Speculation was rife yesterday before the Lincoln City match that he had quit on Friday night along with his assistant John Cunningham before being talked out of it by his friend and potential new owner John Courtenay. The club's official website says Collins may have tried to resign but then changed his mind. Collins is known to be upset about the continuing delays in the takeover process. Courtenay had hoped by now to have taken over from Michael Knighton and to have cleared an outstanding PFA loan, but Knighton's lawyers are still seemingly unhappy with aspects of the deal. Courtenay has told supporters not to panic and says he is still confident the club will be his. Collins has already stated his intention to quit if the deal falls through and Carlisle are safe from relegation. United look highly unlikely to go down after pulling 12 points clear of bottom side Halifax Town with 3 games in hand. They are currently 19th in the table after losing 3-1 at Sincil Bank. The off-field unrest may have affected United's players yesterday who slumped to their first away defeat since December 23 at Rushden. Full-back Mark Birch told Radio Cumbria's Derek Lacey in an after-match interview that he didn't believe their performance had been affected by the rumours but Carlisle's overall concentration seemed to be lacking as the home side won with three goals that were partly due to hesitant defending. Some 424 United fans were amongst the attendance of 2,751 and many considered going straight home when they heard the news outside the ground. In the event, Collins denied he had quit and took charge of the side but refused to talk to the media after the game. Mr Courtenay attended the game but also refused to chat to reporters following the final whistle. It seems Mr Knighton has ordered Collins and Courtenay to refrain from commenting on the progress of the takeover to the press. Most of the media coverage over the last two weeks has come directly from the two men with Mr Knighton refusing to answer newspaper reporters questions. Picture from News & Star |
