John Lindsay Collins (21 January 1949 – 14 April 2020) was a Welsh 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 ...

who played for

Tottenham Hotspur Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as Tottenham () or Spurs, is a professional football club based in Tottenham, London, England. It competes in the Premier League, the top flight of English football. The team has playe ...

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port and city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. The city of Portsmouth has been a unitary authority since 1 April 1997 and is administered by Portsmouth City Council. Portsmouth is the most dens ...

, Dallas Tornado,

Halifax Town FC Halifax Town is a professional association football club based in Halifax, West Yorkshire, England. They currently compete in and play at the Shay. They replaced Halifax Town A.F.C., which went into administration in the 2007–08 season. ...

Sheffield Wednesday Sheffield Wednesday Football Club is a professional association football club based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. The team competes in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. Formed in 1867 as an offshoot ...

, Barnsley, Kidderminster Harriers and represented

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the Bristol Channel to the south. It had a population in ...

at schoolboy and seven occasions at Under-23 level.

Playing career

Collins was born in Rhymney, and began his career in Wales at Swansea then in March 1964 he moved to London to become an apprentice with Tottenham Hotspur. The full back played two first team matches for Spurs in the old First Division. His debut came against Sunderland which ended in defeat followed by another defeat against

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 ...

. He signed for Portsmouth for a fee of £5,000 in May 1971, Collins made his debut in the opening game of the 1971–72 season at home against

Middlesbrough Middlesbrough ( ) is a town on the southern bank of the River Tees in North Yorkshire, England. It is near the North York Moors national park. It is the namesake and main town of its local borough council area. Until the early 1800s, the a ...

which ended with a 2–1 victory. He went on to compete in a total of 87 matches. After leaving Fratton Park, Collins joined the North American Soccer League team Dallas Tornado in 1974 and featured in 18 matches and scored one goal. Collins was transferred to Halifax Town in August 1974 and featured in a further 82 games and scored one goal. He had a spell with Sheffield Wednesday where he notched up seven appearances in 1976 before signing for Barnsley in December 1976. Between 1976–79 he played 130 matches for the

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other English counties, functions have ...

club and netted one goal. Collins ended his senior career at Kidderminster Harriers. In 1979 Collins moved back to America, this time to play for the indoor Soccer team

Baltimore Blast The Baltimore Blast is an American professional indoor soccer team based in Baltimore, Maryland, United States. The team is a part of the Major Arena Soccer League. The team has won 10 championships since it was founded in 1980. Beginning with ...

Personal life and death

After football Collins moved back to Wales in the 1980s where he became a pub landlord running three pubs and a hotel all in

Haverfordwest Haverfordwest (, ; cy, Hwlffordd ) is the county town of Pembrokeshire, Wales, and the most populous urban area in Pembrokeshire with a population of 14,596 in 2011. It is also a community, being the second most populous community in the county, ...

. In later life he had diabetes, and had to have both legs amputated before his death on 14 April 2020, aged 71.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Collins, John 1949 births 2020 deaths People from Bedwellty Sportspeople from Caerphilly County Borough Association football fullbacks Barnsley F.C. players Dallas Tornado players Halifax Town A.F.C. players Kidderminster Harriers F.C. players North American Soccer League (1968–1984) players Portsmouth F.C. players Sheffield Wednesday F.C. players English Football League players Tottenham Hotspur F.C. players Welsh expatriate footballers Welsh expatriate sportspeople in the United States Welsh footballers Wales under-23 international footballers