Jim Douglas provides some Aberdeen perspective on the fall-out from John Collins’ disparaging remarks about the rest of Scottish football.
I must confess to quite liking John Collins. In an era when very few Scottish players made it abroad, he not only did well at Monaco, but seemed to wholeheartedly embrace the lifestyle. Gary Smith and Allan Johnston moved to Rennes at the same time in 1996. Though not as talented as Collins, Gary Smith and Allan Johnston had showed enough in Scotland to suggest they would do well at a mid-level French club, but both were back within 12 months. Collins learnt the language quickly, won a league title and helped his team reach the last four of the Champions League the following year.
He also displayed a poise and nerve not common for all Scottish players. For a nation then traumatised (and probably still now) by McAllister’s missed penalty at Euro ’96, the trouble-free converting of his versus Brazil in 1998 was manna from heaven, magnified by the fact it was the opening game.
Collins was also one of the few to emerge with credit in the aftermath of the suspension of Aleksandar Tonev. While Scott Brown was belittling the disciplinary process by claiming he “knew” that Tonev was innocent (case closed!), his assistant manager was much more responsible in his comments at the time. He also came over well in the evidence given at the hearings, having given Tonev the chance to come clean after the incident, rather than blindly backing his own player over such a serious allegation.
“they’re not clever enough players or quick enough thinkers…”
All the more disappointing then, to hear his recent comments about Scottish football players outside the Parkhead gates. To be clear, there are a thousand other ways that he could have expressed himself more elegantly without causing the fuss that he has. Using the term “they” was such a blunderbuss approach; it was almost guaranteed to cause offence. Some of the defenders of Collins’ words have focussed on Derek McInnes’ praise for Rijeka a fortnight earlier. Unwittingly, this is a self-defeating tactic as if Collins had followed this example and expressed himself more carefully, no fuss would have ensued. There is a world of difference between lauding a team you feel fortunate to have beaten, and criticising an entire bracket of players. Following on from this, the (many) defenders of Collins on social media have tried to conflate the statements of McInnes and Collins into having the same meaning. One wonders why any words are necessary when these chaps can instinctively know what the intention was.
Another possibility is that John Collins was being diplomatic and he thinks the standard is much worse even that he suggested! Probably not the case, but as legitimate as supposing his words were somehow given a sharper edge than he originally intended.
The abuse that Derek McInnes received online was pretty hefty, and the way he was lampooned might make you think he made 350 league appearances for RFC, rather than the measly 35 he made over five years. Meanwhile, two managers who have well over 300 appearances combined for Celtic, Paul Hartley and Jackie McNamara, largely supported McInnes’ annoyance, which rather torpedoes the “hurting hun” label attached to the Aberdeen manager.
David Farrell made the point that that it was hypocritical to criticise the comments when similar ones may be made in the dressing room before a game. I’m sure there are scores of comments made by coaches in dressing rooms that they never dream of repeating outside that environment. Picture the scene: Jamie Langfield’s St Mirren debut is marred when he punches the ball into his own net. When asked about it in the run up to the following game, does the opposing manager say:
a) “Well, Jamie might be a little disappointed with that, but I’m sure he’ll bounce back”
or
b) “Yeah, Jamie’s made a horrendous error there, absolutely disgraceful. We’ll be looking to exploit that from the first minute to the last”
Football coaches are no different from many other professions in having to choose their words carefully – I’m sure that life would be much more interesting if judges and teachers said what they really thought to their respective audiences, but reality means this would be a foolish path to follow.
Despite having common cause during the debate over Rangers’ admittance into the league in 2012, a serious rivalry of sorts has re-emerged between Celtic and the Dons. In many ways this is welcome, but some Dons supporters have formed a grievance over the way some Celtic fans reacted to the recent disputes. The Tonev case was a perfect example, a swarm of calls from Celtic fans for the evidence to be released after he was banned, then when the case was made clear, the evidence was pretty much ignored. Logan’s reaction on Twitter after Tonev was found guilty was not ideal, but he can be hardly be blamed after being the subject of abuse for several months. A number of Celtic-favouring bloggers chose to ignore the case completely, which I suppose is better than talking tripe about it. Celtic’s strength on the field has lead to them becoming the de facto establishment club in Scotland, but some of their followers may have to learn to accept the slings and arrow that come with such a position.