COLLINS SPEAKS THE TRUTH, ADMITS NEILSON
HEARTS boss Robbie Neilson yesterday entered the war of words surrounding John Collins’ weekend comments by insisting the Celtic No2 may have been disrespectful to Scottish football but was right in his assessment of the domestic game. Collins has found himself at the centre of a storm after describing Scottish clubs as not being ‘clever enough’ or ‘quick enough thinkers’ to damage Celtic in the same way as European opposition. Aberdeen’s Derek McInnes, Dundee United’s Jackie McNamara and Dundee’s Paul Hartley have already responded angrily to that assertion. However, Hearts counterpart Neilson took an alternative view and, while he believes Celtic’s finances give them an automatic advantage, he is adamant the gap can still be plugged by good coaching and hard work. ‘John is probably right, to be honest,’ said Neilson. ‘If you’ve got a budget of £20million and everyone else has £1m then it’s going to be difficult to compete. ‘There are players in the Premiership who probably don’t challenge Celtic but there are players who do. ‘Celtic bought three players from Dundee United and I’m pretty sure there are players in our team who will challenge them as well, but it’s getting that consistency. ‘It is a step up for them in the Champions League. It’s a step for any team from a smaller country and it is difficult to prepare for it. ‘It’s hard for us all to compete. When Celtic go into the Champions League and play against big teams in Germany, Spain or England then it’s hard for them to compete as well. ‘I understand what John is saying, that it’s difficult for them to prepare for Champions League games. But that’s the way Scottish football is. ‘The budgets are night and day because they get huge gates. ‘If the distribution of wealth was better then we would be able to compete more.’ Neilson believes the answer to the disparities in both finances and quality lie on the training ground. The 35-year-old added: ‘People have said it’s disrespectful to Scottish players and it is, in a way, because of the way it’s been said. ‘But it’s true and it’s up to us to coach our players to get them better and keep a hold of them to try to build a good team instead of selling for peanuts. ‘Our job is to compete and that’s what we’re trying to do but we need to try and do it different ways — by coaching players.’