Alan Stubbs says he feared there would have been crowd trouble if he 'd agreed to have his Hibs team form a guard of honour for Hearts in the Edinburgh derby . Hearts head coach Robbie Neilson and Jambos defender Alim Ozturk have both rounded on their city rivals for refusing a public display of acknowledgement for the Championship title winners at Easter Road . Rangers lined up to applaud Hearts on to the Ibrox pitch when the teams played just over a week ago , and Queen of the South and Alloa did the same . But Stubbs , who admitted that the police had n't been consulted , insisted that the threat of unrest – not a lack of respect – was responsible for the decision . Hibs boss Alan Stubbs feared unrest among fans if his side formed a guard of honour for city rivals Hearts . 'It 's been turned into a lack of respect , ' said the Hibs boss . 'Well , I rang Robbie the day after they won the league and congratulated them and said they had been the best team over the season and that it had been fully deserved . 'My players have come out in the press and said Hearts have been the best team . I think that 's respect . 'The reason why we decided against it is because there are two sets of rivals fans , it 's a derby , there 's going to be a lot of animosity . You are going to have one set of fans that will be jovial because they 've won the league , you 'll have one that are not going to be happy about that . 'The most important thing is the safety of the fans and that 's the main reason we 've done it . We do n't want to start the game on a bad foot , that 's the reason we 've done it . Not a lack of respect . It 's a respect for fans . It 's a decision we spoke about and we feel as if it 's the right decision for both sets of fans . 'We ca n't let this get out of control for the reasons we 've done it . We 've seen silly things happen over the years and we do n't want to get into that state because of a guard of honour . 'If I won the league and we were at Tynecastle , I would n't expect a guard of honour there . We do n't turn around and say because one team has done it every other team has to . I would n't expect it . 'Because you know it only takes on person . Before you know it , you 've got a situation on your hands that could have been prevented . We want the derby to be spoken about for the right reasons , not the wrong reasons – and it only takes one idiot . ' Agreeing that it would be unthinkable for either Old Firm team to offer their oldest rivals a guard of honour in a similar situation , Stubbs said : 'So why 's it any different here ? 'It 's a derby and it means a lot to both sets of fans . ' Hearts head coach Robbie Neilson feels that it is disrespectful not to acknowledge his team 's achievements . Hearts fans favourite Ozturk inferred that the decision not to have a guard of honour showed a lack of respect by Hibs , while boss Neilson claimed it could backfire on them on the pitch . 'It is up to them if they want to do it , ' said Ozturk . 'But other teams have shown respect to us - and if Hibs do n't want to do it , that says a lot about them . 'Teams like Rangers showed us a little bit of respect for a fantastic season and it 's a good feeling because you have worked really hard all season to win the league like this . 'That kind of respect you get is really nice but they [ Hibs ] are not going to do it , so that is it . Is that going to motivate me ? Yes . I have a lot of respect for the other teams . This gives us extra motivation to show them why we ' re champions . If you 're asking me , I would have no problem with doing that for Hibs . ' Neilson added : 'That 's Hibs ' prerogative . I think it will actually take some of the focus off our players , instead of coming out to a guard of honour and not concentrating on the game . 'It can also give the opposition team a bit of spirit and a bit of fight to say : 'We 've given you a guard of honour , now we are going to turn you over ! ' That can happen . ' I 've been in that situation where you are standing there clapping , and your first thought is to go out there and show them . Hopefully it will work in our favour that they do n't do it on Sunday . ' Hearts fans favourite Alim Ozturk ( right ) shares his boss ' view that Hibernian should pay tribute to them .
Hibernian will not form a guard of honour for Scottish cup winners Hearts during the Edinburgh derby . Boss Alan ##bs said it would cause resentment among the fans . assistant head coach and defender Aim Ozturk feel that Stubbs ' behaviour shows a lack of respect .