.jpg) Collins during the Jody Craddock testimonial match in May 2014 | |||
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Neill William Collins[1] | ||
| Date of birth | 2 September 1983[2] | ||
| Place of birth | Troon, Scotland[2] | ||
| Height | 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)[3] | ||
| Position(s) | Centre-back | ||
| Youth career | |||
| Kilmarnock | |||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 2001–2002 | Queen's Park | 32 | (0) |
| 2002–2004 | Dumbarton | 63 | (4) |
| 2004–2007 | Sunderland | 18 | (1) |
| 2005–2006 | → Hartlepool United (loan) | 22 | (0) |
| 2006 | → Sheffield United (loan) | 2 | (0) |
| 2006–2007 | → Wolverhampton Wanderers (loan) | 3 | (1) |
| 2007–2009 | Wolverhampton Wanderers | 81 | (8) |
| 2009–2010 | → Preston North End (loan) | 16 | (0) |
| 2010 | Preston North End | 5 | (1) |
| 2010 | → Leeds United (loan) | 9 | (0) |
| 2010–2011 | Leeds United | 21 | (0) |
| 2011–2016 | Sheffield United | 177 | (12) |
| 2015 | → Port Vale (loan) | 7 | (0) |
| 2016–2018 | Tampa Bay Rowdies | 61 | (3) |
| Total | 517 | (30) | |
| International career | |||
| 2005 | Scotland U21 | 7 | (0) |
| 2007 | Scotland B | 1 | (0) |
| Managerial career | |||
| 2018–2023 | Tampa Bay Rowdies | ||
| 2023–2024 | Barnsley | ||
| *Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||
Neill William Collins (born 2 September 1983) is a Scottish football manager and former player who was most recently the head coach of Barnsley.
Collins is a former Scotland U21 and Scotland B international who played as a centre-back. He started his playing career with Queen's Park before moving to Dumbarton. A transfer to English side Sunderland followed in 2004, but he failed to establish himself in the first team during his three-year spell on Wearside. After loan moves to Hartlepool United and Sheffield United, he was loaned to Wolverhampton Wanderers, where he became a first-team regular and signed a permanent deal in 2007. Following Wolves' promotion to the Premier League, he fell out of favour and moved on loan again, this time to Preston North End. Still, although they signed him permanently in 2010, he was never a regular. He quickly moved to Leeds United, with whom he won promotion to the Championship in 2010. After losing his place the following season, Collins returned to Sheffield United, one of his former loan clubs, where he made over 100 appearances. He lost his first-team place in the 2014–15 season and joined Port Vale on loan in March 2015. He moved to America in March 2016 to play for the Tampa Bay Rowdies. By the end of his 18-year playing career, he had scored 35 goals in 583 league and cup appearances.
He took his first post in management in May 2018 when he transitioned from player to head coach at the Tampa Bay Rowdies. The 2021 season would prove highly successful as he won two USL Championship Coach of the Month awards, as well as the Coach of the Year award, as his side won the Eastern Conference and went on to finish as runners-up in the playoffs. He returned to England as the head coach of Barnsley in July 2023 and was sacked with one game left to play of the 2023–24 season with his team in the League One play-off places.
- ^ "Neill Collins". Barry Hugman's Footballers. Retrieved 9 March 2017.
- ^ a b "FootballSquads - Port Vale - 2014/2015". www.footballsquads.co.uk. Retrieved 1 February 2021.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
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