IT WILL be different next year. It is just one sentence plucked from a 17-minute interview with John Collins, but it is a collection of six words that have great meaning. Even if the No.2 will not be there to experience the change for himself.

To say the Parkhead first team coach is demob happy would not be a fair reflection of the mood and tone that came from the 48-year-old already well into his last week as part of Ronny Deila’s staff.

Yes, the departure of the Norwegian will also result in a break from the scrutiny and pressure Collins and his players have been under for the past two seasons, but it is a rest brought about by the fact that the high expectations of those around the club have not been met.

His departure, and that of his manager, was of course triggered by Deila’s own admission that sufficient progress had not been made.

But, as Collins reflected on his last two years, he hinted at a world in which the current staff are measured against the backdrop of unachievable expectation, founded upon the glory days of the past.

It is a notion that he acknowledges ‘Will be different next year’.

“I think there is more and more scrutiny as every year goes by,” said Collins.

“There is more scrutiny of the manager, more criticism, more destructive criticism rather than constructive. That is my opinion anyway. But we all knew when we came in that is what it was going to be like.

“There are huge demands. With Rangers not being there you don’t get any victory for any victories. That is the reality. It will be different next year.”

He added: “I'm a development coach. I like winning but I like developing players and teams. I never won a league title here and it was a tough six years because of that.

“A lot of Celtic supporters forget about those six years. We were behind our rivals when they were the biggest spenders in Britain. They'd half the England team. We were second-best and that was a seriously tough time.”

Collins, as he alludes to himself, was part of a Celtic collective that witnessed rivals Rangers attract some of the biggest names in British football to Glasgow in the pursuit of silverware.

It was a crusade that only came to an end two years after he left. Fittingly, exactly 18 years ago yesterday.

The former midfielder can still remember how it felt to be a part of Celtic during that era, even if he thinks some may have forgotten.

"[It was] miles tougher,” said Collins of that spell in the mid 90s. “Being in this city when Rangers are buying Paul Gascoigne, Brian Laudrup, Trevor Steven, Gary Stevens, Richard Gough, Terry Butcher, Mark Hateley - that was seriously tough, coming up against them.

“Knowing they were probably better than you in seven positions on the pitch. Massive squad as well. But it was a challenge as a player.

“And here are, we've been here two years, we've won two titles and it feels like the end of the world for a lot of people.

“Trust me, when I was a player, this club was in a much worse position, no stadium, no titles, a long way from where we are just now.

“We've got a magnificent stadium, five titles in a row and going for a sixth. But that's the world we live in.

“We'll maybe look back a few years from now when it's not five in a row, maybe when someone else has won, and think 'maybe it wasn't that bad'.”

Moving on to looking forward, Collins is relaxed about his own future as he, Deila and the club part ways.

For all the trials, tribulations and criticisms, the man who has stood in the Parkhead home dugout for two campaigns can still take a lot of pride over what has been achieved.

“Ronny has come out and said it’s time to go and he’s been honest,” he said. “We wanted more from ourselves and the coaching staff – we wanted more goals and better performances in Europe and the other big games.

“But we’ve tried our best and we’ve worked hard, that’s for sure. The results haven’t gone our way in the big games but that’s down to small details.”

And the future for Celtic and their new manager?

That depends on the route Celtic and their board decide to go down and, with Rangers now back in the Premiership and two seasons without the Champions League, if they decide to plough money into their squad.

Again, Collins points to the teachings of the past and stresses to supporters that we are now in vastly different times.

“Martin O’Neill was signing English Premier League players – Celtic will never be able to sign an English premier League player. They can’t compete on salaries. That’s a fact,” he said.

“It will stay that way unless the club breaks the wage structure by four or five times the current rate.

“We are shopping in different places.

“They [the new manager] will know what they're coming to. They won't need me to tell them about Celtic, how big the club is, how big the demands are, the expectations, the financial resources.

“The new manager will know but you never know the club might offer more.”

Things will be different next year, that’s for sure. The question is, just how much?