Peter John Collins (born 29 November 1948) 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 ...

who played for

Chelmsford City Chelmsford City Football Club is a semi-professional football club based in Chelmsford, Essex, England. Currently members of they play at the Melbourne Stadium. History Chelmsford Chelmsford Football Club was established in 1878 by members of ...

, and

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 ...

Career

Born in Chelmsford to parents William and Barbara, Collins attended Moulsham Primary School before moving up to Moulsham Secondary School and resided within Westlands. Collins left school at 14 to join Crompton Metal Workers as an apprentice and whilst playing for the Saturday and Sunday football team he was spotted by the local football club, Chelmsford City and joined as an apprentice in 1965. During his time at Chelmsford he quickly became recognised as a developing talent and started to appear in the first team in 1967. Football scouts were frequently spotted at the New Writtle Street Stadium and on the day Tottenham Hotspur broke the club and British transfer record taking Martin Chivers to Tottenham for £125,000, Bill Nicholson arrived at Chelmsford City to sign Collins.

Tottenham Hotspur

Collins joined the Spurs from Chelmsford City in January 1968 for a fee of £5,000 with an addition payment due when he had made 10 first class appearances with Spurs paying Chelmsford another £5,000 within 9 months. Collins first Spurs game was for the 'A' team against Chelmsford City 'A' in a friendly as part of the transfer deal to be played at New Writtle Street. Collins scored twice within the first nine minutes in front of 48,000 fans on his first team debut in a friendly against

Glasgow Rangers Rangers Football Club is a Scottish professional football club based in the Govan district of Glasgow which plays in the Scottish Premiership. Although not its official name, it is often referred to as Glasgow Rangers outside Scotland. The fou ...

White Hart Lane White Hart Lane was a football stadium in Tottenham, North London and the home of Tottenham Hotspur Football Club from 1899 to 2017. Its capacity varied over the years; when changed to all-seater it had a capacity of 36,284 before demolition. ...

. The highlight of Collins' career at the club was the 2–0 win in the

1971 Football League Cup Final The 1971 Football League Cup Final took place in February 1971 at Wembley Stadium. It was the eleventh Football League Cup final and the fifth to be played at Wembley. It was contested between Tottenham Hotspur Tottenham Hotspur Foo ...

against Aston Villa. His career was ended through injury at the club, the

central defender 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 ...

played a total of 106 matches plus ten as substitute and scoring eight goals in all competitions. A strong, powerful and quick centre half Collins was one of the rare players that made the jump from

non-league Non-League football describes football leagues played outside the top leagues of a country. Usually, it describes leagues which are not fully professional. The term is primarily used for football in England, where it is specifically used to d ...

to the English top flight when he signed for Tottenham in 1968. His league debut was at home to Arsenal in August 1968. Collins became a popular player during his time at White Hart Lane the team he supported as a boy. In 1972, he featured along with his fellow squad members in the

Hunter Davies Edward Hunter Davies (born 7 January 1936) is a British author, journalist and broadcaster. His books include the only authorised biography of the Beatles. Early life Davies was born in Johnstone, Renfrewshire, to Scottish parents. For four y ...

book, "The Glory Game" about the Spurs season of 1972 when Davies was allowed full access to the changing rooms and team meetings. Despite interest from

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a populat ...

amongst others, Collins elected to stay at White Hart Lane and was being groomed as the long term successor to

Mike England Harold Michael England (born 2 December 1941) is a Welsh former footballer and manager. Playing career Playing as a central defender, England began his career at Blackburn Rovers in 1959, before moving to Tottenham Hotspur in July 1966, ultimat ...

before an injury at 23 restricted development. This injury turned out to be a mis-diagnosed broken ankle. Despite a valiant effort Collins had to retire from professional football at the age of 26. Leaving the Lane just as he had entered, on his last home game scoring the first goal in the last game of the 1973 season against

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 ...

. During his time at the club Spurs won/reached the following finals:- *

winners *

1972 UEFA Cup Final The 1972 UEFA Cup Final was the final of the first UEFA Cup football tournament. It was a two-legged contest played on 3 May and 17 May 1972 between two English clubs, Wolverhampton Wanderers and Tottenham Hotspur. This was the first UEFA club com ...

winners *

1973 Football League Cup Final The 1973 Football League Cup Final was held on 3 March 1973 and was won by Tottenham Hotspur. Spurs beat Norwich City Norwich City Football Club (also known as The Canaries or The Yellows) is an English professional football club based in N ...

winners *

1974 UEFA Cup Final The 1974 UEFA Cup Final was played on 21 May 1974 and 29 May 1974 between Tottenham Hotspur of England and Feyenoord Rotterdam of the Netherlands, to determine the champion of the 1973–74 UEFA Cup. Feyenoord won 4–2 on aggregate. Tottenham sup ...

runners-up In addition, Collins played in both legs of the 1968-69 Football League Cup semi-final versus Arsenal and were runners-up in the

. Following his time at Tottenham, Collins played for Folkestone & Shepway.

Post-football career

Collins took the position of part-time

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business. Management includes the activities ...

of Braintree Town up to 1995. He spent 25 years as a PE teacher in Chelmsford up to 2003 and is presently a property developer in Spain.Where are they now
/ref>

Honours

Tottenham Hotspur *

: Winner * 1968/69 Football Combination Title : Winner

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Collins, Peter 1948 births Footballers from Chelmsford English Football League players English men's footballers Chelmsford City F.C. players Tottenham Hotspur F.C. players Living people Folkestone F.C. players English football managers Braintree Town F.C. managers Men's association football central defenders