Hibernian’s manager John Collins has handed in his resignation, claiming he could not take the club any further without financial backing from his board.
Collins was appointed on October 31 last year and led Hibs to their CIS Insurance Cup success in March. He has seen a number of players sold during his spell in charge, including Scott Brown, Kevin Thomson, Steven Whittaker and Chris Killen.
“I feel that I leave with the CIS Cup in the trophy cabinet, a fine set of young players, a great new training ground,” read a statement from Collins.
“During my time as manager we have brought in over £8.8m and paid out £360,000 in compensation [on new players]. My reasons for resigning are that I feel I have taken the club under the current resources available as far as I can.
“I would like to take this opportunity to wish Hibernian FC, the players, staff and backroom staff, [assistant manager] Tommy Craig in particular, for their support during my time as manager. As a former player of Hibs it has been a great honour for me to be manager during this period when we won the CIS Cup, Hibs’ first trophy for 16 years and have developed so many excellent young players.”
Collins has been linked with the Scotland job which became vacant when Alex McLeish quit to join Birmingham last month. However a Scottish Football Association spokesman today insisted his resignation was entirely unrelated to the national team post.
