JOHN COLLINS, the Celtic assistant manager, has ruled himself out of the running for the vacant Scottish FA performance director post.
The 46-year-old from Galashiels, who spent some time at the association working under Mark Wotte as a youth coach, was named recently by the outgoing Dutchman as his potential successor, but Collins confirmed last night that he had no interest in the position. "It's nice of Mark Wotte to say that but I'm the Celtic assistant manager," said Collins. "I'm very, very happy here and it wouldn't interest me at this stage."
The SFA board, which lost the services of the controversial Wotte, Under-21 coach Billy Stark and chief scout Mick Oliver in a mini-purge of the performance department a month ago, will sit down shortly to thrash out precisely where that arm of the association goes from here.
Some have suggested that the next performance director must be Scottish, others that the role should be disbanded and its responsibilities shared out. Collins doesn't care where the next incumbent comes from as long as he is a heavyweight football person and not a mere administrator.
"I don't think nationality matters at all, it's about whoever is best for the job," said Collins. "It's about quality, not nationality. But it is an important role, a very important role. You need to have someone overseeing it and pushing things on. It keeps everyone on their toes if they know they are being assessed. When someone knows they aren't being assessed then they can get complacent.
"There's no-one that springs to mind for me right now, but I'm sure they'll be scouring the country and Europe. It has to be a football person, 100 per cent, without a doubt."
Collins, who won 58 caps for Scotland, scoring 12 times, is a big admirer of the SFA's performance schools scheme, one of the main pillars of Wotte's tenure.
"I think the performance schools were a terrific idea, getting the best against the best on the training pitch every day from a young age," he said. "That's the way forward. It's important the kids get the right coaching for the next four years and they're pushed. It's all about tempo, doing the right things, keeping the ball under control, left foot, right foot. They've got a chance of developing into top-level players then."
Celtic's No.2 was speaking as the club prepared for tomorrow's Europa League eliminator against Red Bull Salzburg. They need a solitary point - or for Dinamo Zagreb to slip up against Astra Giurgiu - to progress to the last 32 of the competition and Collins is hopeful that Jason Denayer, Celtic's powerful on-loan central defender, will be able to play, despite the ankle injury he sustained against Dundee on Saturday.
"Fingers crossed he'll be okay," said Collins. "It was a sore one for him to go off but it looks like he'll be fine."
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