Former Sunderland defender Neill Collins has been appointed as League One Barnsley's new boss. The 39-year-old Scot succeedes Michael Duff at Oakwell, with Duff having taken over at Swansea City over the summer in the wake of Russell Martin's departure from South Wales to become Southampton manager.
Collins arrives in South Yorkshire after spending five years in Florida as manager of Tampa Bay Rowdies in the USL Championship, and having been named Championship Coach of the Year as his side narrowly missed out on the title. He takes over a Tykes side that reached the League One play-off final last season, where they lost 1-0 to Sheffield Wednesday at Wembley.
During his playing days, Collins played in Scotland for Queen's Park and then Dumbarton, before joining Sunderland for a bargain £25,000 in the summer of 2004 under the management of Mick McCarthy. Collins made just 24 appearances for the Black Cats, scoring two goals, before being sent on loan to Hartlepool United and Sheffield United.
READ MORE: Sunderland's Corry Evans looks ahead to the next step in his comeback from long-term injury
He later went on to make permanent moves to Wolves, Preston, Leeds United, and Sheffield United, as well as a loan move to Port Vale. He joined Tampa in 2016 as a player before taking over as manager.
Speaking about his appointment, Collins told Barnsley's official website: "First of all, I'd like to say a huge thanks to the Tampa Bay Rowdies for supporting me in exploring this opportunity. Without all the staff and players incredible hard work this would not have been possible.
"I am absolutely thrilled to be stepping back in to the EFL and even more so to be joining a club of this stature. Everything I do will be aimed at repaying the faith showed in me by the owners and Khaled [El-Ahmad, Barnsley's chief executive] and of course giving the Barnsley faithful a team that they can be proud of.
"I am fortunate to be working with a squad that just achieved a play-off final but understand there is a lot of work to be done if we want to replicate that success and go a step further. I can’t wait to get started and work on getting this club back to where it belongs."
El-Ahmed added: "We are happy to be able to bring Neill to Oakwell to work with our staff and continue upon the foundation we implemented at the start of the last campaign. The primary focus is now allowing Neil to settle in and begin to build relationships with the staff and players at Oakwell and commence preparations for the upcoming season."
