Francis John Patrick Collin (born 20 April 1987) is an English 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 plays as a striker for Hythe Town where he holds the role of player-coach.

Career

Collin is a former England Schoolboy under 18 international. After having trials with various clubs during his youth, including

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and Aston Villa, he eventually signed professionally for Gillingham. He made his debut for the first team with a goal in Gillingham's 2–0 win over

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 ...

in the

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 Le ...

first round. In October 2005 he signed his first professional contract with the club and scored his first league goal against

Hartlepool United Hartlepool United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Hartlepool, County Durham, England. The team competes in EFL League Two, League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. They were founded i ...

in a 3–1 defeat on 1 November 2005. Collin found first team opportunities at Gillingham limited and most of his appearances came as a substitute. Collin's spell at Priestfield was ended when Gillingham released him in May 2007. He was subsequently signed by former Gillingham boss

Andy Hessenthaler Andrew Hessenthaler (born 17 August 1965) is an English football manager and former player who is head of recruitment at club Gillingham. He began his career in non-league football and did not turn professional until he joined Watford at ...

Dover Athletic Dover Athletic Football Club is a semi-professional association football club based in the town of Dover, Kent, England. The club currently competes in the National League South, the sixth tier of English football. The club was formed in 198 ...

in June 2007, and signed a new one-year contract in May 2008. The following season saw Dover Athletic clinch the Isthmian League Premier Division title with the help of Collin's 21 goals and he extended his stay at Dover in May 2009 by signing another contract with the Kent club. He left the club at the end of the 2009–10 season to join Tonbridge Angels. In his first season with Tonbridge, Collin bagged 21 goals in all competitions from 43 appearances, with 16 coming from 40 appearances in the

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. He was named Tonbridge Angels player of the year for the 2011–12 season and won the Golden Boot for the Conference South in the same season with 29 league goals. In the 2013 close-season, Collin announced he was leaving Tonbridge Angels after three years at the club. After much speculation, which saw the player linked with Conference South clubs

Sutton United Sutton United Football Club is a professional football club in Sutton, South London, England, who play in League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. They play home games at Gander Green Lane in Sutton about 11 miles so ...

Whitehawk Whitehawk is a suburb in the east of Brighton, England, south of Bevendean and north of Brighton Marina. The area is a large, modern housing estate built in a downland dry valley historically known as Whitehawk Bottom. The estate was original ...

and

, Collin signed for Maidstone United, who had just been promoted to the

Isthmian League Premier Division The Isthmian League () is a regional men's football league covering Greater London, East and South East England, featuring mostly semi-professional clubs. Founded in 1905 by amateur clubs in the London area, the league now consists of 82 teams ...

. On 7 January 2022, he signed for Isthmian League South East Division side Ashford United, having been without a club for over a month following his departure as player/coach for divisional rivals Hythe Town. In June 2022, Collin returned to Hythe Town in the role of player-coach.

References

External links

*
Dover Athletic profile

Ashford United profile (Nuts and Bolts Archive)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Collin, Francis 1987 births Living people Footballers from Chatham, Kent Men's association football forwards English men's footballers Gillingham F.C. players Dover Athletic F.C. players Tonbridge Angels F.C. players Maidstone United F.C. players Leatherhead F.C. players Hastings United F.C. players Margate F.C. players Hythe Town F.C. players Ashford United F.C. players English Football League players National League (English football) players Isthmian League players