John Collins

Hibernian

As a youngster, Collins played both rugby union and football before turning his attention entirely to football. At youth level, he played for Hutchison Vale between 1980 and 1984, captaining the side for four years, before signing as a professional with Hibernian. Collins played with the Hibees for six seasons, making his debut in 1985 aged 17, appearing 195 times and scoring 21 goals. During his spell at Easter Road, he was named the PFA Scotland Young Player of the Year for 1988.

Celtic

Collins signed for Celtic in 1990, becoming their first million pound player. He generally played on the left side of midfield, scoring 55 goals in 273 appearances. In April 1994, he became the first professional footballer using Adidas Predator boots to score a goal in a top-level match: he scored the opening goal of a 1–1 draw at Ibrox against Rangers, direct from a free-kick on the edge of the penalty box. He repeated that feat from almost the same position in the next Old Firm meeting at the same venue in August of the same year. During his time at Celtic he won only one trophy; the Scottish Cup in 1995.

Monaco

Collins moved to AS Monaco in the summer of 1996 on a free transfer under the Bosman ruling; Under the direction of Fergus McCann, Celtic attempted to obtain compensation for the loss of Collins, arguing that the Bosman ruling did not apply to this case because AS Monaco were based in the principality of Monaco and outside of European Union…

After retiring from club football in 2003, Collins spent time in Monaco with his family, while also obtaining coaching qualifications including the UEFA Pro Licence. On 31 October 2006, Collins was appointed as manager of Hibernian. Collins led Hibernian to their first national trophy in over 15 years, when they defeated Kilmarnock 5–1 in the 2007 Scottish League Cup Final. Despite the League Cup victory, Collins had a major dispute with his players just weeks later. A delegation of players met chairman Rod Petrie, where they complained about his training methods and match tactics. The players soon backed down and captain Rob Jones offered a public apology to Collins on their behalf. On 20 December 2007, Collins resigned from Hibernian with immediate effect, citing a disagreement with the Hibs board about the budget to bring in new players. His decision was taken just one day after the club opened new training facilities. Collins had also said in October 2007 that he had "no intention" of breaking his contract with Hibs, after turning down a possibility of becoming Queens Park Rangers manager. Lawrie Sanchez was sacked by Fulham the next day, which led to reports that Collins might move there. Collins distanced himself from this speculation, and Roy Hodgson was appointed by Fulham a week later. Collins was interviewed by West Ham United in September 2008. On 15 December 2008, Collins was appointed as the manager of Belgian club Charleroi. Collins was reunited with former…

Collins has appeared on the Sky Sports coverage of the UEFA Champions League and Sportscene's coverage of Scotland games. He worked for CBC Sports during their coverage of the 2010 FIFA World Cup.

International

Scores and results list Scotland's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Collins goal.

Managerial record