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Daniel Lewis Collins (born 6 August 1980) is a former professional
footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...
who played as a
centre back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...
. Collins started his career in the Welsh leagues with Mold Alexandra and Buckley Town before joining Chester City in 1996. His first two seasons at Chester saw him make 20 appearances; during the 2002–03 season he went on loan to non-league side
Vauxhall Motors Vauxhall Motors LimitedCompany No. 00135767. Incorporated 12 May 1914, name changed from Vauxhall Motors Limited to General Motors UK Limited on 16 April 2008, reverted to Vauxhall Motors Limited on 18 September 2017. () is a British car compa ...
. Following his return to Chester, Collins became a regular in the side and produced some fine performances which attracted the attention of
Sunderland Sunderland () is a port city in Tyne and Wear, England. It is the City of Sunderland's administrative centre and in the historic county of Durham. The city is from Newcastle-upon-Tyne and is on the River Wear's mouth to the North Sea. The ...
who bought him for £140,000. Collins spent five years in the North East making over 150 appearances and earning two promotions to the
Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English F ...
during that time. In August 2009 Collins joined Stoke City for £2.75 million and played at left back for the "Potters". After losing his place in the squad he joined Ipswich Town on loan in September 2011 and then
West Ham United West Ham United Football Club is an English professional football club that plays its home matches in Stratford, East London. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The club plays at the London Stadium, ha ...
in March 2012. He signed for
Nottingham Forest Nottingham Forest Football Club is an association football club based in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England. Nottingham Forest was founded in 1865 and have been playing their home games at the City Ground, on the banks of the River Tren ...
in July 2012 before having a short stint with
Rotherham United Rotherham United Football Club, nicknamed The Millers, is a professional football club based in Rotherham, South Yorkshire, England, which compete in the . The club's colours were initially yellow and black, but changed to red and white around 1 ...
from 2015 to 2016. His final club were Grimsby Town where he spent three seasons and became club captain rounding of his spell with the club by making 106 league appearances. He announced his retirement in December 2019 having been released by Grimsby the previous summer. He has also been capped for England C on six occasions before being called up to the Welsh national side. Collins now works for Sunderland A.F.C as a matchday commentator and club podcaster, alongside Frankie Francis, after relocating back to the north east with his family after retiring from playing.


Club career


Early career

He began his career in the Cymru Alliance with local sides Mold Alexandra and Buckley Town. After having trials with
Wrexham Wrexham ( ; cy, Wrecsam; ) is a city and the administrative centre of Wrexham County Borough in Wales. It is located between the Welsh mountains and the lower Dee Valley, near the border with Cheshire in England. Historically in the county ...
and
Tranmere Rovers Tranmere Rovers Football Club is a professional association football club based in Birkenhead, Merseyside, England. The team compete in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1884 as Belmont Football Club, they ado ...
, he signed for Chester City in December 2001, who were playing in the
Conference A conference is a meeting of two or more experts to discuss and exchange opinions or new information about a particular topic. Conferences can be used as a form of group decision-making, although discussion, not always decisions, are the main ...
. Before turning professional, Collins played cricket for Wales Minor Counties during the football close season. In the 1999 season, he played two matches, taking two wickets at an average of 37.50 and scoring 14 runs at an average of 7.00.


