Two sore heads are better than one!; COMMENT.

Walter Smith had to fight to prise Jim Jefferies and Billy Brown apart as he battled to shake the Hearts boss's hand at the final whistle.

Fifteen minutes later, when the pair of them stepped onto the podium and hoisted the trophy aloft to the Jambos faithful, you would still have needed a crowbar to separate them.

At five past five, it just seemed right that they had one hand each on the trophy they have both toiled for three years to bring to Tynecastle.

Jefferies and Brown have worked miracles putting a team on the park that is capable of winning trophies but the two-man team they form behind the scenes is the real beating heart.

They have scrapped their way through the ranks and the divisions together, driven halfway round the world in each other's pockets clawing together teams for buttons.

Now they have shared the ultimate moment of glory together - standing up there in front of 22,000 of their own, clutching the silverware that hasn't been at Gorgie for 36 years.

Sure, it was cruel for Walter Smith to bow out with a trophyless season after an era of glory in charge of Rangers.

But it would have been a TRAGEDY if Hearts had split for the summer empty- handed after the season they've given us.

Jefferies has still to break the million-pound barrier in THREE YEARS of transfer deals that have seen an entire squad come and go. Yet he has competed with - and now beaten - the big boys.

Lesser men would be prepared to settle for less. He's gone through eight games this season against the Old Firm and taken only three points, lost 13 goals in four attempts against Rangers.

And even HE'LL admit that they were lucky to make the final after a semi scrap with Falkirk.

But through his years at Gala, Berwick and Falkirk he strived to break through barriers and take teams to levels they've never been to before.

He's lived up to that everywhere and now he has done it with the Jambos when it counted.

Before they faced Rangers in the 1996 Final he walked about with a bag of salt in his pocket, a lucky charm given to him by Gilles Rousset's wife - then BINNED it when they got pumped 5-1.

This time around there were no superstitions, no false hopes - just belief.

That's something Smith has never been short of either - 13 trophies in seven years as a boss is testimony to that.

And he walked out with his head held high as usual to one of the most incredible ovations a losing team has ever seen.

The Rangers fans knew they had just witnessed the death of a team and the end of an era.

And for once they stuck around beyond the final whistle to pay some respect.

Three-quarters of an hour after he walked down the tunnel for the final time as Rangers manager, Walter sat with Archie Knox in the directors' box, gazing out on a deserted Parkhead and sinking a can of the sponsor's product.

If anyone has earned a quiet moment for reflection, it's him.

And it would be nice to think that while he sat there, he was only contemplating the highs instead of the low he had to bow out on.

For once it was someone else's day - and it belonged to Jim Jefferies.

People have argued this week that Wim Jansen should have beaten the Jambos gaffer to Scotland's Manager of the Year Award. Two trophies to one? Maybe they have a case, maybe not.

But Jefferies got all the reward he ever wanted at the back of five when he watched Gary Locke and Stevie Fulton share the honour of lifting the Cup.

I'm sure he'll tan back more than a few cans of TL himself over the next few days as one half of Edinburgh celebrate themselves into a stupour.

And I'm willing to lay a right few quid on the fact that Billy Brown will be right there beside him, sharing everything, right down to the last thud of his hangover.

Taken from the Daily Record