Derby day difference would betray players

THERE'S a stillness about John Collins which exudes almost a New Age sense of calm. A veteran of frenetic derby matches in Glasgow, Liverpool, London and France as well as Edinburgh, the fledgling manager of Hibs remembers the overwrought thread which ran through all those local rivalries and highlighted the need for players to show composure.

If he can help Hibs to rise above the furore surrounding tonight's quarter final of the CIS Insurance Cup against Hearts, then Collins will have done his job. "Time will tell how I get on as a manager," he reflected yesterday. "I would like to stay calm. But there will probably be moments when my heart beat rises."

In only his second game in charge of Hibs, Collins confronted his indifferent record as a player in the Edinburgh derby - just three wins in 24 games against Hearts - as a statistic with no bearing on tonight's events at Easter Road. He doesn't believe the past influences the future in football and spent some time explaining why consistency of preparation and performance should alleviate any need for his players to raise their games this evening.

Collins, in fact, went so far as to suggest that if he saw a player producing more in a derby match than he'd done in a bread and butter league game then his response would be not to praise the individual but to challenge his commitment. For Collins, like all true football men, meaningful virtuosity only emerges from a stable environment of hard work and steadfast application.

"The build-up to derby matches is the same wherever you go," observed the former Hibs, Celtic, Everton, Monaco and Fulham midfield player. "There's lots of media attention, lots of fans who want to speak to you in the street about the game. I was fortunate to play derbies in Edinburgh, Glasgow, Liverpool, London and the south of France, which wasn't quite the same. From a players' point of view, you've got to distance yourself from the build-up. It might sound strange, but you have to treat the preparation like any other game. That's what I'll be stressing to the players.

"If I can see a difference in their performance and their level of movement in the derby compared to Saturday then that will tell me they're not doing what they should be doing. It's tough, but top players produce no matter what game they play in. They rise to every occasion and play well against the small teams as well as in the big matches. I want my boys to show consistency."

As a player, Collins thrived under the guidance of Jean Tigana, once a mesmerising midfield partner for Michel Platini. If the manager can help young Scots of the calibre of Kevin Thomson and Scott Brown to improve as much as the Frenchman assisted him then his coaching skills will soon become evident.

Whatever satisfactions are to be had on the training ground, however, Collins found his first experience of the dug-out unsettling at the weekend. "It's much harder to stand on the touchline than it ever was playing," he said. "When you're on the park, you're in control. You can go and get the ball off the centre-half, go up the field and score a goal. As a manager, you can't do those things. On Saturday, it was a strange feeling, one that you really can't prepare for."

After a ten-year sojourn in France and England, Collins sees many differences in Scottish football today compared to his last season as a player at Celtic Park in 1996. Then, he recalled, Rangers signed the best players in Europe, men like Brian Laudrup and Paul Gascoigne, and they certainly don't have the financial clout to do that at Ibrox any longer. Hibs, he feels, are still a club which produces local young talent while Hearts, on the other hand, have undergone "a massive change - full of foreign players".

Collins senses a willingness on the part of his young charges to learn and improve. As for the players, defender David Murphy was pleased to report Collins has continued with many of the ideas which prevailed under Tony Mowbray's stewardship of the club while introducing one or two innovations of his own.

A consistent performer for Hibs at left-back, the Englishman feels as if every time he plays against Hearts they seem to have a different manager in the dug-out. "But I try not to pay too much attention to what happens on the other side of the city," Murphy insisted. "We concentrate on our own football club. There are new regimes here and at Tynecastle. It was disappointing for us not to get a victory in the last derby [a 2-2 draw last month] when it felt like we lost two points because of a couple of silly mistakes. Hopefully, we can put that right this time. Because there was no doubt over 90 minutes that we were the better side.

"There have been a number of occasions this season when we've been on top and all of a sudden our concentration levels have dropped, we've conceded a goal, and it's cost us points. That's been very frustrating. If we can produce greater consistency, then we'll be able to achieve something this season."

Nor has Murphy forgotten how it felt to be swept out of the Scottish Cup by Hearts at Hampden last season."Of course it would have been disappointing to lose a semi-final to any side by 4-0," he recalled. "But to lose by that margin to your rivals made for a particularly bad day." If revenge is a dish best served cold, expect Easter Road to be arctic tonight.
DERBY CUP TIE SHOULD BE A SELL-OUT

NEW Hibs manager John Collins' first Edinburgh derby in the dugout is heading towards a sell-out, despite tonight's CIS Cup clash being screened live.

Visitors Hearts have sold their entire 3,500 allocation for the quarter-final tie at Easter Road and Hibs supporters are expected to snap up the remaining 300 briefs prior to kick-off.

A Hibs spokesperson said: "We have a few hundred tickets left for the Famous Five stand and the West Stand but hopefully by kick off it will be a sell-out."

Taken from the Scotsman