Danny Collins (footballer)

Daniel Lewis Collins (born 6 August 1980) is a former professional footballer who played as a centre back.

Danny Collins
Collins playing for Stoke City in 2010
Personal information
Full name Daniel Lewis Collins[1]
Date of birth (1980-08-06) 6 August 1980
Place of birth Chester, England
Height 1.83 m (6 ft 0 in)[2]
Playing position(s) Centre back
Youth career
1994 Mold Alexandra
1995 Buckley Town
1996–2000 Chester City
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2001–2004 Chester City 71 (4)
2002–2003 → Vauxhall Motors (loan) 18 (2)
2004–2009 Sunderland 149 (3)
2009–2012 Stoke City 50 (0)
2011 → Ipswich Town (loan) 16 (3)
2012 → West Ham United (loan) 11 (1)
2012–2015 Nottingham Forest 71 (2)
2015–2016 Rotherham United 24 (2)
2016–2019 Grimsby Town 106 (6)
Total 516 (23)
National team
2003–2004 England C 6 (0)
2005–2011 Wales 12 (0)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only

Collins started his career in the Welsh leagues with Mold Alexandra and Buckley Town before joining Chester City in 1996. His first two seasons at Chester saw him make 20 appearances; during the 2002–03 season he went on loan to non-league side Vauxhall Motors. Following his return to Chester, Collins became a regular in the side and produced some fine performances which attracted the attention of Sunderland who bought him for £140,000. Collins spent five years in the North East making over 150 appearances and earning two promotions to the Premier League during that time. In August 2009 Collins joined Stoke City for £2.75 million and played at left back for the "Potters". After losing his place in the squad he joined Ipswich Town on loan in September 2011 and then West Ham United in March 2012. He signed for Nottingham Forest in July 2012.

He has also been capped for England C on six occasions before being called up to the Welsh national side.

Club career

Early career

He began his career in the Cymru Alliance with local sides Mold Alexandra and Buckley Town. After having trials with Wrexham and Tranmere Rovers, he signed for Chester City in December 2001, who were playing in the Conference. Before turning professional, Collins played cricket for Wales Minor Counties during the football close season.[3] In the 1999 season, he played two matches, taking two wickets at an average of 37.50 and scoring 14 runs at an average of 7.00.[4]

Chester City

Collins made his debut for Chester in a 3–1 defeat against Northwich Victoria on boxing day 2001.[5] In just under three years he made over 70 appearances for Chester. It was after a successful spell on loan at Vauxhall Motors that his career started to take off, having been converted from an unconvincing forward into a composed central defender. His time at Vauxhalls included helping them surprisingly knock Queens Park Rangers out of the FA Cup in November 2002. The following season saw Collins miss just one game as Chester won the Football Conference title and returned to the Football League after a four-year absence. Although Chester had a mixed start to the 2004–05 season, Collins continued to impress and a stoppage time goal against Macclesfield Town gave Chester their first win of the season on 4 September 2004.

Sunderland
Collins in action for Sunderland

A month later he joined Sunderland for £140,000[6] amid interest from other clubs including Sheffield United whose manager Neil Warnock hit out at the way Chester handled his transfer to Sunderland.[7] He ended the 2004–05 season with another championship medal and full Welsh caps to his name, he was initially used as a backup player to defenders Gary Breen, Steven Caldwell and George McCartney, in his first season at the club, but still managed to make 14 appearances. Following promotion to the Premier League for the 2005–06 season, Sunderland signed several additional players and Collins found himself out of the first team squad early in the season. He later worked his way into the side but Sunderland endured a nightmare campaign and were comfortably relegated amassing just 15 points.[8]

Collins started the 2006–07 season as first choice defender at Sunderland, but was dropped four games into the season after being booed by a section of the crowd following a mistake in the previous game against Plymouth Argyle. Collins later regained his place following the arrival of manager Roy Keane and won another championship medal come the end of the season. On 15 December Collins scored a late last minute goal against Aston Villa which would have led to the Black Cats victory but referee Steve Bennett denied the goal for a foul on Scott Carson, the foul was not apparent and the goal should have stood. Manager Roy Keane was very angry at the decision and said that Bennett had cheated Sunderland and went as far as to say "the players deserve better."[9]

