John Collins (footballer)

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John Collins
Personal information
Date of birth	January 31, 1968 (1968-01-31) (age 40)
Place of birth	Galashiels, Scotland
Height	5 ft 8 in (1.73 m)
Playing position	Midfielder
Club information
Current club	retired
Senior clubs1
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
1984–1990 1990–1996 1996–1998 1998–2000 2000–2003	Hibernian Celtic Monaco Everton Fulham Total	163 0(15) 221 0(47) 053 00(7) 053 00(3) 065 00(3) 555 0(75)
National team2
1988–1999	Scotland	058 0(12)
Teams managed
2006–2007	Hibernian
1 Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 21:26, 17 October 2007 (UTC). 2 National team caps and goals correct as of 21:26, 17 October 2007 (UTC). * Appearances (Goals)

John Angus Paul Collins (born January 31, 1968 in Galashiels) is a former Scottish international footballer and former manager of Hibernian.

Contents 1 Playing career 1.1 International goals 2 After playing 2.1 Hibs manager 2.2 Managerial stats 3 Notes 4 External links

[edit] Playing career

As a youngster he played both rugby and football before turning his attention strictly to football. At youth level, Collins played for Hutchison Vale between 1980 and 1984, captaining the side for four years, before signing as a professional with Hibernian. Collins played for six seasons with the club, appearing 195 times and scoring 21 goals.

Collins signed for Celtic in 1990, becoming their first million pound player. He generally played on the left side of midfield, scoring 47 goals in 217 appearances. He is unfortunate to have played in one of Celtic's most barren spells and won only one trophy, the 1995 Scottish Cup.

Collins moved to AS Monaco in the summer of 1996 on a free transfer under the Bosman ruling. Celtic, under the direction of Fergus McCann, attempted to obtain compensation for the loss of Collins. McCann argued that the Bosman ruling did not apply to this case because AS Monaco are based in the principality of Monaco and are outside of European Union jurisdiction.

Collins won the French championship in 1997 with Monaco, who then reached the semi-final of the 1998 UEFA Champions League, defeating Manchester United in the quarter-final. Collins returned to the UK in the summer of 1998 by moving to Everton, before ending his playing career with Fulham.

Collins won 58 caps and scored 12 goals for Scotland. He played for his country at Euro 96 and the 1998 World Cup. He scored in the opening match of that World Cup, with a penalty kick against Brazil. Collins retired from international football after the aggregate defeat in the Euro 2000 playoff by England in November 1999.

[edit] International goals

Scores and results list Scotland's goal tally first.

#	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1	February 17, 1988	King Fahd Stadium, Riyadh	Saudi Arabia	2-1	2-2	Friendly
2	March 27, 1991	Hampden Park, Glasgow	Bulgaria	1-0	1-1	ECQG2
3	May 19, 1993	Kadriorg Staadion, Tallinn	Estonia	2-0	3-0	WCQG1
4	September 8, 1993	Pittodrie, Aberdeen	Switzerland	1-0	1-1	WCQG1
5	September 7, 1994	Olympic Stadion, Helsinki	Finland	2-0	2-0	ECQG8
6	October 12, 1994	Hampden Park, Glasgow	Faroe Islands	3-0	5-1	ECQG8
7	October 12, 1994	Hampden Park, Glasgow	Faroe Islands	5-0	5-1	ECQG8
8	April 26, 1995	Stadio Olimpico, Serravalle	San Marino	1-0	2-0	ECQG8
9	October 5, 1996	Stadionas Daugava, Riga	Latvia	1-0	2-0	WCQG4
10	May 23, 1998	Giants Stadium, East Rutherford, New Jersey	Colombia	1-1	2-2	Friendly
11	June 10, 1998	Stade de France, Saint-Denis	Brazil	1-1	1-2	WCGA
12	October 5, 1999	Ibrox Stadium, Glasgow	Bosnia and Herzegovina	1-0	1-0	ECQG9

[edit] After playing

After retiring from club football in 2003, Collins spent time with his family while also obtaining coaching qualifications, including the UEFA Pro licence. Collins has retained links with his former clubs. When Fulham signed a new player in 2004, John Collins introduced Collins John.

