James Collins has elaborated on his decision to join Derby County in 2022.
With 15 years in professional football under his belt, Collins has traversed various levels of the football hierarchy. Starting his career in Aston Villa’s academy, he has had stints with clubs like Shrewsbury Town, Hibernian, Luton, and Cardiff City.
Collins boasts an impressive record of five promotions throughout his career, with his most recent years spent in the Championship with Luton and Cardiff before his move to Pride Park.
In the summer of that year, at 33 years old, Collins departed Cardiff to sign for Derby County, despite the club’s recent relegation and significant points deduction. Despite other offers and interest, Collins opted for Derby, where he has since scored 30 goals in 94 appearances, emerging as their top scorer this season as they aim to regain promotion to the second tier.
Collins’ decision to choose Derby over League One rivals like Portsmouth is now clarified, with him expressing that achieving promotion with Derby would hold immense significance for him. In an interview with Derbyshire Live, he emphasized that the opportunity for promotion means a great deal to him, especially considering the missed chance in the previous year.
“The reason I signed for Derby is to get us out of this league and if I managed to be a part of that this year, then it would mean everything to me and my family. My little boy would be over the moon. He’s the biggest fan of ours that we’ve got. To get promoted and have a crack at the Championship next year would be amazing.”
Why the 33-year-old can be the difference
James Collins played a huge role in trying to get Derby County last season too, but his failure to find the net in the latter stages of the campaign contributed to them missing out on the play-offs.
The striker scored eleven goals in League One last term, however only two of them came in the final three months.
Collins made his return from injury against Blackpool and went onto grab an assist against Portsmouth in his first start back.
The veteran will be well aware he needs to be back to his best in these final matches, having scored only once in six games before he was sidelined.
Collins is an extremely important part of the current squad and, with Dwight Gayle injured, his goals could be the difference between automatic promotion and the play-offs.
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