Chester City

Collins made his debut for Chester in a 3–1 defeat against Northwich Victoria on boxing day 2001. In just under three years he made over 70 appearances for Chester. It was after a successful spell on loan at
Vauxhall Motors Vauxhall Motors LimitedCompany No. 00135767. Incorporated 12 May 1914, name changed from Vauxhall Motors Limited to General Motors UK Limited on 16 April 2008, reverted to Vauxhall Motors Limited on 18 September 2017. () is a British car compa ...
that his career started to take off, having been converted from an unconvincing forward into a composed central defender. His time at Vauxhalls included helping them surprisingly knock
Queens Park Rangers Queens Park Rangers Football Club, commonly abbreviated to QPR, is a professional football club based in Shepherd's Bush, West London, England, which compete in the . After a nomadic early existence, they have played home matches at Loftus Roa ...
out of the
FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competit ...
in November 2002. The following season saw Collins miss just one game as Chester won the
Football Conference The National League (named Vanarama National League for sponsorship reasons) is an association football league in Football in England, England consisting of three divisions, the National League (division), National League, National League Nor ...
title and returned to
the Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in the world. It was the top-level football league in Engla ...
after a four-year absence. Although Chester had a mixed start to the 2004–05 season, Collins continued to impress and a stoppage time goal against Macclesfield Town gave Chester their first win of the season on 4 September 2004.


Sunderland

A month later he joined
Sunderland Sunderland () is a port city in Tyne and Wear, England. It is the City of Sunderland's administrative centre and in the historic county of Durham. The city is from Newcastle-upon-Tyne and is on the River Wear's mouth to the North Sea. The ...
for £140,000 amid interest from other clubs including
Sheffield United Sheffield United Football Club is a professional football club in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, which compete in the . They are nicknamed "the Blades" due to Sheffield's history of cutlery production. The team have played home games at ...
whose manager
Neil Warnock Neil Warnock (born 1 December 1948) is an English former football manager and player. He is also a television and radio pundit. In a managerial career spanning five decades, Warnock has managed sixteen different clubs from the Premier League to ...
hit out at the way Chester handled his transfer to Sunderland. He ended the 2004–05 season with another championship medal and full Welsh caps to his name, he was initially used as a backup player to defenders Gary Breen, Steven Caldwell and
George McCartney George McCartney (born 29 April 1981) is a Northern Irish former footballer who is currently a coach at Linfield. He began his career at Sunderland in 1998 before having two spells each with West Ham United and Leeds United. He won the 2004–0 ...
, in his first season at the club, but still managed to make 14 appearances. Following promotion to the
Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English F ...
for the 2005–06 season, Sunderland signed several additional players and Collins found himself out of the first team squad early in the season. He later worked his way into the side but Sunderland endured a nightmare campaign and were comfortably relegated amassing just 15 points. Collins started the 2006–07 season as first choice defender at Sunderland, but was dropped four games into the season after being booed by a section of the crowd following a mistake in the previous game against
Plymouth Argyle Plymouth Argyle Football Club is a professional football club based in the city of Plymouth, Devon, England. As of the 2021–22 season, the team are competing in League One, the third tier of English football. They have played at Home Park, ...
. Collins later regained his place following the arrival of manager
Roy Keane Roy Maurice Keane (born 10 August 1971) is an Irish association football, football pundit, Coach (sport), coach and former professional player. He is the joint most successful Irish footballer of all time, having won 19 major trophies in his c ...
and won another championship medal come the end of the season. On 15 December Collins scored a late last minute goal against
Aston Villa Aston Villa Football Club is a professional football club based in Aston, Birmingham, England. The club competes in the , the top tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1874, they have played at their home ground, Villa Par ...
which would have led to the Black Cats victory but referee Steve Bennett denied the goal for a foul on Scott Carson, the foul was not apparent and the goal should have stood. Manager Roy Keane was very angry at the decision and said that Bennett had cheated Sunderland and went as far as to say ''"the players deserve better."'' On 5 April 2008, Collins scored Sunderland's first goal in their 3–1 over
Fulham Fulham () is an area of the London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham in West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It lies on the north bank of the River Thames, bordering Hammersmith, Kensington and Chelsea. The area faces Wandswor ...
at
Craven Cottage Craven Cottage is a football ground in Fulham, West London, England, which has been the home of Fulham F.C. since 1896.According to the club'official website The ground's capacity is 22,384; the record attendance is 49,335, for a game against M ...
despite again having a goal disallowed earlier in the game. He went on to firmly establish himself as a first team regular at Sunderland, starting 32 games in the 2007–08 season. On 30 January 2009, Collins was rewarded with a new two-and-a-half-year contract by Sunderland, keeping him at the club until at least the end of the 2010–11 season. He won the Fans' Player of the Year award in 2008 and 2009.