On 5 April 2008, Collins scored Sunderland's first goal in their 3–1 over Fulham at Craven Cottage despite again having a goal disallowed earlier in the game. He went on to firmly establish himself as a first team regular at Sunderland, starting 32 games in the 2007–08 season. On 30 January 2009, Collins was rewarded with a new two-and-a-half year contract by Sunderland, keeping him at the club until at least the end of the 2010–11 season.[10] He won the Fans' Player of the Year award in 2008 and 2009.

Stoke City

On 29 August it was reported that Sunderland had accepted a bid from Stoke City for Collins (despite this, he was an unused substitute when the two sides played each other the next day)[11] As expected, he signed for Stoke on 1 September for £2.75 million rising to £3.5 million.[12][13] Collins made his Stoke debut in a 2–1 defeat at home to Chelsea[14] in the following match against Bolton Wanderers Stoke were leading up until the 88th minute when Collins fouled Sam Ricketts in the penalty area costing Stoke three points.[15] Collins struggled to establish himself at left back during the 2009–10 season often rotating with Danny Higginbotham.[16]

Collins begun the 2010–11 season in good form and has stated that he needs to keep performing well if he is to hold his left back position."There is a lot of competition here now in every area on the pitch, so the lads who are playing at the moment, like myself, know we have to keep performing. If we don't then there are options there for the manager to change things"[17] However, he again struggled and was dropped back to the bench with Higginbotham and Marc Wilson being preferred at left back.[18]

Collins (background) during his time on loan at Ipswich.

Collins was left out Stoke's 25-man Premier League squad by manager Tony Pulis for the 2011–12 season.[19] Collins joined Ipswich Town on a three-month loan deal from Stoke City on 9 September 2011.[20] He played in 16 Championship matches for Ipswich scoring three goals before returning to Stoke. Collins stated that he expected to leave Stoke in the 2012 January transfer window.[21] He did not secure a transfer away from Stoke and made a rare appearance in the fifth round of the FA Cup away at Crawley Town.[22] He also played against Valencia in the UEFA Europa League at the Estadio Mestalla.[23]

On 9 March 2012, Collins joined West Ham United on loan until the end of the 2011–12 season.[24][25] He made his debut on 10 March in a 1–1 home draw against Doncaster Rovers coming on as an 80th minute substitute for Kevin Nolan.[26] On 17 March Collins scored on his full debut for the "Hammers" in a 1–1 draw against Leeds United.[27]

Nottingham Forest

Collins joined Football League Championship side Nottingham Forest on 25 July 2012 for an undisclosed fee.[28] He was appointed club captain by manager Sean O'Driscoll.[29] He made his debut for Forest in a 1–0 win against Fleetwood Town in the League Cup on 13 August 2012.[30] Collins played 43 times for Forest during the 2012–13 season which saw them miss out on the play-offs on the final day of the season as they lost 3–2 to rivals Leicester City.[31] The following season, he was succeeded as captain by Chris Cohen.[32]

Rotherham United

On 3 July 2015 Collins joined Rotherham United on a free transfer.[33] He scored his first goal for Rotherham on the second game of the season, scoring the opening goal in a 2–1 defeat to former club Nottingham Forest.[34]

Grimsby Town

Having been a free agent for over a month, Collins was snapped up by League Two side Grimsby Town on 12 September 2016 on a 6-month contract.[35] He made his full debut with Grimsby on 24 September 2016, in their 1–0 win at Mansfield Town.[36] He scored his first goal for the club on 19 November 2016 from a corner, he placed a header from close range to take the lead in their 3–0 victory at Plymouth Argyle.[37] Having been ever-present under Paul Hurst and new manager Marcus Bignot, Collins agreed to extend his contract until the end of the season.[38]

Collins agreed to a new one-year deal on 2 June 2017 with the club.[39] He was offered a new contract by Grimsby at the end of the 2017–18 season.[40]

