John Collins has spent much of the weekend touting himself for the Director of Football job; I am sure that there’s at least one person inside the club who thinks this would be an idea worth considering.
He would be cheap and easy to control.
But Collins, tonight, has made it clear why such a job is miles too big for him by revealing a pig-ignorance and an arrogance which is totally unbecoming of someone who sees himself as being able to play such a high profile role.
When talking earlier, on Radio Scotland, about the colt’s team proposal which is going through the process with the clubs right now he made the quite unbelievable assertion that the lower league clubs should have this forced on them without them having a say in the matter.
During a debate with Donald Findlay, the chairman of Cowdenbeath, which was listened to with incredulity by the Stenhousemuir chairman, Collins actually suggested that Germany and Spain only win top tournaments because they allow colt teams in their leagues. When this idiotic claim was shot-down he went on the offensive against the lower league clubs.
“I know how hard these people work,” Collins said, in response to Findlay’s point that the lower league sides are made up of people who give back a lot to the game. “But they are not involved in elite player development, they are involved in community development. I think the vote should be taken away. The most important thing should be developing our elite players and finding a system that does that.”
As I’ve said on this blog already, I don’t believe for one minute that playing against car mechanics and factory workers every week stands the slightest chance of producing the kind of footballers that Scotland needs to see a major improvement; it’s a preposterous suggestion and I don’t support the idea one bit except in that right now there is no system.
But Collins’ contention that the clubs who make up the leagues in which these teams would be playing ought not to have any say in this is one of the most scandalous statements I’ve heard on this matter, or indeed in any matter for a long time.
It is the kind of blind arrogance we can do without, and he’s done the cause no good whatsoever with such stupid and colossally crass remarks.
The two men he made those comments to do have votes in this, and this was not a way to win hearts and minds.
Can you even imagine Celtic giving this guy a gig on the back of judgement like that?
A man who so gratuitously insults club chairman, who have the fate of this whole scheme in their hands?
What kind of person does something so absolutely counter-productive?
This is precisely why a lot of clubs don’t want to see this happen; it’s bad enough that it carries the reek of Old Firm Inc. on it, bad enough that it looks like something that benefits only two teams and turns the rest of the game upside down … but Collins doesn’t even attempt to argue against either of these points, and nor does he show the least bit of respect.
[snack-countdown title=”Celtic’s Countdown To Champions League Disaster” date=”06/20/2021″ time=”00:00:00″ colour=”#000″ textColour=”#FFF”]
These proposals are going to be buried.
They ought to be buried.
But where we go from here once they are, I do not know, but I’m glad that John Collins will play no part in deciding that, either at Celtic or anywhere else.