The good news for John Collins, and there is precious little of it should he choose to become manager at Craven Cottage, is that Fulham are out of the relegation zone.

But the fact that they scrambled a point against a team that's taken one point away from home all season starkly points to a deeper malaise; and not one that can quickly be arrested by whipping off your top and showing everybody your six-pack. The facts speak for themselves: Fulham have won two games all season, have taken just two points from their last 18 and look like a side destined for the championship because they are full of players of that quality.

There was still no inclination from anyone at Fulham as to whether Collins will be named as their next manager. Prior to kick-off an impressive bank of photographers gathered below the directors' box but no potential appointment appeared alongside Mohamed al Fayed. The former Scotland international was either smart enough not to appear at Craven Cottage before his seat at Easter Road had gone cold or had a certain foresight in that he knew that this game was going to be a dog's dinner.

Perhaps having been named as Hibs manager on Halloween Collins is looking to go one better by being named Fulham's saviour on Christmas Day.

Certainly Collins will need messianic properties to firstly master a transfer window where no-one lets their best players go and then garner the 25-plus points Fulham need between now and the end of the season.

If Collins does succeed Lawrie Sanchez and become the third Fulham manager in eight months then it will have been quite a coup on his part, and a very political one at that.

Scottish managers simply do not walk into Premier League jobs in England after 14 months. Walter Smith and Alex McLeish had to amass years of experience, and more than a few trophies, before any Premier League chairman would let them loose on their club, while a succession of managers from Billy Davies to Paul Sturrock, Craig Levein to Paul Lambert have had to start in England's lower echelons to have any hope of making it into the Premier League.

Fulham may have been where his playing career ended but he was smart enough to lay the seeds of a future and has kept himself connected well with the hierarchy here. In particular Al Fayed's advisors who have as much power in his ear as managing director and former Celtic marketing director David McNally.

Fulham are quickly doing their homework and at least one former Premier League manager has been ruled out because of the soundings of his old club.

There are meant to be concerns among some Craven Cottage board members as to Collins' man-management qualities, but whether al Fayed will consult with Hibs director Bruce Langham, who the Fulham chairman sacked as his chief executive in 2003, remains to be seen.

The way Collins left Hibs this week might get the Harrods boss short thrift although some filthy lucre might soften the blow.

The only certainty is that this is a job that needs an expert hand. Fulham are a club that has been in steady, and now rapid, decline in the last year. Twelve months ago there were in the eighth place but pivotal injuries first to Jimmy Bullard and then Antti Niemi, along with a terminal loss in form, did for Chris Coleman. But it's how the club was left under the stewardship of his successor Sanchez that will test Collins.

Sanchez filleted away most of Coleman's signings and attempted to build his own legacy. Some £20million was spent by the inexperienced manager in the summer and he bought a load of players from the championship, or players struggling to get a game at the lower end of the Premier League.

Four of them were players who served him so well at Northern Ireland, but there is a big difference between ordinary players raising their game on the international scene and doing the business week-in week-out in England's top flight. Many Premier League managers had a look at David Healy but no-one thought him better than a Championship player. Similarly Diomansy Kamara, an expensive £6 million signing, has scored just two goals.

Admittedly, Sanchez was unfortunate to lose Brian McBride earlier to injury, and whoever takes over should soon have the Fulham captain and Bullard back shortly after new year so perhaps not all is lost but their return cannot come quick enough on yesterday's evidence.

Fulham laboured against a side that has been in relegation zone since the beginning of November. As to be expected from any team that has lost its manager, there was an initial liveliness and American international Carlos Bocanegra had a couple of early chances before his countryman slapped a shot straight down the throat of Chris Kirkland.

But the closest thing to a goal in the first half came just before the half hour when Paul Konchesky thundered a 30-yard shot that shaved the top of the crossbar after 28 minutes. It was a full 42 minutes before there was another shot on goal but at least it did break the stalemate.

The much-maligned Titus Bramble rose tallest to nod on for sMarcus Bent, who superbly brought the ball down before smacking it right- footed past Niemi and sent the row of Santas in the Wigan end into unexpected delirium.

Sadly for them Christmas lasted just eight minutes, Chris Baird's deep cross from the right only being partially cleared and the ball falling to Kamara at the back of the box. Only he will know if his half volley that shanked off his shin was an appalling miss or an inspired pass. Either way, it fell kindly for Clint Dempsey to drill into an unguarded net at roughly the same time as Celtic were pulling level against his old side at Parkhead.

Welcome to the real jungle John.