Hibs new boy Owain Tudar Jones insists newly-formed SPFL needs a strong and competitive Hearts side

Anthony Haggerty

29 Jun 2013 00:01

THE Easter Road midfielder says he is thankful his new club are not suffering a similar fate to crisis stricken Hearts.
New recruit Owain Tudur Jones can't wait to get his teeth into an Edinburgh Derby New recruit Owain Tudur Jones can't wait to get his teeth into an Edinburgh Derby

HIBS new boy Owain Tudur Jones can’t contemplate Scottish football without a vibrant Hearts side.

And he has total sympathy for the situation the Edinburgh club find themselves in.

The six-times capped Wales internationalist insists the newly-formed SPFL need a strong and competitive Hearts team in the league.

The former Inverness Caley Thistle player – who was officially unveiled at Easter Road yesterday – is thankful Hibs are not suffering a similar fate.

Midfielder Jones said: “It is sad to see what has happened at Hearts.

“Players are players and it is a job for them at the end of the day and those boys have to go home to their families with either a cut wage or in some cases no wage at all.

“It is one of those cases in football when you say to yourself, ‘I’m glad that’s not me, that
I’m not in that position’ but I certainly have a lot of sympathy towards them.

“I am sure there will be one or two Hibs fans delighted with Hearts’ apparent demise but for the sake of the league and Scottish football we need the derbies.

“When the fixtures came out I saw the Edinburgh derby was the second game on the card so we don’t have to wait too long for it.

“I’m sure there will be a bit of extra bite in that one especially with the goings-on behind the scenes at Hearts at the moment.

“Hibs need to be playing against a competitive Hearts as those are the games everyone wants to play in and the fans want to see.

“The SPL is weaker for Rangers leaving but as we saw last season every team now believes they can finish second in the table to Celtic.”

The 28-year-old hopes to make his competitive debut for Hibs in the Europa League qualifying tie on July 18 against either Irish side Drogheda or Malmo from Sweden.

It wouldn’t be his first experience of European football – and he has also taken part in some tasty derby matches before.

Jones said: “I have experienced the Highland derby and in Wales took part in a Swansea v Cardiff game.

“Inverness had a good record against Ross County and we were unbeaten until the last day of the season when we lost the chance to get into Europe but I missed that match.

“And the Swansea v Cardiff match I played in finished 2-2, so my derby experiences are not bad at all.

“I was also involved in the UEFA Cup and Intertoto Cup with Bangor. It was a great experience and a taste of football at a higher level.

“The first team we played was in the old Yugoslavia – Sartid Smederevo – and then we faced Gloria 1922 Bistrita from Romania and we also went to Latvia.

“When you play a team from another country it’s great, something really different to what you are used to.

“We played our home legs first and were always in the tie for the second leg, we thought we had done really well.

“What you don’t realise is a lot of European teams tend to send their reserve sides to Wales because they don’t want star players to get injured. Then they bring in the big boys for their home leg.

“I look back and I’m glad of the experiences. Hopefully they will help me now I’m with Hibs. I can’t wait to get started.”

Taken from the Daily Record