Athletics: Unknown Psychologist New British Athletics Performance Director

British athletics is set to spring a major surprise today by naming a virtually unknown psychologist as its new performance director.

Dave Collins, who has worked with the javelin thrower Steve Backley in the past, will be unveiled at a press conference in central London.

Collins is not a coach and did not even apply for the job when it was advertised in May. But after a worldwide search and an interview process that rejected six candidates in October, it appears as though UK Athletics have finally plumped for someone who was already part of their set-up.

Collins has been involved for several years and worked with the teams that went to the two most recent Olympic Games, in Sydney and Athens.

"His appointment is a surprise but then Sven-Goran Eriksson's was a bit of a surprise [for English football] in 2001," said one insider. "He's done OK."

If the unheralded Collins is confirmed in the role, it will end a long search for UK Athletics. The six candidates rejected in October included Keith Connor, the national athletics coach of Australia, and Charles van Commenee.

Van Commenee coached Denise Lewis to the heptathlon gold in Sydney and Kelly Sotherton to a surprise bronze in the same event in Athens, but dropped out of the selection race to become the performance director with the Dutch Olympic Committee.

"The Dutch wanted me more and played the game to win," Van Commenee said at the time. "The Dutch told me, 'You are our best man, we want you', and they acted more swiftly. The UKA took too long."

That left Connor, a former British triple jumper, appearing to outsiders as a certainty to get the job before his rejection.

"They decided I wasn't the right person for the job and that's their decision," said Connor. "I love the sport, so I don't want to create a furore for UK Athletics.

"There may be issues that people want to raise about this process but I don't want to get involved in that."

Collins will replace Max Jones, the performance director since 1997, who is due to step down in March. Collins will have to make an immediate impression as the sport is at a crossroads. The fact that Kelly Holmes won two gold medals and the men's 4x100m relay team beat the Americans to the Olympic title in Athens has drastically skewed the public's perception of how successful the sport is at the moment.

"If he thinks this is a good sport to be involved in he's sadly mistaken," said one insider as the European Olympic Committees assembled in the Croatian port of Dubrovnik this weekend.

Collins will have to prove himself to established performers like Holmes, Paula Radcliffe, Jason Gardner and the rest of the relay squad who captured the imagination in Athens.

"It must look very easy to him at this moment but what is he going to say when he tells Paula Radcliffe what to do," said one insider. "I think she will tell him to go away."

Therefore, Collins must really make his mark before Christmas. There are plenty who will be watching what he does.