Collins now star traction
JAMES COLLINS plans to park the tractor this afternoon after admitting he felt too young to spend his weekends watching others in the driving seat.
The Ipswich centre-back is determined to keep Norwich at bay when the Championship leaders host the bottom club in El Tractico.
Instead of his first Old Farm derby, the 35-year-old former Wales star could have been safely retired after his rejection by West Ham at the end of last season and self-imposed departure from Aston Villa.
But Collins – brought to Ipswich as a free agent by manager Paul Lambert last month – soon realised it was too early to hang up his boots.
“I didn’t really know what to do with myself on Saturday afternoons, so I jumped at the chance to come back into a challenge,” says Collins.
“Hopefully, we will do well because I was really missing football. I had worked with Paul Lambert for about two or three weeks at Villa before I went back to West Ham. There was no hesitation.”
Collins bounced around between West Ham and NORWICH boss Daniel Farke says both he and Paul Lambert know what it is to exceed expectations.
Lambert brings rockbottom Ipswich to Carrow Road having previously taken the Canaries to the Premier League in two seasons.
Farke also recalled how Lambert arrived at Villa, with two spells at either club, before his most recent period in the Midlands came to an unusual end in December.
Signed on a short-term deal by former Villa boss Steve Bruce, the defender suffered a calf injury in an early training session and ripped up his own contract.
“It just didn’t seem right. I went back to the club and they’d been so good to me and I had great times there under Martin O’neill.
“I trained two sessions with Steve Bruce and he got sacked. Fortunately, Dean Smith and John Terry were great to me. I got offered a short-term deal, signed it, and then the injury happened.
“At my age, injury is a factor and my record proves that I struggle with little niggles.
“I didn’t think twice about it. I saw Dean Smith on the way off the field and told them not to send the contract or rip it up.”
Villa’s loss could be Ipswich’s gain, though, if Collins’ streetwise stopper skills can prevent them leaking goals at their present rate.
Fifty one goals conceded so far this season but Collins said: “There are some clubs you go to and you get the feeling they’re already down. But that’s not the case here. ” unfancied Borussia Dortmund in 1996 and ended the season as a Champions League winner.
“Sometimes you have to reach for something extraordinary,” Farke said. “This season after three difficult seasons no-one would have thought we would be the league leaders.”