Rod Petrie comments on Collins' departure

[hibadelic]

Here are comments about John Collins decision to leave Hibernian Football Club from club chairman Rod Petrie. Make of them what you will...

"It was a complete surprise when he said he was resigning. There was considerable discussion among the board, with John there, on that not being the right thing and what could we do to avert John resigning? We asked him if he wanted to adjourn the meeting and come back later; if he wanted to ask for this and we could say that was available. What was the gap? What do you want, where do you want to spend it? Let's do the exercise, let's work it all out and make a rational decision. You want to resign on the basis there are no resources, so let's see what they are.

Continued Below...

"But that just didn't happen. Strenuous efforts were made, particularly by me, to change his mind and work with us so that he could continue in post. That was what we all wanted. I had a meeting with him of considerable length. We had a discussion during the board meeting when he indicated he wanted to resign. There was further discussion and then we had an adjournment. There were one-on-one discussions with him to try and persuade him to reconsider. Everyone knows this is a first-class football club. We're in great shape on and off the field. Everyone here wanted to work with John and for him to continue his career in management to bring more success here. Unfortunately, that wasn't to be.

"John never quantified what he was looking for. He was invited to sit down with us after we'd adjourned the meeting and have a chat in a smaller group. We asked him to go through precisely what it was he wanted. Then we could say whether it was affordable or within the resources available to us. Should we be working to change the approach we had? But he didn't take that opportunity.

"As a club, we want to try and continue on the playing side as well as developing the infrastructure. We've had discussions about targets and players coming in. We knew we didn't have to sell anyone, so there was flexibility in identifying targets who could fit in with our resources. We have to live within a budget. That budget is as competitive as any club in Scotland outwith Rangers, Celtic and Hearts, who are paying substantially more than anyone else at the moment. Money is available and there are targets we wanted to bring in.

"There was a discussion at the board meeting about resources and we invited John to identify just exactly what it was he wanted. There was no-one at that meeting who didn't support John as the man to take the club forward. John has a lovely family to whom he's devoted. Sad and disappointing as it is, we have to respect his decision. None of us were aware of the timing of this until the meeting this morning. That was the first any of us knew about this. Out of that tumultuous morning, this was a big disappointment. The timing was not good for the football club. There are important games coming up and we have to get on with it and make the best of it.

"John has been a pleasure to work with and is a thoroughly professional man. He conducts himself in a very dignified and professional manner and goes about his business in the right way. We had an entirely positive working relationship. There was complete disclosure about what the club was about both in terms of budgets and incentives. In just over a year, we've delivered a £5million training centre which is the envy of many."

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Article by Hibadelic
on 21 December 2007