Collins suffered a broken arm in the 3rd league game of the 2018–19 season, scans revealed he had fractured his right ulna, he underwent surgery the following Sunday.[41] He sustained the injury after falling awkwardly winning a header in the 3rd minute against Shay McCartan, even though injured he went on to complete the full 90 minutes in a 1–1 home draw against Lincoln City on 18 August 2018.[42]

Collins suffered a thigh strain injury on 20 December 2018 in a 2–1 win over Swindon Town, meaning he would be out until at least January 2019.[43]

He was released by Grimsby at the end of the 2018–19 season.[44] Collins announced his retirement from professional football in December 2019.[45]

International career

Despite being born in England, Collins has represented Wales at international level.[13][46] He made his debut on 9 February 2005 during a 2–0 win over Hungary in the first match of John Toshack's second spell as Wales' manager.[47] His last cap came on 22 August 2007 during a 1–0 friendly win over Bulgaria. Two months after the match, Collins withdrew from the Wales squad to face Germany and Slovakia in the qualifying round of UEFA Euro 2008.[48] Having previously fallen out with Toshack over being left on the bench during a friendly match with Paraguay in March 2006,[49] Collins had not been called into the Wales squad since 2007.[46] Following the resignation of Toshack and the appointment of Brian Flynn as Wales caretaker manager, Collins was selected in the Wales squad for the UEFA Euro 2012 qualifying matches in October 2010. His first call-up as a Forest player was in the squad to face Belgium and Serbia in the 2014 FIFA World Cup qualifiers. However, Collins turned the call-up down.[29]

Career statistics
Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
Club Season League FA Cup League Cup Other Total
DivisionAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoals
Chester City 2001–02[50] Football Conference 8000—0080
2002–03[51] Football Conference 10000—2[lower-alpha 1]0120
2003–04[52] Football Conference 41320—2[lower-alpha 2]0453
2004–05[53] League Two 121001000131
Total 714201040784
Vauxhall Motors (loan) 2002–03[54] Northern Premier League 18260—00242
Sunderland 2004–05[53] Championship 1401000—150
2005–06[55] Premier League 2312020—271
2006–07[56] Championship 3801010—400
2007–08[57] Premier League 3611000—371
2008–09[58] Premier League 3513030—411
2009–10[59] Premier League 300000—30
Total 14938060001633
Stoke City 2009–10[59] Premier League 2505000—300
2010–11[60] Premier League 2502000—270
2011–12[61] Premier League 0010002[lower-alpha 3]030
Total 500800020600
Ipswich Town (loan) 2011–12[62] Championship 1630000—163
West Ham United (loan) 2011–12[62] Championship 111000000111
Nottingham Forest 2012–13[63] Championship 4001020—430
2013–14[64] Championship 2313020—281
2014–15[65] Championship 810000—81
Total 7124040—792
Rotherham United 2015–16[66] Championship 2420020—262
Grimsby Town 2016–17[67] League Two 362100000372
2017–18[68] League Two 40410102[lower-alpha 4]0444
2018–19[69] League Two 300201000330
Total 10664020201146
Career total 516233201508057123
  1. Appearances in the Football Conference play-offs
  2. One appearance in the FA Trophy, one in the Football League Trophy
  3. Appearances in the Europa League
  4. Appearance(s) in EFL Trophy

International

Source:[70]

Wales national team
YearAppsGoals
200540
200730
201020
201130
Total120

Honours

Chester City

Sunderland

Stoke City

Individual

  • North East player of the Year: 2009
gollark: I will in 11 hours.
gollark: I'll just need to trade for incredibly messy pygmies.
gollark: Nooooooo!
gollark: I'll breed it with my heavily inbred 30G aeon if they gender right.
gollark: Its children won't. Mwahahahahaha!

References
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  2. "Premier League Player Profile Danny Collins". Premier League. Archived from the original on 16 September 2010. Retrieved 25 April 2011.
  3. Cricinfo – Players and Officials – Daniel Collins
  4. Minor Counties Cricket Association
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