IT'S no coincidence that the two teams in the Scottish Cup Final, Hearts and Gretna, are being bankrolled by wealthy businessmen.

Vladimir Romanov and Brooks Mileson are both willing to put their money where there mouth is and good luck to them.

Hearts have come close fleetingly to matching Rangers and Celtic in the past, but this time I think we are ready to challenge the Old Firm on a sustained basis.

Some people might not like the way Romanov handles certain situations but you can't knock his ambitions for Hearts.

His investment was displayed perfectly in the Cup semi-final when Hearts had such a huge pool of players and so many options in comparison to Hibs, who simply did not have that luxury.

They didn't have the personnel to replace the major players they'd lost and I just feel Hearts, with the money Romanov has put in, will become a force to be reckoned with.

And that can only be good for Scottish football and for the Hearts supporters.

Gretna are also a team on the ascendancy and if Hearts finish second in the SPL the Second Division club will be awarded the fourth UEFA Cup slot for reaching the Cup Final.

They would deny either ourselves or Hibs a place in Europe and while I think the team who finish fourth in the SPL should qualify it would be churlish to criticise Gretna.

Rules are rules and Gretna deserve everything that comes their way.

All Kilmarnock can do is hope Rangers finish second and then try to uphold our part of the bargain by pipping Hibs to fourth spot in the league.

We travel to Easter Road this evening with a two-point advantage over Hibs in what is a huge game for the club.

Thankfully, we go to Edinburgh in good heart and with Scotland's Player of the Month in our ranks.

Everyone at the club is delighted for young Steven Naismith and while it's great for him there are a number of players at Kilmarnock who have helped him earn his award.

Heroes

For instance, James Fowler has played in every league game this season while Garry Hay has only missed one.

Every week they produce eight out of 10 performances and are outstanding, yet they don't get the same recognition.

Without the likes of Hay and Fowler Killie couldn't function and they deserve a mention because the pair of them are real unsung heroes and have been different class this season.

Kris Boyd made a massive contribution at Rugby Park before he signed for Rangers and when he left us I thought the intellectual level of the dressing room would go up a notch.

With all due respect to Big Boydy he is not the Brain of Britain but now Colin Nish has stepped into his shoes.

Before the Dundee United game two fans from the Kilmarnock Federation came to see him because he has been getting a little bit of stick from sections of the crowd recently and they wanted to explain.

After speaking to them Nishy assured us everything was okay and that there was nothing to worry about.

He said everything was fine and it's not as bad as he thought because it was just the majority of fans who were shouting at him.

I said don't you mean minority and he replied: "Oh yes, that's the word I was looking for!"

There's one in every dressing room.

Taken from the Daily Record