Dictator Collins is waiting, but will Fulham pass his fit and proper test?

Lots of it — with a hefty quota of sit-ups, press-ups and any other exercises he devises thrown in. Such is the emphasis on fitness that lodged in the psyche of the former Scotland and Fulham midfielder when he spent two years on the French Riviera as a player with Monaco.

When Hibs' new £4.2million training complex on the site of a former milk processing plant was unveiled earlier this week, the Collins imprint was unmistakeable — from the hydrotherapy facility to the mile-long running track into which resistance hills have been built.

There is also a clean area where no boots are to be worn, with different grades of plushness in the firstteam and under 19 team locker rooms.

If he is not an innovator, Collins has certainly gleaned ideas from a three-year tour of coaching duty after his playing days ended — a tour that took in visits to some of Europe's most forward-thinking clubs. Barcelona and his old club Monaco were just two.

The football he took to Hibs and which helped win the Edinburgh club the CIS Cup in March is, not surprisingly, as cultured as the man who demands it. Demanding it, however, has been tricky.

Therein lies the surprising rub. His man-management skills are a work in progress. For a smooth communicator, Collins managed to upset a surprisingly high number of players at Easter Road with his autocratic manner and his heavy emphasis on fitness.

Revealing his rippling 39-year-old torso and six-pack to players in the dressing room and challenging — and beating — star players in press-up contests were aimed at motivating them. It had the opposite effect, distancing him and earning him a reputation for arrogance. So much so that, in March, Hibs captain Rob Jones led a delegation of senior players to the home of club chairman Rod Petrie to hand over a dossier of complaints about Collins' management techniques. The former Scotland midfielder rode out that crisis. The quality of the passing football he instilled in his team earned him that right and consideration for the Scotland vacancy so early in his managerial career. At times, though, his dogma — that the ball has to be played out from the back every time — has been exposed for its lack of tactical variety. Achieving the correct balance midway through a season with a Fulham side who have slid into relegation trouble is a possible challenge that could prove to be a tricky task for a man, who, while a deep-thinker, is still learning his new craft.

Time is of the essence, yet Sanchez is proof that Premier League time waits for no man. Having built a reputation with Northern Ireland and Wycombe for drawing the best out of the comparatively limited players, Sanchez really seemed a perfect fit for a club with, well, comparatively limited players.

The miracle man could not deliver, however. At least not as quickly as Fulham chairman Mohamed Al Fayed wanted. True, he steered the club to safety in the Spring — albeit by a single point — but not everyone at Craven Cottage was convinced.

His decision to sign half of the Northern Ireland side over the summer — a bold move — clearly defined a strategy for a high-tempo, high-energy direct pressing game.

What might account for a misfiring England, Spain and Sweden against a backdrop of Belfast passion cannot so easily be transferred on a weekly basis to Craven Cottage, especially when a shocking inability to hold on to a lead undermines the points tally.

Fulham took the lead in eight of their first 14 Barclays Premier League games this season. They won just one.

Then there is the David Healy enigma. How ironic that it was the Northern Ireland striker whose goals painted the Sanchez c.v. in such a flattering light that Fulham employed him in the first place.

Healy, bought by Sanchez from Leeds for £1.5m in July, has been unable to help at club level, however, as three goals in 17 Premier League matches will testify.

Sanchez thus becomes the seventh Premier League manager to lose his job this season.

And what is to blame for squeezing the trigger finger of the chairman more forcibly than ever before is surely the terrifying £50m gap that now exists between next season's share of the television revenue and the parachute payment on offer to those who fall through the trapdoor to the Championship.

Something which made it even easier for Al Fayed was the fact that Sanchez was on a rolling 12-month contract.

His £750,000 salary may have been hefty, but the pay-off involved in severing it was a pittance compared to the riches on offer for staggering out of the bottom three.

League Managers' Association vice-chairman Frank Clark yesterday issued a plea for commonsense. He said: "We think that clubs are getting over-hasty.

"Short-termism never works. What chairmen might see in the short term is a couple of wins. It's the pot of gold that they worry about losing. But long term, changing your manager too frequently doesn't work."

Unfortunately, the pot of gold is winning the argument. As talented and as promising a manager as John Collins has been in Scotland, the Premier League is a scary environment in which to hone your craft should he receive that call from Al Fayed.