Neill Collins

Neill William Collins (born 2 September 1983) is a Scottish football manager and former player who is the head coach of club 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.

He went on to make four appearances in the 2000–01 season as John McCormack's Spiders were relegated from the Second Division to the Third Division.

He began his career with Scottish amateur club, Queen's Park, making his first-team debut in a 2–0 win at Stirling Albion on 24 March 2001.

He played 31 games as Queen's Park finished bottom of the Scottish Football League in 2001–02.

During this time he worked at a Safeway supermarket.

Collins earned a move to newly-promoted Second Division club Dumbarton in July 2002.

During his stay at the Strathclyde Homes Stadium, Collins became popular with the fans and had a spell as captain and was key to Paul Martin's Sons battle to stay in the Second Division in 2002–03.

The discussion of his loan deal was the first time that Roy Keane and McCarthy had spoken to each other since the Saipan incident in 2002.

He then featured 34 times as Dumbarton finished two points outside the promotion places in 2003–04 under Brian Fairley's stewardship.

During his time there he had trials with Falkirk, Hibernian, Rangers and Charlton Athletic.

During his time in Scotland he also completed a BA 'Sport in the Community' degree at the University of Strathclyde.

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.

Collins was signed by Sunderland manager Mick McCarthy in August 2004 for a fee of £25,000.

He made 11 appearances during the 2004–05 season as the club won promotion to the Premier League as champions of the Championship.

He never appeared in the top-flight for the Black Cats after Alan Stubbs was signed, and was instead loaned out to League One side Hartlepool United in August 2005.

He made 25 appearances for Martin Scott's Pools during his stay at Victoria Park.

The Blades succeeded in winning promotion in 2005–06, though Collins featured in just two games at Bramall Lane.

He was loaned out to Neil Warnock's Championship promotion hopefuls Sheffield United in February 2006.

With Sunderland back in the Championship in 2006–07, Collins was forced to play in the unfamiliar role of right-back after injuries to teammates Stephen Wright and Nyron Nosworthy.

He was a regular under Mick McCarthy, but when McCarthy left the job, Collins was dropped by replacement manager Roy Keane despite Collins feeling he'd performed well.

Collins was reunited with his former boss Mick McCarthy at Wolverhampton Wanderers after joining the club on loan in November 2006.

He was a regular starter for the rest of the 2006–07 season as the club reached the Championship play-offs.

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.

Three months later he signed a new contract to keep him at the Stadium of Light until 2007.

After his loan expired, he joined Wolves permanently in January 2007 for a fee of £150,000.

The 2007–08 season saw Wolves miss out on the play-offs on goal difference with Collins making 42 appearances.

Collins started 2008–09 strongly with Wolves but was left out of the first team with the loan arrival of Michael Mancienne from Chelsea.

When Mancienne returned to Chelsea in the New Year, Collins returned to the side, partnering Richard Stearman.

Following Wolves' promotion to the Premier League he fell out of favour and moved on loan again, this time to Preston North End, but although they signed him permanently in 2010, he was never a regular and 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, for whom 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.

Collins was born in Troon, Scotland.

He was associated with Kilmarnock's youth academy, the team he supported as a boy, before being released at the age of 14.