John Angus Paul Collins (born January 31, 1968 in Galashiels, Scotland) is a former Scottish international footballer and the current manager of Hibernian.
John Collins in action for Celtic
Enlarge
John Collins in action for Celtic
At club level, Collins played for Hibernian, Celtic, AS Monaco, Everton and Fulham.
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 considered 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.
For Scotland, he scored 12 goals in 58 caps and 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 against Brazil. Collins retired from international football after the aggregate defeat in the Euro 2000 playoff by England in November 1999.
After retiring from club football in the summer of 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. An amusing case of this was when Fulham signed a new player in 2004, John Collins introduced Collins John.
John Collins at press conference announcing him as manager Tue 31 Oct 06
Enlarge
John Collins at press conference announcing him as manager Tue 31 Oct 06
On October 31, 2006 he was named as manager of Hibernian.
Share your knowledge about 'John Collins' with the thousands of monthly visitors to this website. Additions, questions, corrections, obmissions, are all welcome (no matter how large or small), in fact we positively encourage it! Leave your contribution to the 'John Collins' page by filling in the form below.