I got a Hibs boss sacked and and now I want Hearts to be utterly merciless – Ryan Stevenson.

It’s not pleasant, but it’s the essence of sport, and there are massive stakes in this weekend’s Edinburgh Derby in Leith.

I succeeded in getting Pat Fenlon fired as Hibs’ manager. My Hearts team did. It’s only that I was the lucky one who scored the winning goal in a 1-0 League Cup quarter-final derby at Easter Road in 2011.

No one gave us a chance since we were at the bottom of the league. We proved to be a formidable opponent for Hibs in their own backyard. Fenlon was under enormous pressure heading into the contest. He received his jotters two days later.

You probably know where this is headed. I’d walk across the city on Sunday morning to get David Gray’s tin tacks. That’s a nasty thing to say. Brutal, really. It may not sound like it, but I enjoy Grey. He comes across nicely and is well respected in coaching circles.

But you have to be brutal in this industry. And there’s no denying that he’s under enormous strain. Forget everything else on Sunday; all Hearts players should want to do is win and strike the nail in Hibs’ and Gray’s coffin.

I fully anticipate them to win. Nothing about Hibernian scares me. The only team that can defeat Hearts on Sunday is themselves. They absolutely cannot get ahead of themselves following Saturday’s 4-0 thrashing of St Mirren.

Neil Critchley had an impressive start. I made it plain that while I had severe reservations about his selection, I would be completely behind him once the football season began. Seeing him return to basics and play two up front from the start completely won me over.

I’ve been banging on about two strikers all season. Tynecastle is simply designed for teams to play with two forwards and be direct. Having someone to play with has been what has kept me going throughout my career. Football is all about partnerships, whether they be in defence, midfield, or up forward.

Rudi Skacel was my Hearts teammate for around a year or two. I realised that I had to do 80 percent of the work, and when the ball dropped to Rudi, he would run and put it in the net. I had the same experience when I was up front with Kevin Kyle. My first goal for Hearts came against Inverness after Kevin stated, ‘Every time the ball comes up to me, make sure you’re inside five yards’.

I scored after he knocked one down two minutes into the second half. When you play alone up front, it is the most lonely and difficult job in the world. When the ball gets to you, there is no one around you unless you are completely dominating a team.

So it was great to see Critchley go with two on Saturday. The goals they scored against St Mirren were spectacular. Kenneth Vargas’s opening was a beautiful piece of play, followed by a lovely finish, but Lawrence Shankland’s pass to him was superb. If Hearts can replicate that level of performance against Omonia Nicosia tomorrow night, the shift in momentum at Easter Road three days later will be terrifying.

Some argue that the game versus Omonia is a pointless diversion for the players before of the Derby. Not at all. I recall having a falling out with Paulo Sergio in 2011 when he rested me for the return Euro clash against Tottenham in London. He explained that I was sitting it out because we had Hibs three days later at Tynecastle.

I was enraged with him. He rested three or four of us. I told him, ‘This is what I’m made for. The tie was finished after Spurs thrashed us in Edinburgh in the first leg, but it was an opportunity to play at a Premier League stadium in Europe. Win, loss or draw, I would have been jumping into the weekend derby.

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