Michael Collins (footballer, born 1986)

Huddersfield Town

Collins was born in Halifax, West Yorkshire. Having come through Huddersfield Town's academy, he made his first team debut in a 1–0 home win over Blackpool on 19 February 2005. Collins made eight appearances in his first season with Huddersfield, with seven of them being starts. He signed a professional contract with the club on 11 May 2005.

He made his first start of the 2005–06 season coming on as an eighty-ninth-minute substitute in a 3–1 home win over Swansea City on 13 August 2005. His first start came in a 4–2 away win in the League Cup over Chesterfield on 24 August 2005. Collins scored his first goal on 18 February 2006 in a 5–0 win over Milton Keynes Dons. He came on as a substitute in the FA Cup third round tie in January 2006 against Premier League champions Chelsea, and set-up Gary Taylor-Fletcher for an equaliser. Collins made 21 appearances in all competitions Huddersfield in his second season at the club.

Collins made his first appearance of the 2006–07 season on the opening day of the season, coming on in the sixty-sixth minute in a 2–1 away defeat away to Gillingham. He made his first start of the season in a 2–0 defeat to Mansfield Town at home in the first round of the League Cup on 22 August 2006. His first league start of the season came on 26 August 2006 in a 1–1 draw at home with Nottingham Forest. Collins scored his first goal of the season in a 2–1 away win over Port Vale on 21 October 2006. He scored in the last two matches of the season; first in a 4–2 win over Millwall on 21 April 2007 and then on the final day in a 3–1 win over Leyton Orient on 5 May. Collins finished 2006–07 with forty-six appearances in all competitions, starting forty-one with five coming of the bench, scoring four goals.

He scored his first league goal of 2007–08 in Huddersfield's 2–0 win over Yeovil Town at Huish Park on 2 February 2008. During 2007–08, Huddersfield manager Andy Ritchie tended to use Collins as cover in right-back and right-midfield positions, but he mainly tended to use Collins in tandem with Andy Holdsworth in Huddersfield's central midfield. On 16 February 2008, Collins equalised Frank Lampard's goal on the stroke of half-time in the FA Cup fifth round at Stamford Bridge against Chelsea. However, Huddersfield lost the match 3–1.

After being left out of the first team squad for the most of the first part of the season by manager Stan Ternent, he was re-called to the side by caretaker manager Gerry Murphy to play in the FA Cup first round tie at home to Port Vale. Collins scored Huddersfield's equaliser, but was unable to prevent them losing 4–3. A week later, Collins scored his first league goal of 2008–09, with a ninetieth-minute winner in a 2–1 win at Elland Road against local rivals Leeds United. Collins scored ten goals in 2008–09, from thirty-nine appearances.

Collins gained a red card in Huddersfield's first match of 2009–10 away to Southend United on 8 August 2009. His first goal of the season came in the sixty-fifth minute of Huddersfield's 2–1 home victory over Yeovil Town on 29 August 2009. Collins was ruled out for the remainder of 2009–10 in April 2010, following surgery on a broken finger, but he returned as a substitute in the 2–1 defeat at Exeter City. He then came on as an eighty-ninth-minute substitute in the first leg of Huddersfield's play-off semi-final match with Millwall, and was an unused substitute in the second leg defeat at The Den on 18 May 2010. Collins made thirty-five appearances in 2009–10, scoring three goals. Along with seven other players, he was added to the transfer list by manager Lee Clark in May 2010.

Scunthorpe United

Collins joined Championship club Scunthorpe United on 6 July 2010 for an undisclosed fee on a three-year contract. During his time at Scunthorpe United, Collins has appeared 72 times and scored two goals.

On 20 February 2014, Collins joined AFC Wimbledon on loan for the rest of the 2013–14 season.

Oxford United

On 15 July 2014, Collins signed a one-year deal at Oxford United, becoming new manager Michael Appleton's first signing. Appleton said: "Michael has played 300 league games, most of them at a higher level, and will bring a little bit of know-how and quality to the squad." He made 43 appearances for the Us, scoring twice, before joining their League Two rivals York City on a one-month loan on 2 October 2015. Collins left Oxford by mutual agreement on 7 January 2016, after failing to make any first-team appearances in the 2015–16 season.

Bengaluru

On 21 January 2016, Collins signed for I-League side Bengaluru. He left the club in May 2016.

Leyton Orient

On 28 October 2016, Collins signed for Leyton Orient on a three-month contract. He turned down the offer of a new one-year contract with Orient at the end of 2016–17, after the club's relegation to the National League.

International career

Qualifying through the parentage rule, Collins made his international debut in a Republic of Ireland under-18 match in April 2003. He was the captain of the Irish under-19 squad and on 14 March 2007, he got his first call-up to the Republic of Ireland under-21 squad for a match against the Netherlands. However, he was forced to withdraw from the squad after picking up a shoulder injury in a league match for Huddersfield against Brighton & Hove Albion.

Collins made his under-21 debut against Germany in a friendly match at the Sportpark Ronhof in Fürth on 21 August 2007. His home debut came against Portugal at Turners Cross in Cork on 7 September 2007. On 15 May 2008, he scored his first goals for the under-21s in a 3–1 win over Malaysia in an Intercontinental Cup match in Malaysia. Collins made six appearances scoring twice between 2007 and 2008.

Coaching career

In July 2017, Collins joined League One club Bradford City as their under-18s lead coach.

Personal life

He is the cousin of professional rugby league players Scott Grix and Simon Grix.

Honours

Scunthorpe United

Bengaluru