Ex-Scotland International John Collins Reveals Why He Turned Down Offer to Be Leicester Assistant

Former Celtic midfielder John Collins has revealed why he turned down Claude Puel’s offer to become Leicester City’s assistant manager.

Collins, who played under Puel during his time at AS Monaco in the 90s, told beIN SPORTS: “I got a call from Claude a couple of days ago, offering me the assistant manager’s job and they made me an offer.

“I thought long and hard about it and obviously was delighted to get an offer to go back to the Premier League, but really if I am going to go back it will be as a head coach or director of football.”

Collins made 221 appearances for Celtic between 1990 and 1996, scoring 47 goals. He also had spells in the Premier League with Everton and Fulham, before retiring as a player in 2003.

His previous managerial experience includes being the first team manager at Hibernian for the 2006/07 season, and at Belgian club Charleroi in 2008/09 before taking up the Celtic assistant manager’s post in 2014 under Ronny Delia, leaving his post with Delia at the end of the 2015/16 season.

Collins continued: “There are the two roles I will be more suited to. I have been a number two or an assistant coach and enjoyed it, but I didn’t enjoy it as much as being a number one.”

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With three Premier League managers having already left their posts this season, it may not be long before Collins gets his wish.