[edit] Hibs manager

On October 31, 2006 he was named as manager of Hibernian. Collins led Hibernian to their first piece of silverware in 16 years when they defeated Kilmarnock 5–1 in the Scottish League Cup Final on March 18, 2007.

Despite the League Cup victory, Collins had a major bust-up with his players^[1] later in the same season. The players strongly criticised the manager for frequently changing the team and formation. It was claimed that almost all of the first team players attended a meeting with chairman Rod Petrie in the hope of removing Collins^[2]. However, the chairman refused to yield to this pressure and gave Collins his full support. Hibs finished the season in 6th place in the Scottish Premier League.

On December 20, 2007, Collins resigned from Hibernian with immediate effect, having been recently linked to the vacant Scotland national team manager job^[3]. Hibs' board of directors and their fans were angered that Collins' decision was taken just one day after announcing his delight at the opening of the club's new training facilities. Collins had also said in October 2007 that "I never broke a contract during my playing career and I've no intention of doing so now."^[4]

The sacking of Lawrie Sanchez by English Premier League side Fulham on December 21, 2007 led some to believe that Collins was being earmarked for the Fulham job^[5]. On December 28, 2007, however, it was announced that Roy Hodgson had been appointed manager of Fulham^[6].

[edit] Managerial stats

As of 20 December 2007.

Team	Nat	From	To	Record
				G	W	L	D	Win %
Hibernian		October 31, 2006	December 20, 2007	54	23	16	15	42.59

[edit] Notes

[edit] External links

• John Collins career stats at Soccerbase
• John Collins management career stats at Soccerbase

Awards
Preceded by Robert Fleck	Scottish PFA Young Player of the Year 1988	Succeeded by Billy McKinlay
Sporting positions
Preceded by Tony Mowbray	Hibernian manager 2006-2007	Succeeded by Mixu Paatelainen

v • d • e Scotland squad - 1990 FIFA World Cup 1 Leighton • 2 McLeish • 3 Aitken • 4 Gough • 5 McStay • 6 Malpas • 7 Johnston • 8 Bett • 9 McCoist • 10 MacLeod • 11 Gillespie • 12 Goram • 13 Durie • 14 McInally • 15 Levein • 16 McCall • 17 McKimmie • 18 Collins • 19 McPherson • 20 McAllister • 21 Fleck • 22 Gunn • Coach: Roxburgh

v • d • e Scotland squad - UEFA Euro 1996 1 Leighton • 2 McKimmie • 3 Boyd • 4 Calderwood • 5 Hendry • 6 Whyte • 7 Spencer • 8 McCall • 9 McCoist • 10 McAllister • 11 Collins • 12 Goram • 13 T. McKinlay • 14 Durie • 15 Jess • 16 Burley • 17 B. McKinlay • 18 Gallacher • 19 Jackson • 20 Booth • 21 Gemmill • 22 Walker • Coach: Brown

v • d • e Scotland squad - 1998 FIFA World Cup 1 Leighton • 2 McNamara • 3 Boyd • 4 Calderwood • 5 Hendry • 6 T. McKinlay • 7 Gallacher • 8 Burley • 9 Durie • 10 Jackson • 11 Collins • 12 Sullivan • 13 Donnelly • 14 Lambert • 15 Gemmill • 16 Weir • 17 B. McKinlay • 18 Elliott • 19 Whyte • 20 Booth • 21 Gould • 22 Dailly • Coach: Brown

v • d • e Hibernian F.C. – Managers Committee (1875–1903) • McMichael (1903–19) • Gordon (1919–20) • Maley (1920–25) • Templeton (1925–36) • McCartney (1936–48) • Shaw (1948–62) • Galbraith (1962–64) • Stein (1964–65) • Shankly (1965–69) • MacFarlane (1969–70) • Ewing (1970–71) • Turnbull (1971–80) • Ormond (1980) • Auld (1980–82) • Stanton (1982–84) • Blackley (1984–86) • Miller (1986–96) • Duffy (1996–98) • McLeish (1998–2001) • Sauzée (2001–02) • Williamson (2002–04) • Mowbray (2004–06) • Collins (2006–07) • Paatelainen (2008–-) •