Danny Collins

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Danny Collins
Danny collins.jpg
Personal information
Full name Daniel Lewis Collins
Date of birth 6 August 1980 (1980-08-06) (age 29)
Place of birth Chester, England
Height 6 ft 1 in (1.85m)
Playing position Centre back
Club information
Current club Stoke City
Number 22
Youth career
1994 Mold Alexandra
1995 Buckley Town
1996–1997 Chester City
Senior career*
Years Team Apps† (Gls)†
2001–2004 Chester City 71 (4)
2002 → Vauxhall Motors (loan) 48 (5)
2004–2009 Sunderland 149 (3)
2009– Stoke City 13 (0)
National team‡
2003–2004 England C 6 (0)
2005– Wales 6 (0)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 17:06, 26 December 2009 (UTC).

† Appearances (Goals).

‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 21 June 2008

Daniel Lewis "Danny" Collins (born 6 August 1980 in Chester, England) is a Welsh footballer currently playing for Stoke City and the Wales national football team as a defender.

Contents

[edit] Club career

[edit] 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 [1]. 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 [2].

[edit] Chester

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 September 4, 2004.

[edit] Sunderland

A month later he joined Sunderland in a six-figure transfer amid interest from other clubs, and he ended the season with another championship medal and full Welsh caps to his name. He was initially used as a backup player to defenders Gary Breen, Stephen 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 2005-2006 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.

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 yet 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!".

On 5 April 2008, Collins scored Sunderland's first goal in their 3-1 over Fulham F.C. at Craven Cottage despite again having a goal disallowed earlier in the game. Collins has gone on to firmly establish himself as a first team regular at Sunderland, starting 32 games in the 2007-08 season. On January 30, 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.[3] Collins is a firm fan favourite at the Stadium of Light due to his consistently committed performances. He won the Fans' Player of the Year award in 2008 and 2009.

On 29 August it was reported that Sunderland had accepted a bid from Stoke City for Collins.

[edit] Stoke City

On 1 September 2009 Collins signed for Stoke City for £2.75 Million rising to £3.5 Million. [4] Collins made his Stoke debut in a 2-1 defeat at home to Chelsea 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. He did put in a good performance away at Everton.

[edit] International career

Despite being born in England, Collins has represented Wales at international level and currently holds six caps.[5][6] 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.[7] 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.[8] Having previously fallen out with Toshack over being left on the bench during a friendly match with Paraguay in March 2006,[9] Collins has not been called into the Wales squad since 2007.[5]

[edit] Honours

[edit] Career statistics

Club Season League FA Cup League Cup Continental Other Total
Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
Chester City 2001-02 8 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 8 0
2002-03 12 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 12 0
Vauxhall Motors (loan) 2002-03 18 2 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 23 2
Chester City 2003-04 43 3 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 45 2
2004–05 12 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 13 1
Sunderland 2004–05 14 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 15 0
2005–06 23 1 2 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 27 1
2006–07 38 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 40 0
2007–08 36 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 37 1
2008–09 35 1 3 0 3 0 0 0 0 0 41 1
2009–10 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 0
Stoke City 2009–10 13 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 14 0
Career total 255 9 16 0 5 0 0 0 0 0 278 8

[edit] References

  1. ^ Cricinfo - Players and Officials - Daniel Collins
  2. ^ Minor Counties Cricket Association
  3. ^ "Collins agrees new deal". http://www.safc.com/articles/article.php?page_id=16747. 
  4. ^ "Collins Deal Continues Spending Spree". Stoke City FC. 31 August 2009. http://www.stokecityfc.com/page/NewsDetail/0,,10310~1784014,00.html. Retrieved 31 August 2009. 
  5. ^ a b "Collins hoping for Wales return". BBC Sport. 2009-10-30. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/internationals/8333149.stm. Retrieved 2009-12-27. 
  6. ^ "Stoke snap up Danny Collins". The Daily Mirror. 2009-09-01. http://www.mirrorfootball.co.uk/news/Stoke-snap-up-Danny-Collins-from-Sunderland-article140327.html. Retrieved 2009-12-27. 
  7. ^ "Wales 2-0 Hungary". BBC Sport. 2005-02-09. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/internationals/4241751.stm. Retrieved 2009-12-27. 
  8. ^ "Collins defends Wales withdrawal". BBC Sport. 2007-09-03. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/league_of_wales/6975930.stm. Retrieved 2009-12-27. 
  9. ^ "Collins makes peace with Toshack". BBC Sport. 2007-01-26. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/internationals/6303003.stm. Retrieved 2009-12-27. 

[edit] External links

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Stoke City F.C. – current squad

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