sale of players from Easter Road and Tynecastle to Parkhead and Ibrox has always been a feature of Scottish football - but I don't recall either of the Edinburgh clubs ever being divested of its best talent in the manner that Hibs have over the last 18 months.

John Collins may yet prove to be the club's most successful manager, and at least in the case of Kevin Thomson and Scott Brown top dollar was exacted, but recent transfers must be hugely demoralising for all but the most optimistic of the Easter Road faithful.

Hearts, by contrast, have the resources to mount a realistic league challenge. It won't ever materialise, though, unless there is a massive change of mindset at the club.

There is nothing unique about a country's capital punching under its weight at football. Just cast an eye south.

But even in England there have been periodic bursts from Arsenal and Chelsea to puncture the recent domination enjoyed by Liverpool and Manchester.

By contrast, what have Hearts and Hibs offered? Even when the old order was briefly usurped in the 1980s, the challenge came from Aberdeen and Dundee.

It's a long, long way back to the 1950s - the only time that football in Edinburgh could truly hold its head high. Frankly, it's pitiable that a city which boasts of being one of Europe's main financial centres should underperform so badly.

Although Wallace Mercer called it badly wrong all those years ago, the efforts of both clubs since have hardly vindicated the shrill voices who were so quick to condemn him.