FOR a product of rural Galashiels, John Collins always seemed strangely at home among the jet setters and high rollers of Monte Carlo.

Seventeen years have now passed since he helped scheme AS Monaco beyond a Manchester United midfield boasting the likes of David Beckham and Paul Scholes to reach a Champions League semi-final against Juventus. With a thrusting young buck called Thierry Henry in their ranks, they then ran a Juventus side including Zinedine Zidane, Didier Deschamps and Alessandro del Piero close in the last four, although it was Real Madrid who emerged strongest of all.

As it turns out, the Celtic assistant manager was back at his old stomping ground of the Stade Louis II stadium as recently as last week, feeling equally at home on one of the frequent visits he makes back to the tiny principality. While the links he has to the place are fading fast - only an old assistant coach now has a scouting role, while a former team-mate heads up the club's academy - in a way the timing was perfect. Fresh from taking the scalp of Arsenal in the last 16, Monaco face Juventus again this midweek in the first leg of a Champions League quarter final.

"That was my semi final," said Collins. "They [Juventus] got lucky! I don't know if I reminisce about it too much but they are good memories. When it comes to semi finals and quarter finals you always look back a little bit. It is hard for Monaco, they are just a small club in Champions League terms. But they have punched above their weight over the years, getting to semi finals and quarter finals.

"I was there last week," he added. "We had a couple of days off so I went over there and watched them training. I always keep an eye on my old clubs and I go back there regularly. I always enjoy popping up at training."

With Paris St Germain going up against Barcelona in another last eight encounter, hopes are high for the first French success story in Europe's glamour club competition since Monaco themselves reached the final of this competition in 2004. If it were to occur, it would the exception which proves the rule. To date, Marseille's somewhat devalued victory under Bernard Tapie in 1993 is the only French winner of this competition.

Exactly why that should be is a story of promising players leaving the country at a young age, and a rather egalitarian sharing around of the Ligue 1 title. But all that was before the big spending regimes in Paris and Monaco bought in. While Qatar Sports International have spent the last few seasons bankrolling all manner of big name signings in the French capital, Russian businessman Dmitry Rybolovlev has done likewise in Monaco, with a bit of help from Portuguese super agent Jorge Mendes, and a beneficial tax regime. While Financial Fair Play regulations have spoiled their party somewhat, they can still call on the likes of Dimitar Berbatov, Joao Moutinho and all-action midfielder Geoffrey Kondogbia. While Juventus are favourites, good news for Monaco is the absence of their star French midfielder Paul Pogba.

"In previous years all the best players have left French football," said Collins. "They didn't hang on to them into their fine, ripe years, the Zidanes and Deschamps. Thierry Henry and all these players leave France very young so other countries have the benefit of their mature players. That has changed now but in years gone by all their best players were at Barcelonas and Real Madrids. If they had kept all those great players then it might have been different.

"Juventus must be the favourites," he added. "Monaco are punching above their weight this season and they have had a lot of breaks in this season's Champions League. But they are good defensively and work hard and you never know."

Collins may have been diverted by the topic of French football, but his main focus remains the latest big week in Celtic's season. After a league clash with Kilmarnock in midweek as the Parkhead side close in on their fourth league title in a row, there is the small matter of a further meeting with yesterday's opponents Inverness Caledonian Thistle in the Scottish Cup semi-finals. His relationship with Ronny Deila has been the lynchpin of this success, a businesslike partnership between the Norwegian and the Scot which has stuck to its guns, regardless of the pressures it faced early in the season.

"It wasn't only Ronny who was suffering at the start when we were losing games and not playing as well as we should have," he said. "We were both suffering together. "I don't think there was ever a worry. Maybe we hoped it would happen really quickly. Maybe it took us a couple of months to get going. But the reality was one of slow progress, steady progress.

"We don't argue, sometimes we have disagreements," he added. "That's normal. We have a fantastic relationship, both from a football and coaching point of view and off the pitch we have laughs and jokes. We have a good time. But we're both professional, we know why we're here - to win things, to develop players and to make the team entertaining for our fans. That's what we're trying to achieve - to put out a team so the fans come every week and really want to be excited."

There are few obvious candidates to be the next Scot to operate at the same exalted level of Collins in 98, or Paul Lambert in 97, or Darren Fletcher with Manchester United in 2008, but the Celtic assistant manager for one isn't giving up hope. "Hopefully we've not seen the last of it," he said. "Things can change very quickly in football. The national team is getting better and, you never know, you might see us up there in a few years."