Roderick Collins (born 7 August 1960) is an Irish former professional football player and manager.
During a playing career of 18 years, Collins played for many sides across England, Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. While towards the end of his career he became a joint-manager and player, Collins eventually turned his hand entirely to management. He managed Bohemians, the side he started his career at and played for during four spells throughout his career, before moving to England to manage Carlisle. After several successful spells in Ireland and one in Malta, Collins is currently unemployed.
He made his competitive debut for Bohemians in a FAI League Cup tie against St Patrick's Athletic on 26 August 1979, which they lost on penalties. The game at Dalymount Park had ended scoreless with Collins being one that had his spot kick saved. His League of Ireland debut came on 9 September on the opening day of the 1979–80 season at Finn Harps. Ten days later he made his European debut at the Estádio José Alvalade against Sporting Clube de Portugal in the UEFA Cup.
He suffered a serious leg injury which sidelined him for almost two years before going on to play for Home Farm. After another spell at Bohemians, he joined Athlone Town, where he scored in the 1983–84 European Cup against Standard Liège. He also scored Athlone's goal in their 1984 FAI League Cup final loss to Drogheda United. He then moved to Drogheda United before joining Dundalk for six months.
In January 1986, Collins signed for Mansfield Town for a transfer fee said to be in excess of £10,000 He left to join Newport County in August 1987, playing seven times in an injury-plagued 1987–88 season which would see Newport lose their place in the Football League amid a growing financial crisis. Collins then went on to play once for Cheltenham Town.
Noel King signed Collins for Shamrock Rovers in September 1988 and he made a scoring debut against Bohemians on 30 September in a 3–1 derby win. He also scored in his last game for the club at Cork City on 21 April 1989. He was Rovers' top scorer for the 1988–89 season.
Collins subsequently joined for Dundalk, playing twice for them in the 1989-90 UEFA Cup.
He later played for Sligo Rovers, Crusaders (with whom he won the County Antrim Shield and was leading scorer in his first season), Glentoran, Bangor, Coleraine, Cliftonville, Larne and Home Farm. He scored once for Cliftonville in the 1995–96 season, and he made one Leinster Senior Cup appearance for Bohemians in December 1995. His last club was St Francis, where he played in their first ever game in senior football in a League of Ireland Shield game in September 1996.
Bohemians were a side which, despite being tipped as outside contenders for the title at the start of the year, were facing a relegation dogfight when Collins arrived in the 1998–99 season. Collins' start to his reign as Bohs' manager was relatively impressive, and new signings such as Kevin Hunt eventually dragged the side out of relegation trouble and to safety. However, a poor run of results at the end of the season saw the Gypsies, which has never been outside of the top tier of Irish football, plummet back into relegation trouble, and were forced to take part in a play-off with Cobh Ramblers. Bohemians won the play-off convincingly, 7–0 on aggregate. He remained as manager during the close-season, though he was under pressure from both the supporters and the committee at Bohemians.
During the close-season Collins oversaw a massive change in personnel at the club, with old stalwarts such as Brian Mooney, Tommy Byrne (footballer) and Peter Hanrahan being released, and new signings such as Glen Crowe, Mark Dempsey, Wayne Russell and Avery John coming in. Bohemians started the season brightly, and it was evident that this side would not be fighting relegation. Bohemians eventually finished 3rd in the league, and were beaten in a replay of the final of the FAI Cup by Shelbourne FC.
The following season, 2000–01, was to become one of the most remarkable, and controversial, in the history of Bohemians. Collins again brought in several new players during the summer break, with Simon Webb, Dave Hill among others joining record signing Trevor Molloy at the club.
