Lee Collins (born 3 February 1974 in

Bellshill Bellshill (pronounced "Bells hill") is a town in North Lanarkshire in Scotland, southeast of Glasgow city centre and west of Edinburgh. Other nearby localities are Motherwell to the south, Hamilton, South Lanarkshire, Hamilton to the south ...

, North Lanarkshire) is a Scottish 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 ...

. Collins began his professional career in his native land with

Albion Rovers Albion Rovers Football Club is a semi-professional football team from Coatbridge, North Lanarkshire, Scotland. They are members of the Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL) and play in Scottish League Two, the fourth tier of the Scotti ...

. After two years, 45 league appearances, and one goal for the club, he moved south of the border to join English club Swindon Town. He remained at the County Ground for five years, making 64 appearances and scoring two goals. He won the

Division Two NCL Division Two The NCL or National Conference League Division Two (known as the Kingstone Press NCL Division Two) League winners {, class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;" , - , colspan=4 style="text-align:center;" , NCL DIVISION TWO , ...

championship with them in 1995–96. In 2000, Steve McMahon, Collins' former manager at Swindon, signed him for

Blackpool Blackpool is a seaside resort in Lancashire, England. Located on the North West England, northwest coast of England, it is the main settlement within the Borough of Blackpool, borough also called Blackpool. The town is by the Irish Sea, betw ...

. Collins remained at Bloomfield Road for three years, making 66 appearances and scoring two goals. He won promotion via the Division Three play-offs in his first season with the club. In 2002 he started the

final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which decides a winner for an event ** Another term for playoffs, describing a sequence of cont ...

as Blackpool won the

2001–02 Football League Trophy The Football League Trophy 2001–02, known as the LDV Vans Trophy 2001–02 for sponsorship reasons, was the 19th staging of the Football League Trophy, a knock-out competition for English football clubs in Second, Third Division and the Confere ...

. In 2003, he was loaned to non-league

Morecambe Morecambe ( ) is a seaside town and civil parish in the City of Lancaster district in Lancashire, England. It is in Morecambe Bay on the Irish Sea. Name The first use of the name was by John Whitaker in his ''History of Manchester'' (1771), w ...

, and he went on to make the move permanent after negotiating a pay-off deal with Blackpool chairman

Karl Oyston Karl Samuel Oyston (born 20 February 1968) is an English businessman and the former chairman of Blackpool Football Club. Oyston took over the chairmanship at Blackpool from his mother, Vicki Oyston, in 1999. Mrs Oyston had taken over three years ...

. Collins returned to Scotland in 2004 with

Stenhousemuir Stenhousemuir (; gd, Featha Thaigh nan Clach) is a town in the Central Lowlands of Scotland. It lies within the Falkirk (council area), Falkirk council area of Scotland. The town is north-northwest of Falkirk and directly adjoins to Larbert in ...

. He remained with the club for two years.

Honours

Swindon Town *

champions: 1995–96 Blackpool * Division Three play-off winners: 2000–01 *

Football League Trophy The English Football League Trophy, known for sponsorship purposes as the Papa Johns Trophy after restaurant chain Papa John's Pizza, is an annual English association football knockout competition open to all clubs in EFL League One and EFL Leag ...

winner: 2001-02

References

Specific General * * 1974 births Living people Footballers from Bellshill Scottish footballers Association football midfielders Albion Rovers F.C. players Swindon Town F.C. players Blackpool F.C. players Morecambe F.C. players Stenhousemuir F.C. players Scottish Football League players English Football League players {{scotland-footy-midfielder-1970s-stub