So it’s official.
Neill Collins has been made available for transfer by Wolves.
After a catastrophic end to last season, in which he lost his mind at Reading and subsequently lost his place in the squad, things didn’t look good for the big Scot. Promotion also meant that the defence would almost certainly be strengthened, as it has been, leaving him a long way down the pecking order.
Then of course, the writing really was on the wall when he wasn’t included in the squad for the tour of Australia, a clear indication that he is now considered surplus to requirements at Molineux.
Undoubtedly, there will be a few fans that are dancing on the rooftops after hearing this news. I can’t blame them really. He has after all made many mistakes in an old gold shirt; slipping over at crucial times, giving away silly topamax topiramate penalties and time after time making terrible errors in judgment.
But I’m not going to make this an article about slating Collins. I think he deserves a little bit more respect than that.
After all, it hasn’t ALL been bad.
He scored some important goals for us last season, most notably perhaps, the winner away at Doncaster in a match that looked to be going against us. He followed that up with a goal in the very next game at home to Sheffield United in a 1-1 draw. There were also a handful of decent performances, particularly at the start of the season alongside Stearman, which gave us a small glimpse of the player he could be if he cut out the ludicrous errors.
So despite all the calamities, slip-ups and defensive mishaps, we should at least respect the fact that Neill Collins contributed to the favourable position we find ourselves in today.
Some supporters might misconstrue an honest response of ‘relief’ as a flagrant show of disrespect to a loyal servant. Please don’t put me in that bracket – he just wasn’t good enough.
I loved his attitude, and if only every game was against ‘kick and rush’ opponents then he would be lying on a beach in Australia with the rest of the lads.
Examples of this were Sheff Utd away last season, when he fronted up and absolutely relished the battle with Beattie (no Mancienne in that momentous fixture folks). Another was the season before, against Stoke away, when he cleaned up Sidibe, Fuller, Fat Boy Parkin and every other lump they threw at him – and all that as a makeshift left back!!
But alas, we have moved on as a club, and we simply need a better quality centre back than one which cost about £200k from Sunderland stiffs. All the best Neill.
I pretty much agree with all of that Ben.
Here’s a question: Given he’s so good in the air, might he have been worth keeping around as a sub for games against the more physical sides in the Prem e.g. Stoke and Bolton?
I suppose we might already have defenders who are good in the air but better all round. He is awesome in the air though, the best I’ve seen at Wolves for a while.