‘Every decision I have made in football has been made with my family’
Nathan Collins is feeling at home in Brentford after big summer move
ON A wet Thursday evening in West London, Nathan Collins is on the move. The towering Leixlip man is hard to miss as he strolls across the green carpet for a glitzy bash in Shepherd’s Bush. EA SPORTS are launching FC 24 and the Brentford centre-half will be the face of the game in Ireland.
He’s joining luminaries such as Ian Wright, Rio Ferdinand and Kelly Smith at the EA SPORTS FC Clubhouse event. They have chosen wisely with Collins. One of the rising stars of Irish football, the 22year-old is an affable and pleasant presence, who also grew up playing the game, in its former guise of FIFA.
The shindig takes place not far from his new home. When Brentford signed him for £23million during the summer – making Collins the most expensive Irish player for the second time in his short career – the defender found a place just 10 minutes from their training ground.
He is an engaging interviewee but the one time he does grimace slightly is when mention is made of the number of times he’s moved. He doesn’t want to be known as a player
‘I WAS MADE CAPTAIN FOR WHAT I WAS DOING ON THE PITCH’
who jumps from club to club. The sense is that he wants to settle somewhere and Brentford already feels a good fit.
His former Burnley teammate Ben Mee is there – and was dropping texts to Collins during the summer, convincing him to come on board – and the Bees have fostered a reputation as a club that takes the long view. They didn’t shell out a club record transfer fee with the short-term in mind.
It’s beginning to feel like home, too. Nathan’s older brother Josh, a former League of Ireland player with UCD and Waterford, is based less than 20 minutes away. He’s playing Gaelic football in London and when he can, Collins ventures to Ruislip to cheer him on.
‘He hasn’t convinced me to join up yet,’ Collins smiles. ‘I was telling him they could throw me in goals if they put a snood over my face so nobody would recognise me, but I don’t think the club would be too happy!’
Perhaps the most unsettling effect of each of Collins’ three transfers was moving home every time. Burnley from Stoke-onTrent. Wolverhampton from Burnley. ‘Ah, it’s not too bad. I don’t really mind it, my ma comes over and helps me out and the fact my brother lives here too, he helps.’
The conversation doesn’t go on too long before Collins brings up family. Steeped in football, they have played a significant part in getting him to where he is. The lineage goes all the way back to his grandfather Michael, who lifted the FAI Cup for Transport in 1950. His three sons, Mick, David and Eamon, all played to a high level.
David, Nathan’s father, was signed by Kenny Dalglish at Liverpool in the late 1980s before joining Oxford United. Eamon, Nathan’s uncle and agent (‘he’s only ever going to be Uncle Eamon to me,’ Collins insists), became the youngest player in British professional football when he lined out for Blackpool against Kilmarnock in the Anglo-Scottish Cup in 1980 while Mick played for St Pat’s and Dundalk and has spent the past two decades scouting for Manchester City.
There is always good advice to be garnered at any family gathering. Similar to Evan Ferguson with his father Barry, those closest to Collins know the pitfalls of being a professional footballer across the channel. It helped him to grow up quicker than others.
‘Yeah, I think the knowledge I got from them has just made me a more mature and smarter player,’ Collins agrees. ‘I knew a lot more about the game at a young age than other players did. Even having my older brother (Josh) involved in the game before me, that really helped. He watches all my games and still to this day, knows more about the game than me. I wouldn’t be where I am without them.’
Collins’ potential was clear from his early days with Cherry Orchard, where his father was coach. By his mid-teens, there were plenty of big
Premier League clubs expressing interest, including the likes of Arsenal and Man City.
However, along with his family he decided on Stoke City and David, acutely aware that football apprenticeships don’t always result in a career, arranged with UCD that his son would enter the academy system at Belfield at 18, as his older brother had, if things didn’t work out at the Britannia Stadium.
‘Dad had all the bases covered,’ Collins says. ‘Going to Stoke was a family decision. Every decision I have made in football has been made with my family. The reason I chose Stoke is because it is a hardworking cub, hard-working people and it felt like home as soon as I went over. I had a good feeling about the place. And there were a few Irish boys there at the time too, which helped.’
Having joined at 15, he rapidly rose through the ranks and was playing regularly for Stoke’s first team by 17. At the start of the following season, just three months after his 18th birthday, Nathan Jones made him the youngest captain in the club’s history.
‘Thinking about it now, it was all a bit mad!’ he admits of Jones giving him the armband for the League Cup game against Wigan. He retained it a few days later, when they faced Leeds in the Championship.
‘At the time, I didn’t think about it too much. It was just another game, so it didn’t faze me.
‘As a kid, I was always captain of my teams, so I just did the same thing because I was made captain for what I was doing on the pitch, so I just had to keep doing that. There was no need to change anything.
‘Of course, it was a bit of a shock, because there were a lot of older, more experienced players on the team. I am so thankful to Nathan Jones for everything he did for me, he gave me my chance and a lot of opportunities.’
