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Post by chuckblazer on Aug 11, 2015 10:45:38 GMT 1
I'm sure you've all the seen Collins' comments regarding every non-Celtic player in Scotland lacking the wit to score against them. That coupled with the fall-out from this and many of his ex-players stating that he is a complete tool left me wondering about his time at Livi; I can't recall any examples of his bell-endery shining through. Am I missing something or is there a glut of similar examples from his spell at Livi?
Mikey Stewart could hardly contain his resentment for Collins on Sportsound whilst the below are a couple of examples of the twitter reaction.
Tam McManus was having a dig yesterday:
@the_Tman10: There is not a more arrogant man in Scottish football than John Collins. Great player in his day but if was chocolate would eat himself.
@the_Tman10: If you didn't have a 6 pack or do 50 pull ups you didn't play ask Stephen Glass!! Glad punters now seeing what people within the game know.
Also Hibs ex youngster Jonathan Bailey :
@jbaillie22: @the_Tman10 Telling John Park to send the young lads in one by one to look at his body so they knew what they had to aspire to!
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Post by jonsnow on Aug 11, 2015 11:04:48 GMT 1
Did a good job bigging Scougall up anytime he was on sky before a European game, but I think him and Hughes were getting a percentage of any players Livi sold. Saw him up at Sainsbury's with the youth players supervising the bag packing to raise funds for them too.
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Post by orco on Aug 11, 2015 11:17:33 GMT 1
I remember him at a fans' forum when someone questioned him about the style of football that he and Hughes wanted Livi to play. He told us that we needed to educate ourselves about how the game should be played. Really!! Went off him right at that point. Went off both of them more as I watched the team play suicide football one day at Dunfermline where we were humped 4-0 due to daft kicking the ball along the back line until the opposition nipped in to take it every time.
Oh aye and I also remember the title he took on 'Director of Football' At Livi!!
He and his mate Hughes hung around until the fancy took them to move along.
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Post by Auldnick on Aug 11, 2015 22:49:11 GMT 1
Never liked him. Can't stand listening to him either. Biggest mistake in the Livi5 era was punting Bollan, 2nd biggest was bringing in the 2 Johnnies.
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Post by haggis on Aug 12, 2015 1:23:43 GMT 1
Collins successfully touted Donaldson and Scougall to clubs in England. He used his contacts to uncover Andreu and Tena, who both significantly improved the Livi team at the time. He used his own profile to promote Livingston in the media. He was committed to Livingston giving youth team players opportunities in the first team. He believed in possession-based and pressing football, the way it is played by successful teams, and was intent on implementing that at Livingston. His chosen replacement for Hughes - Gareth Evans - was doing a fine job and had created a team that may even have challenged for promotion had he not been sacked by the board. I thought Collins did a good job at Livi.
Regarding those tweets, McManus was the epitome of arrogance and unprofessionalism during his meagre career, and the former youth team player is a nonentity. As for Michael Stewart describing Collins as having a "narcissistic mentality" while Hibs manager , there is probably some truth to that. I'd say that most football managers can be callous and narcissistic. For example, the celebrated Jose Mourinho has just publicly villified his own team doctor for the supposed crime of doing her job and attending to an injured player.
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Post by orco on Aug 12, 2015 15:41:21 GMT 1
A fine defence which unfortunately does not bear scrutiny.
Donaldson and Scougall would always have found themselves in the transfer market due to the many scouts that visit all clubs.
If you watched when he was on TV the blurb at the bottom of the screen very rarely mentioned Livi. It was more likely to say ex Hibs ex Celtic ex Monaco or ex Scotland. He promoted Scougall for his own reasons - not Livi.
I do not recognise the possession based and pressing football you mention. Possession based indicates keeping the ball and as I said this too often failed in defensive areas leading to pressure on our goalkeeper. All teams are supposed to press the opposition are they not? In any case he was dealing with an average first division club not Real or Barcelona.
Livi have always given promising youth players a chance.
We will never know the reason for the Gareth Evans sacking. It seemed to me at the time to involve internal complicated reasons which were never fully aired.
I do agree that his contacts were useful in bringing in Andreu and Tena who did improve our team. I think we couldn’t afford to keep them though when their contracts expired.
Bringing in Collins and Hughes meant sacking a manager who had brought the team up two leagues in consecutive seasons which, looking at Rangers, Hibs and Dunfermline is not that simple. The team was also sitting in the top half of the league at the time. In addition it cost the club thousands in compensation for unfair dismissal. IMO their short tenure at the club did not justify any of that. It was an experiment that failed and we have been on a downward spiral ever since.
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Post by haggis on Aug 12, 2015 21:40:05 GMT 1
I don't think Collins had any say over the subtitle they gave him on TV. I read a few newspaper articles where he was interviewed and promoting Livingston. His own high media profile definitely generated more media interest in Livingston by association. Is it true that Collins received a percentage of the payment when a Livingston player was sold? I think I remember reading him state that was not true, but I could be wrong and it may have been the case. I didn't mean that the first team were playing football successfully - and I blame John Hughes for that - I meant that Collins was implementing his ideas of "ball retention and ball recovery" amongst the players in the youth teams. Regarding the Gary Bollan sacking - that was something I didn't at all support and I was upset when it happened. Is it really the case that Bollan was removed in order to make way for John Hughes? If so, then that makes the Bollan sacking even more disastrous as Hughes did a poor job at Livi. While sacking Bollan was very wrong, I'd argue that the downwards spiral (in terms of results) really began after the sacking of Gareth Evans. John Hughes was awful for us and I was delighted when he left for Hartlepool, but I still maintain that John Collins did a good job.
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Post by chuckblazer on Aug 12, 2015 21:54:40 GMT 1
Looks like hot relegation favourites Killie were quick enough and clever enough to punish Celtic tonight.
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Post by haggis on Aug 12, 2015 22:43:24 GMT 1
Yes, they certainly were, and that was a stupid and bizarre quote from Collins.
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