Roddy Collins

Roderick Collins (born 7 August 1960), is an Irish former professional football player and manager.

During a playing career of 18 years, Collins played for many sides across England, Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland.

While towards the end of his career he became a joint-manager and player, Collins eventually turned his hand entirely to management.

He managed Bohemians, the side he started his career at and played for during four spells throughout his career, before moving to England to manage Carlisle.

After several successful spells in Ireland and one in Malta, Collins is currently unemployed.

Collins was born in Dublin.

He played for the youth teams of Stella Maris FC, where in 1977 he was scouted and went on trial with Fulham FC, Wolverhampton Wanderers and Arsenal FC.

He made his competitive debut for Bohemians in a FAI League Cup tie against St Patrick's Athletic on 26 August 1979, which they lost on penalties.

The game at Dalymount Park had ended scoreless with Collins being one that had his spot kick saved.

His League of Ireland debut came on 9 September on the opening day of the 1979–80 season at Finn Harps.

Ten days later he made his European debut at the Estádio José Alvalade against Sporting Clube de Portugal in the UEFA Cup.

He suffered a serious leg injury which sidelined him for almost two years before going on to play for Home Farm.

After another spell at Bohemians he joined Athlone Town, where he scored in the 1983–84 European Cup against Standard Liège.

He also scored Athlone's goal in their 1984 FAI League Cup final loss to Drogheda United.

He then moved to Drogheda United before joining Dundalk for six months.

In January 1986 Collins signed for Mansfield Town for a transfer fee said to be in excess of £10,000 He left to join Newport County in August 1987, playing seven times in an injury-plagued 1987–88 season which would see Newport lose their place in the Football League amid a growing financial crisis.

Collins then went on to play once for Cheltenham Town.

Noel King signed Collins for Shamrock Rovers in September 1988 and he made a scoring debut against Bohemians on 30 September in a 3–1 derby win.

He was Rovers' top scorer for the 1988–89 season.

He also scored in his last game for the club at Cork City on 21 April 1989.

Collins subsequently joined for Dundalk, playing twice for them in the 1989-90 UEFA Cup.

He later played for Sligo Rovers, Crusaders (with whom he won the County Antrim Shield and was leading scorer in his first season), Glentoran, Bangor, Coleraine, Cliftonville, Larne and Home Farm.

Collins' first foray into management came at Bangor in 1994/95 which despite saving them from relegation, was relatively brief.

He scored once for Cliftonville in the 1995–96 season, and he made one Leinster Senior Cup appearance for Bohemians in December 1995.

After Nigel Best resigned Collins' first managerial game was a 1–1 draw at home to Larne on 28 January 1995.

His last club was St Francis, where he played in their first ever game in senior football in a League of Ireland Shield game in September 1996.

In 1998, he found himself thrust into the spotlight when he was surprisingly appointed as Joe McGrath's successor at Bohemians.

Bohemians were a side which, despite being tipped as outside contenders for the title at the start of the year, were facing a relegation dogfight when Collins arrived in the 1998–99 season.

Collins' start to his reign as Bohs' manager was relatively impressive, and new signings such as Kevin Hunt eventually dragged the side out of relegation trouble and to safety.

However, a poor run of results at the end of the season saw the Gypsies, which has never been outside of the top tier of Irish football, plummet back into relegation trouble, and were forced to take part in a play-off with Cobh Ramblers.

Bohemians won the play-off convincingly, 7–0 on aggregate.

He remained as manager during the close-season, though he was under pressure from both the supporters and the committee at Bohemians.

During the close-season Collins oversaw a massive change in personnel at the club, with old stalwarts such as Brian Mooney, Tommy Byrne (footballer) and Peter Hanrahan being released, and new signings such as Glen Crowe, Mark Dempsey, Wayne Russell and Avery John coming in.

Bohemians started the season brightly, and it was evident that this side would not be fighting relegation.

Bohemians eventually finished 3rd in the league, and were beaten in a replay of the final of the FAI Cup by Shelbourne FC.

The following season, 2000–01, was to become one of the most remarkable, and controversial, in the history of Bohemians.

Collins again brought in several new players during the summer break, with Simon Webb, Dave Hill among others joining record signing Trevor Molloy at the club.

Bohemians' opening game was an away tie in the UEFA Cup against Aberdeen FC, which was to be the first time that the club had fielded a starting eleven consisting entirely of full-time professional players.

Despite being written off by the local press, Bohs produced one of the all-time great Irish performances in Europe to come from a goal down to defeat the Scots by two goals to one.

Bohemians were reduced to 10 men after 45 minutes and were beaten 1–0 in the return leg, due to an own-goal, but progressed on the away goals rule and faced German giants Kaiserslautern in the next round