Bohemians' opening game was an away tie in the UEFA Cup against Aberdeen FC, which was to be the first time that the club had fielded a starting eleven consisting entirely of full-time professional players. Despite being written off by the local press, Bohs produced one of the all-time great Irish performances in Europe to come from a goal down to defeat the Scots by two goals to one. Bohemians were reduced to 10 men after 45 minutes and were beaten 1–0 in the return leg, due to an own-goal, but progressed on the away goals rule and faced German giants Kaiserslautern in the next round
Despite putting in an impressive display, Bohemians who were again reduced to 10 men on the 43rd minute were beaten 3–1 in Tolka Park in the first leg, and suffered from some careless defensive lapses and a controversial red card. In Germany, Bohemians shocked the hosts by winning 1–0 thanks to a goal from Glen Crowe, and were unlucky not to score more (even having a goal ruled out for off-side). Bohemians were out of Europe, and had made history by achieving successive away victories in European competition. It was at this time in his career that Collins was rumoured to have applied for a job with Dublin Corporation as a traffic warden to escape the hectic lifestyle of football.
In the league that season, Bohs were showing good form, though with Glen Crowe emerging as a phenomenal goal-scorer and Kevin Hunt marshalling the midfield. Once out of Europe, results began to dip, and Collins found himself under pressure. Shelbourne were clear leaders at the top, and a huge investment in the Bohemians playing side looked set to fail to reap just rewards. In January 2001, Collins was under huge pressure as Bohemians travelled to Santry to take on fierce rivals Shamrock Rovers. At half time, Bohemians were trailing the game by 3 goals, as Rovers scored 4 to Bohs 1. It looked certain that a new manager would be appointed following the game. However, in one of the most remarkable come-backs in Irish football, Bohemians put 5 past a shell-shocked Rovers side in the second half and won 6–4. That result, coupled with a break for several weeks due to the foot and mouth outbreak in the UK and Ireland, gave Bohemians the momentum to mount a late challenge for the league.
Bohemians went into the last game of the season trailing Shelbourne by one point, as the Gypsies travelled to Kilkenny on the final day. Meanwhile, Shelbourne were hosting Cork City in a game which the hosts were expected to win comfortably. To win the league, Bohemians needed to win and hope that Cork could achieve at least a draw in Tolka. Bohemians won 5–0, while Cork shocked Shelbourne by defeating them on their home patch. Bohemians were crowned champions, and the aftermath of the result would shape the rest of Collins' career.
To the present day Collins' name is sure to spark intense debate amongst the Bohemians faithful, with some fans opposing and supporting the former manager. He managed the club for 96 league games – winning 46, drawing 23 and losing 27. They scored 136 times, conceded 81 and kept 41 clean sheets.
Courtenay finally took control of the club in July 2002 and instantly reappointed Collins as manager. Due to the long drawn out completion of the sale Collins worked with a weakened squad. He again though retained their League status and took them to Cardiff's Millennium Stadium for the 2002–03 Football League Trophy final. Conceding goals in the last 12 minutes by Liam Rosenior and Lee Peacock, Carlisle lost 2-0 to Bristol City with a 50 000 attendance at the game.
Collins was appointed General Manager of Scottish side Livingston in April 2008.
However an even greater unveiling took place in Floriana itself the very next day. After meeting his players for the first time Roddy was part of Maltese football history. Never before had such an event taken place on the islands where a manager was introduced to the fans. Introduced by Tony Zahra he spoke alongside new President John Camillieri, John Borg, Dominic Mc Donnell and Alan Moore, receiving massive applause for pledging himself to making Floriana F.C. a force to be reckoned with. The fans appreciated his honesty and applauded in agreement when he told them that "we are embarking on a long term project, all of us will stand together and make this club greater still!"
Having worked as a pundit for Radio Telefís Éireann, Newstalk Radio and The Star on Sunday, Collins began pre-season with Floriana F.C. on 2 July 2009. The club are also known as "The Irish" and footballing partners of, his former club, Shamrock Rovers and Russian side FC Volga Ulyanovsk. Collins had a very shaky start to his time in Floriana winning only 1 pre-season game and none of his first 3 competitive games including a humiliating 6–0 loss to eternal rivals Valletta F.C.. However just before he left the club he had guided the team to 7 unbeaten games.
His son, also Roddy, made his debut in the EA Sports Cup.
However, in November 2013 in a club statement it was revealed that Collins had "requested his P45" and had left the club.http://athlonetownfc.ie/club-statement.html
On 11 May 2014 it was announced on the Derry City website that Derry City and Roddy Collins had departed by mutual consent.
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