Premier League clubs were
‘THE IRISH CAMP GAVE ME BELIEF WHEN I WAS DOWN’
taking notice. In the summer of 2021, even though bigger clubs were again interested, Collins signed with Burnley, a decision reached once more as a family. Collins felt he could see a pathway with Sean Dyche, a defensively-minded coach, but found it tough to break up Mee’s partnership with James Tarkowski, making only five appearances before the turn of the year.
When Mee was injured in the second half of the season, Collins got his chance and played 12 of the last 13 Premier League games. His excellent form saw the Clarets rally in a bid to avoid relegation – Collins scoring his first top-flight goal in a vital win over Southampton. However, a final-day defeat to Newcastle sent Burnley down.
But Collins didn’t return to the Championship. That summer, Wolves paid £20million for him – the first time he set an Irish transfer record.
‘That’s not something I dwell on or think about,’ he says of twice breaking that particular record. ‘I don’t think it means much nowadays in football. I just want to play football, I don’t worry about price tags or anything like that.’
He started well at Molineux but following Bruno Lage’s departure, former Real Madrid manager Julen Lopetegui became Wolves’ head coach. Collins started the Spaniard’s first five games in charge and thought he played well, but the arrival of the experienced Craig Dawson in the January transfer window saw the Irishman demoted to the bench.
Even though starts were restricted in the second half of last season, Collins still made the seventh-most blocks of any defender in the top flight, indicating he could have been treated a little better by Lopetegui. He concedes it was a difficult time.
‘Of course, it was tough and it wasn’t nice. I want to play football and expect to play. Lopetegui didn’t say much to me. When he first came in, I thought I was playing at a decent level and the team were getting good results, so I think I was unfortunate to be dropped. He told me I would get my chance again, but it never really happened. But that’s football, isn’t it? I am not naïve enough to believe everything people say to you.’
During that time, the Irish management team spoke to him, encouraging him. Since making his senior debut in the 4-0 win over Qatar, Collins has developed into one of his country’s most important players and looks like a future Ireland captain. He has already collected the FAI Player of the Year award once and there is likely to be more of those awards in his future.
‘Yeah, the manager (Stephen Kenny) spoke to me at the time and just told me to keep working hard and when you come to us, you can put in a proper performance and show everyone what you can be. I worked with them, pushing myself to the limit in training to make sure I do that.’
It was Collins who forced that magnificent save from Mike Maignan which denied Ireland a point in Lansdowne Road, and he scored the goal to keep hopes alive in Greece, almost finding an equaliser near the end. That Athens performance, more than any other, has generated negativity around the manager, but Collins still backs Kenny.
‘Of course, there is noise, but that happens every manager when results are not what’s expected. Every manager gets pressure, but for me personally, Stephen and his backroom staff, Ricer (Stephen Rice), Sheasy (John O’Shea), Keith (Andrews), they have given me such confidence in myself, even when I was down and not playing at Wolves last season, when I came into camp, they gave me such belief that I could go and play at the highest level again. I’m really thankful for that.’
Given the goals he has scored for his country, including the marvellous solo effort against Ukraine, some have suggested his future home for Ireland may be in midfield – Collins started out in that position for Cherry Orchard, hoping to be ‘the next Steven Gerrard’.
‘I will play anywhere for my country, if they wanted to stick me up front, I would do that. Do anything for Ireland,’ he says.
When Brentford completed his signing, after Wolves had to get rid of some big names in a transfer fire-sale to comply with Financial Fair Play regulations, it was suggested that Thomas Frank could also carve him into a defensive midfielder. So far though, Collins has been used in the heart of his defence, but he was impressed by the charismatic Dane from the first moment they met.
‘He sold me what they are doing at the club,’ Collins recalls. ‘He knew what I was good at, knew what I needed to do to get better and he told me that he will make me a better player and I trust him to do that.
‘To feel wanted is a nice thing. He is really intelligent, thinks differently about the game, in a way that other managers don’t. And the players listen to him and believe in him. He wants his defenders to use the ball, and that gives you a lot of confidence. He wants me to express myself on the field.
‘I play my best football when I’m on the front foot and more aggressive. When I have to play more conservatively, I am not at my best and I think that is what the manager had seen. We are a good match.’
That high-risk strategy brings rewards, but it can also go wrong, as was evident last weekend when Brentford fell to a surprise 3-1 defeat to Everton. Brentford’s determination to play football in the right way means they are also susceptible to results such as that, but under Frank, they have shown a remarkable ability to bounce straight back.
They will feel there is an opportunity to get their season back on track this afternoon in the City Ground against Nottingham Forest. If they do, Nathan Collins will be at the centre of it all.
‘THE MANAGER WANTS ME TO EXPRESS MYSELF ON THE PITCH’
nNathan Collins was speaking at the EA SPORTS FC 24 Clubhouse event. EA SPORTS FC 24, the World’s Game, is out now on PlayStation 5, Xbox series S/X