When it came to Hibernian’s new £4.2 million training centre, John Collins was like an expectant father. He checked on it several times a week during its development. Usually, on his way home from Easter Road, Collins could not wait for the day when the East Mains Complex was finally given life.

Barely 24 hours after giving the media an invited tour of Hibernian’s new facility at Ormiston, outside Edinburgh, Collins turned up at East Mains for his first - and last – day there. He walked into the dressing-room that he had helped to design and told the Hibernian players that he was quitting.

Hibernian knew they were investing in the future when they agreed to fund this ambitious youth academy and training complex. However, in Collins’ eyes, they were gambling with the present to make the payments. The failure to give him a viable budget to replace the sequence of top players who have left the club in recent seasons, prompted Collins to resign as manager yesterday.

He was only in the job 14 months, but Collins earned almost £9 million in transfer sales. His outgoings, in terms of fees, came to just £360,000. East Mains was bought and paid for by the exodus of Hibernian talent, a sum of £11 million when the sales of Garry O’Connor and Derek Riordan, under Tony Mowray, Collins’ predecessor, are taken into account.

Collins wanted a bigger budget for new signings but that is a battle that neither he, nor Mowbray, could ever win with Rod Petrie. The Hibernian chairman is the man who has turned the club around, from the £14 million debt that came in the wake of Alex McLeish’s era, to the £7 million profit posted in September.

Collins’ frequent discussions with Petrie left the manager frustrated. Collins delivered a trophy, the CIS Insurance Cup, which was the club’s first silverware in 16 years and that commercial feelgood factor contributed to the £9.8 million record turnover. The former Scotland player had to watch his team raided for its best talent, and even though he filled some of the gaps by promoting teenagers from the Hibernian youth team, Collins was forced to assemble a patchwork quilt of free-agent recruits of varying quality.

“The offers that have come in for players probably could not be refused,” Collins said yesterday. “That is the reality of the situation but one thing it does is make my job harder. I love a challenge but I just came to the conclusion that I am a young, ambitious manager. I don’t really like treading water but that’s the job.”

Collins sold Scott Brown to Celtic for £4.5 million, Steven Whittaker to Rangers for £2 million, Ivan Sproule to Bristol City for £500,000, Kevin Thomson to Rangers for £2 million and Chris Killen joined Celtic as a free agent. Mowbray sold O’Connor to Lokomotiv Moscow for £1.7 million, Derek Riordan to Celtic for just £150,000 and watched Gary Caldwell join Celtic as a free agent. Next to go? Probably David Murphy, the fine left back who has interested Wigan Athletic, Sunderland and Celtic, for around £1 million.

A total of nine recruits came to Easter Road during the summer. Yves Makalambay, the goalkeeper, from Chelsea; Brian Kerr, a midfield player, from Motherwell, who has filled the vacancy left by Scott Brown; Clayton Donaldson, from York City; Filipe Morais, from Millwall; Alan O’Brien, from Newcastle United; Patrick Noubisse and Thierry Gatheussi, both free agents from France; Mickael Antoine-Curier, from Haugesund, Norway; and Torben Jonleit, a defender on loan from AS Monaco. “During my time as manager we have brought in over £8.8 million 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.”

Petrie will say that Hibernian can never afford to look into the financial abyss, as they did a few years ago after allowing their previous managers to send the wage bill out of control. However, it could be argued that perhaps he is too zealous in pursuing that policy at the exclusion of ambition to compete with Celtic and Rangers on the pitch. Collins’ team beat both halves of the Old Firm in September, to briefly lead the Clydesdale Bank Premier League, but you do not get 38 weeks of consistency from Mikael Antoine-Curier – which is why he was floating around the Norwegian second division - whereas the quality of Brown, Whittaker and Thomson was underlined by the queue of suitors.

The £7 million profit did not include the £2 million sale of Whittaker to Rangers in August. Hibernian still made an operating profit of £1.4 million which pleased Petrie. That vindicated his stance of keeping salaries in check at the club. Some of the profit went towards East Mains and, more crucially, brought the debt down from £6.8 million to just £2.8 million.

“The board needs to take a long-term view and ensure that the club lives within its means,” Petrie said at the time. “It is important that capital windfalls, such as transfer fees received for players, can be used to secure the long-term future of the club rather than subsidise unsustainable levels of expenditure.”

Despite a 10 per cent increase in the amount spent on wages, the important wages-to-turnover ratio actually fell from 42 per cent to 41 per cent thanks to the 13 per cent increase in turnover.

If Petrie has paid the price for sticking to his fiscal principles, the hidden cost of Collins’ exit can probably be traced to a day when the chairman was not quite as hardline as he should have been. The dressing-room unrest that emerged after the CIS Cup triumph saw a group of players petition Petrie for a meeting about Collins – the chairman was foolish enough to invite those players to his house to discuss their grievances about the manager, while he was away in France. The relationship between Petrie and Collins was never the same again. How could it be?

Wherever Collins goes next, Hibernian will prove a beneficial part of his learning curve. However, the club may find it as hard to replace his own youthful managerial talent, as Collins did in trying to cover the departures of Scott Brown & Co.

Money-go-round

Players out
Collins, and Mowbray before him, both brought in millions of pounds from selling their best players:

Steven Whittaker to Rangers, £2m
Ivan Sproule to Bristol City, £500,000
Scott Brown to Celtic, £4.5m
Kevin Thomson to Rangers, £2m
Chris Killen to Celtic, free agent
Garry O’Connor to Lokomotiv Moscow, £1.7m
Derek Riordan to Celtic, £150,000
Gary Caldwell to Celtic, free agent

Next to go?
David Murphy Wigan Athletic, Sunderland and Celtic all interested, £1m?

Players in
Collins spent £360, 000 on transfer fees and brought in nine this summer:

Yves Makalambay (Chelsea)
Brian Kerr (Motherwell)
Clayton Donaldson (York City)
Filipe Morais (Millwall)
Alan O’Brien (Newcastle United)
Patrick Noubisse (free agent from France)
Thierry Gatheussi (free agent from France)
Mickael Antoine-Curier (Haugesund, Norway)
Torben Jonleit (loan from AS Monaco)