FIRST, it might be best to suggest that any Hibernian fan who has meandered on to this column had better stop at this point. The next bits will not be much fun.

None the less, those were exciting pictures of Hearts parading through the elegant streets of the capital on Sunday with the Tennents Scottish Cup, were they not?

Arsenal's double scorers enjoyed a similar celebration in North London following their FA Cup triumph over Newcastle. It is the way of things that the open-topped procession completes the glorious weekend of the cup winners. Except in Glasgow, that is.

It has to be a dreadful commentary on the Old Firm and their supporters, or some of them at least, that when they win the cup there is no police permission for the open-top parade that is an integral part of the celebrations of this grand finale of the season.

Fortunately for the snappers, the last two Scottish Cups have been won by teams from out with the city, Kilmarnock preceding Hearts.

It is sad that the players of the two Glasgow teams cannot enjoy the same privilege as their colleagues from other parts of the country, but it would be a brave man who would criticise the chief constable who refused to recommend permission for the march around Glasgow when either Celtic or Rangers take the trophy.

It says a great deal about the bad feeling that still exists in both camps, despite there being a large number of perfectly decent fans on either side who would never contemplate gate crashing the other lot's celebrations.

The Hearts parade reminds us that there is a long way to go before the Old Firm can be allowed to enjoy the just deserts of success in the cup competitions.

The efforts of Fergus McCann in his Bhoys Against Bigotry campaign and David Murray in his less-publicised attempts to remove the curse of blind pseudo-religious prejudice are important, perhaps for a generation or two yet to come, but it would be rewarding to think that, some day, the simple, joyous victory parade, which is the right of supporters all over the world, would one day be given to the decent fans of Celtic and Rangers.

It is not going to be easy, how-ever. When we see pictures like the one of duped film star Robert Duval standing outside Celtic Park holding aloft a scarf with the legend, Keep Ulster Protestant, emblazoned upon it, then we have to accept there is a lot of hard graft to be done.

Duval wants to learn more about football as he intends to make a film about a fictitious Scottish manager. He might have been well advised to have begun his research before going to Parkhead.

However, we should not overdo the criticism of one of America's finest actors simply because he did not fully understand the bigoted aspects of football in this country. Some of us have lived all our lives here, and we still do not get it.

qWe all get carried away occasionally, even say things that, in retrospect, are hyperbolic, but our own Gordon Strachan, who was one of the finest players this country has produced (and there is no hyperbole involved there), did overdo it a bit when he was one of the Sky pundits at the FA Cup final at Wembley on Saturday.

Talking at the end about how superior Arsenal were to Newcastle United, Strachan cited the Arsenal defence, which, to be fair, did look sound and strong and confident. ''They are the best back four in the world,'' declared our man, who is now Coventry City manager.

qTHE virtuosity of Pele when he was the best player in the world is unarguable, but the remarkable thing about the great man is that a couple of generations beyond his own time, he still is regarded with much the same awe.

In the Mastercard European football team of the century, chosen by 130 journalists throughout Europe, all the predictable names are there, like Beckenbauer, Cruyff et al, but the man who polled most votes for any one position, striker, was the Brazilian who, incredibly, got 97% of the support for that role.

The only player who got anywhere near that percentage was Diego Maradona, for all his troubles. The Argentinian won 90% of the vote for midfielders, while the only man in defence who competed with them was Franz Beckenbauer, with 85%.