Stoke City

On 29 August it was reported that Sunderland had accepted a bid from Stoke City for Collins (despite this, he was an unused substitute when the two sides played each other the next day) As expected, he signed for Stoke on 1 September for £2.75 million rising to £3.5 million. Collins made his Stoke debut in a 2–1 defeat at home to
Chelsea Chelsea or Chelsey may refer to: Places Australia * Chelsea, Victoria Canada * Chelsea, Nova Scotia * Chelsea, Quebec United Kingdom * Chelsea, London, an area of London, bounded to the south by the River Thames ** Chelsea (UK Parliament con ...
in the following match against
Bolton Wanderers Bolton Wanderers Football Club () is a professional football club based in Horwich, Bolton, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in . The club played at Burnden Park for 102 years from 1895 after moving from their original home at Pike's ...
Stoke were leading up until the 88th minute when Collins fouled Sam Ricketts in the penalty area costing Stoke three points. Collins struggled to establish himself at left back during the 2009–10 season often rotating with Danny Higginbotham. Collins begun the
2010–11 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...
season in good form and has stated that he needs to keep performing well if he is to hold his left back position."There is a lot of competition here now in every area on the pitch, so the lads who are playing at the moment, like myself, know we have to keep performing. If we don't then there are options there for the manager to change things" However, he again struggled and was dropped back to the bench with Higginbotham and Marc Wilson being preferred at left back. Collins was left out Stoke's 25-man Premier League squad by manager
Tony Pulis Anthony Richard Pulis (; born 16 January 1958) is a Welsh football manager and former footballer who last managed Sheffield Wednesday. Pulis obtained his FA coaching badge at age 19, followed by his UEFA 'A' licence aged 21 – making him on ...
for the 2011–12 season. Collins joined Ipswich Town on a three-month loan deal from Stoke City on 9 September 2011. He played in 16 Championship matches for Ipswich scoring three goals before returning to Stoke. Collins stated that he expected to leave Stoke in the 2012 January transfer window. He did not secure a transfer away from Stoke and made a rare appearance in the fifth round of the
FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competit ...
away at
Crawley Town Crawley Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Crawley, West Sussex, England. The club was founded as Crawley Football Club in 1896, changed its name to Crawley Town Football Club in 1958. The team com ...
. He also played against
Valencia Valencia ( va, València) is the capital of the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Valencian Community, Valencia and the Municipalities of Spain, third-most populated municipality in Spain, with 791,413 inhabitants. It is ...
in the
UEFA Europa League The UEFA Europa League (abbreviated as UEL, or sometimes, UEFA EL), formerly the UEFA Cup, is an annual football club competition organised since 1971 by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European football clubs. It ...
at the
Estadio Mestalla Mestalla Stadium ( es, Estadio de Mestalla , ca-valencia, Estadi de Mestalla ) is a football stadium in Valencia, Spain. The stadium is the home of Valencia Club de Fútbol and has a capacity of 48,600 seats, making it the 8th-largest stadium ...
. On 9 March 2012, Collins joined
West Ham United West Ham United Football Club is an English professional football club that plays its home matches in Stratford, East London. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The club plays at the London Stadium, ha ...
on loan until the end of the 2011–12 season. He made his debut on 10 March in a 1–1 home draw against
Doncaster Rovers Doncaster Rovers Football Club is a professional association football club based in Doncaster, South Yorkshire, England. The team compete in League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. The club play their home games at T ...
coming on as an 80th minute substitute for
Kevin Nolan Kevin Anthony Jance Nolan (born 24 June 1982) is an English former professional footballer and current first team coach for Premier League club West Ham United. He has represented England at under-21 level. After growing up in Toxteth, Liver ...
. On 17 March Collins scored on his full debut for the "Hammers" in a 1–1 draw against
Leeds United Leeds United Football Club is a professional football club based in Leeds, West Yorkshire in England. The club competes in the Premier League, the highest level of England's football league system, and plays its home matches at Elland Road ...
.


