THE MORNING of an Edinburgh derby may seem like an odd time for a managerial mutual appreciation society to break out, but then John Collins has always liked to do things his own way. The Hibs manager was speaking this week of the time he spent at the recent SFL coaching summit at Gleneagles with his opposite number from across the city, his admiration for him, and the immense sympathy he has for the unique difficulties his job entails. But it wasn't Stevie Frail he was referring to. It was Anatoly Korobochka.

"I was at the SPL managers thing recently with Korobochka and his interpreter and he was an absolute gentleman," said Collins. "I spent a long time chatting with him through his interpreter and he was a very impressive man. He has a fantastic record with his previous clubs, and I enjoyed chatting to him. He was very open and very friendly, a really nice man, and I say that sincerely."

Collins, of course, has previous experience both of playing football in a foreign country, and spending time as translator-in-chief to Fulham head coach Jean Tigana, and - regardless of this afternoon's result - will invite the entire Hearts backroom staff into his office for a cup of tea or a glass of wine. Considering such otherwise rounded characters as Craig Levein and Tony Mowbray haven't always seen eye-to-eye when holding their respective offices when this fixture comes around, it is quite a tribute.

"I empathise with him Korobochka because it must be the most difficult job in the world coaching in a foreign country," Collins said. "I often think how I would coach if I went to Spain or Italy if I couldn't speak the language. It is a tough job. I did a lot of Jean Tigana's team talks for him at Fulham, I was his messenger boy as they say. Being a manager or coach is a tough job anyway but to do it in a foreign country, in a foreign language, in a different culture, takes a lot of guts. And it is not as easy as people think.

"He is 100% a football guy, an ex-player and he has a real passion for the game," he added. "He is enjoying it, and it is a great challenge for him. Maybe his personality doesn't always come across, but he is a football man. It sometimes takes time for that to come across, but as time goes by the connection between a coach and the fans starts to come across, and it comes from learning the language. It is hard getting your message across when you don't speak the language, and you need to do it through an interpreter initially, but the passion doesn't come out with an interpreter, the tone of voice, or the shouting, it is just totally different.

"So I have nothing but respect for him being there and doing that. I know he took CSKA Moscow to Barcelona and beat them in the Nou Camp in the Champions League a couple of seasons ago, so he must be a decent coach if he can do that. Not many coaches have taken a team to Barcelona and won. We are all in the game for the same reasons. We love football, we like the feeling of winning, and once the game is finished you might sympathise with the other manager if they have lost, or if they've won you congratulate him and move on. We are all in the same business."

This afternoon's match finds Hibs hanging onto the bragging rights in the capital after the first round of SPL fixtures, but Edinburgh derbies tend to have a logic of their own. So it was last season, in the last meeting between these two teams at Easter Road, when Hibs aimed to parade the CIS cup they had won only one week earlier, only for a misfiring Hearts side to suddenly find form and cause the post-match celebrations to be conducted with no small measure of embarrassment. "It wasn't the best of days," said Hibs midfielder Lewis Stevenson. "The fans tried to keep happy but you could tell that deep down they were gutted. I think it rubbed off on us."

Having said that, while the Tynecastle club's last result was the 2-0 midweek win over Celtic, Hibs go into the game on the back of an underwhelming 1-0 home defeat to St Mirren. If back-to-back defeats in the last two weeks have somewhat punctured the early momentum gained by an 1-0 opening-day victory in the reverse of this fixture at Tynecastle, Stevenson at least had the slightly dubious consolation of having lasted the full 90 minutes in that game for the first time in a while.

Collins remains convinced that both he and his fellow youth team graduate Kevin McCann will "go on to have long and successful careers", but in Stevenson's case the last few weeks have seen a welcome return to form for a talented youngster who by his manager's admission has suffered a dip' this season. "In the last couple of weeks when we have been getting beaten I have probably been playing better than I have when we were winning," Stevenson said, "That is probably not a good sign.

People keep saying that this is a difficult second season to me. I met an old guy in the shop today, and even he kept saying to me just to get through it. But I try not to think about it too much."

Despite an outstanding performance in the victory at Ibrox recently, McCann has also experienced occasional growing pains this season, although the right back will be on familiar territory this afternoon in locking horns with Hearts' left winger Andrew Driver, as the two have done in Edinburgh derbies right through the youth ranks.

"I have played against him hundreds of times," McCann said. "On derby day no matter what age you are, even in the youth games, you can tell from the manager and everyone around the club that it was a big occasion. These games were always ones you saw coming up on the calendar. He is a very good player and every time it is a tough match. I am sure he got SPL young player of the month recently, and is doing very well for himself." Whether it is McCann and Driver, or Collins and Korobochka, the friendships will be put on hold for 90 minutes this afternoon.