4 DAYS TO GO
sacked. Nobody wants to see that happen but this is part and parcel of the modern-day game.
“Managers especially know football is a results-based business and time is a luxury that is not afforded to them if things aren’t going their way.
“However, a win in this Edinburgh derby might well prove to be the spark that ignites the league campaign for either side.
“Whoever goes on to win this derby could well give their manager a stay of execution but it could also act as the catalyst that kickstarts their season.
“To see the likes of Hibs and Hearts in the Premiership bottom six is so strange even this early in the season.
“They are both massive clubs and really should be at the top end of the table hanging on to the Old Firm’s coat-tails. Sadly for the supporters of both clubs they’re not.”
Williams was also part of Hibs side that did for Terry Butcher’s Easter Road reign after he experienced the drop down to the second tier of Scottish football in 2014.
Hibs followed Hearts into the Championship by being relegated despite the Jambos being hit with a 15-point deduction at the start of the season for going into administration.
Butcher’s side failed to register the solitary victory required in their final 14 league matches that also included a 2-1 defeat to Gary Locke’s Hearts at Easter Road in April.
Williams said: “I remember when Hibs played Hearts, who were already relegated, at Easter Road in the final Edinburgh derby of the 2014 season.
“We just needed one more win to avoid the relegation play-off automatically but we couldn’t manage it.
“We went into that match on the back of a wretched run and had seen us suffer five successive defeats and we lost 2-1.
“It was a real scrappy game. Callum Paterson scored with two headers and although we pulled a goal back through Jordon Forster we just couldn’t get a result for love nor money, although it wasn’t for the lack of trying. We drew four games and lost 10 of our last 14 league games and slipped into the relegation play-offs when one victory would have saved
our skins.
“We beat Hamilton 2-0 away in the first leg then contrived to lose 2-0 at Easter Road in the second leg before losing a penalty shoot-out.
“The biggest irony of all was that in a season when Hearts were deducted 15 points for entering administration and were heading for the Championship from day one, Hibs somehow managed to get themselves relegated from the Premiership as well. “It was unbelievable and both managers paid the ultimate price by losing their jobs at the end of the season. “Heckingbottom or Levein might not even get that long if one of them exits Easter Road as the loser on Sunday.”