Nottingham Forest

Collins joined
Football League Championship The English Football League Championship (often referred to as the Championship for short or the Sky Bet Championship for sponsorship purposes) is the highest division of the English Football League (EFL) and second-highest overall in the E ...
side
Nottingham Forest Nottingham Forest Football Club is an association football club based in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England. Nottingham Forest was founded in 1865 and have been playing their home games at the City Ground, on the banks of the River Tren ...
on 25 July 2012 for an undisclosed fee. He was appointed club
captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...
by manager Sean O'Driscoll. He made his debut for Forest in a 1–0 win against Fleetwood Town in the
League Cup In several sports, most prominently association football, a league cup or secondary cup generally signifies a cup competition for which entry is restricted only to teams in a particular league. The first national association football tournament t ...
on 13 August 2012. Collins played 43 times for Forest during the
2012–13 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...
season which saw them miss out on the play-offs on the final day of the season as they lost 3–2 to
rivals A rivalry is the state of two people or groups engaging in a lasting competitive relationship. Rivalry is the "against each other" spirit between two competing sides. The relationship itself may also be called "a rivalry", and each participant ...
Leicester City Leicester ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city, Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest settlement in the East Midlands. The city l ...
. The following season, he was succeeded as captain by
Chris Cohen Christopher David Cohen (born 5 March 1987) is an English former professional footballer and is currently assistant manager at Southampton. Primarily a midfielder, he was able to operate equally in the centre or on the left, but was also emplo ...
.


Rotherham United

On 3 July 2015 Collins joined
Rotherham United Rotherham United Football Club, nicknamed The Millers, is a professional football club based in Rotherham, South Yorkshire, England, which compete in the . The club's colours were initially yellow and black, but changed to red and white around 1 ...
on a free transfer. He scored his first goal for Rotherham in the second game of the season, scoring the opening goal in a 2–1 defeat to former club
Nottingham Forest Nottingham Forest Football Club is an association football club based in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England. Nottingham Forest was founded in 1865 and have been playing their home games at the City Ground, on the banks of the River Tren ...
.


Grimsby Town

Having been a free agent for over a month, Collins was snapped up by
League Two The English Football League Two (often referred to as League Two for short or Sky Bet League Two for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League Two from 2004 until 2016) is the third and lowest division of the English Football Le ...
side Grimsby Town on 12 September 2016 on a 6-month contract. He made his full debut with Grimsby on 24 September 2016, in their 1–0 win at Mansfield Town. He scored his first goal for the club on 19 November 2016 from a corner, he placed a header from close range to take the lead in their 3–0 victory at
Plymouth Argyle Plymouth Argyle Football Club is a professional football club based in the city of Plymouth, Devon, England. As of the 2021–22 season, the team are competing in League One, the third tier of English football. They have played at Home Park, ...
. Having been ever-present under Paul Hurst and new manager Marcus Bignot, Collins agreed to extend his contract until the end of the season. Collins agreed to a new one-year deal on 2 June 2017 with the club. He was offered a new contract by Grimsby at the end of the 2017–18 season. Collins suffered a broken arm in the 3rd league game of the 2018–19 season, scans revealed he had fractured his right
ulna The ulna (''pl''. ulnae or ulnas) is a long bone found in the forearm that stretches from the elbow to the smallest finger, and when in anatomical position, is found on the medial side of the forearm. That is, the ulna is on the same side of t ...
, he underwent surgery the following Sunday. He sustained the injury after falling awkwardly winning a header in the 3rd minute against Shay McCartan, even though injured he went on to complete the full 90 minutes in a 1–1 home draw against Lincoln City on 18 August 2018. Collins suffered a thigh strain injury on 20 December 2018 in a 2–1 win over
Swindon Town Swindon Town Football Club is a professional football club based in Swindon, Wiltshire, England. The team currently competes in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. The club has played home matches at the County Ground sin ...
, meaning he would be out until at least January 2019. He was released by Grimsby at the end of the 2018–19 season. Collins announced his retirement from professional football in December 2019.


International career

Despite being born in England, Collins has represented Wales at international level. He made his debut on 9 February 2005 during a 2–0 win over
Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croa ...
in the first match of
John Toshack John Benjamin Toshack (born 22 March 1949) is a Welsh former professional football player and manager. He began his playing career as a teenager with his hometown club Cardiff City, becoming the youngest player to make an appearance for the ...
's second spell as Wales' manager. His last cap came on 22 August 2007 during a 1–0 friendly win over
Bulgaria Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedon ...
. Two months after the match, Collins withdrew from the Wales squad to face Germany and
Slovakia Slovakia (; sk, Slovensko ), officially the Slovak Republic ( sk, Slovenská republika, links=no ), is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to th ...
in the qualifying round of
UEFA Euro 2008 The 2008 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2008 or simply Euro 2008, was the 13th UEFA European Championship, a quadrennial football tournament contested by the member nations of UEFA (the Union of European ...
. Having previously fallen out with Toshack over being left on the bench during a friendly match with
Paraguay Paraguay (; ), officially the Republic of Paraguay ( es, República del Paraguay, links=no; gn, Tavakuairetã Paraguái, links=si), is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the south and southwest, Brazil to th ...
in March 2006, Following the resignation of Toshack and the appointment of Brian Flynn as Wales caretaker manager, Collins, who had not been called up since 2007, was selected in the Wales squad for the
UEFA Euro 2012 qualifying The qualifying competition for UEFA Euro 2012 was a series of parallel association football competitions held over 2010 and 2011 to decide the qualifiers for UEFA Euro 2012, held in Poland and Ukraine. The draw for the qualifying rounds was held ...
matches in October 2010. His first call-up as a Forest player was in the squad to face
Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to the ...
and Serbia in the 2014 FIFA World Cup qualifiers. However, Collins turned the call-up down and said, "Playing for Wales has always meant a great deal, it's a massive honour to play for your country, but at my age I feel I would be better served to stay with Forest to train and prepare for the demanding fixtures in the Championship. I'm grateful to Chris olemanfor considering me but I feel it's important I focus on Forest now."


Career statistics


International

Source:


Honours

Chester City *
Football Conference The National League (named Vanarama National League for sponsorship reasons) is an association football league in Football in England, England consisting of three divisions, the National League (division), National League, National League Nor ...
: 2003–04 Sunderland *
Football League Championship The English Football League Championship (often referred to as the Championship for short or the Sky Bet Championship for sponsorship purposes) is the highest division of the English Football League (EFL) and second-highest overall in the E ...
: 2004–05, 2006–07 Stoke City *
FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competit ...
runner-up:
2010–11 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...
Individual *North East player of the Year: 2009


References


External links


Danny Collins profile
at the
Grimsby Town F.C. Grimsby Town Football Club is a professional football club based in Cleethorpes, North East Lincolnshire, England, that in the 2022–23 season will compete in , the fourth tier of the English football league system, following the victory in t ...
website *
BBC profile for Danny Collins
{{DEFAULTSORT:Collins, Danny 1980 births Living people Sportspeople from Chester English people of Welsh descent Association football defenders Welsh footballers Wales international footballers England semi-pro international footballers Premier League players English Football League players National League (English football) players Northern Premier League players Welsh cricketers Wales National County cricketers Mold Alexandra F.C. players Chester City F.C. players Vauxhall Motors F.C. players Sunderland A.F.C. players Stoke City F.C. players Ipswich Town F.C. players West Ham United F.C. players Nottingham Forest F.C. players Rotherham United F.C. players Grimsby Town F.C. players Buckley Town F.C. players