Neill Collins: Barnsley appoint former Sheffield United defender as boss
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Neill Collins made 177 league appearances for Sheffield United between January 2011 and March 2016
Barnsley have appointed ex-Sheffield United defender Neill Collins as their new head coach on a two-year deal.
The 39-year-old Scot takes over at Oakwell after four years in charge of the Tampa Bay Rowdies in the USA.
Collins replaces Michael Duff, who left to take over at Championship side Swansea City in June.
Duff led the Tykes to fourth in League One last season, but they were beaten by South Yorkshire rivals Sheffield Wednesday in the play-off final.
Collins, who also had spells as a player with Dumbarton, Sunderland and Wolves, will manage USL Championship side Tampa for the final time on Saturday before coming to England.
The Rowdies are third in the Eastern Conference with 31 points from 17 games so far this year, and owner Stuart Sternberg said they would "say farewell with a mixture of pride and sadness"., external
"I am absolutely thrilled to be stepping back into the English Football League and even more so to be joining a club of this stature," Collins told the Barnsley website., external
"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."
Collins spent five years with Sheffield United before leaving to join Tampa in March 2016.
The former centre-back retired from playing to become the club's manager in May 2018, and was named the league's coach of the year in 2021.
He is the Tykes' fifth managerial appointment since October 2020, with the club starting the season at home to Port Vale on Saturday, 5 August.
Collins has won 98 of his 175 matches in charge of Tampa after taking over in May 2018
Analysis - Big step up but Collins working from solid base
BBC Radio Sheffield's Adam Oxley
As soon as Josh Windass scored his 123rd-minute play-off final winner at Wembley to send Sheffield Wednesday to the Championship and keep Barnsley in League One, everyone connected with the Reds feared that Michael Duff would be on his way.
And so it proved, as Swansea came calling for the man who had turned Barnsley into a promotion-challenging team from the shell of a relegated side he inherited less than 12 months previously.
Replacing Duff was always going to be a difficult job, but players, coaches and even chief executives are like a revolving door at Oakwell, with mixed success over recent years.
Collins is well-respected locally from his five years and 200-plus appearances at Bramall Lane - the 39-year-old Scot initially left the Blades to join Tampa in the USA as a player, before being promoted to manager in 2018.
He has been successful in the United Soccer League Championship, but clearly taking over an aspiring League One club in England will be a big step up.
It's no doubt a left-field appointment by Barnsley, but such appointments have worked before, with at-the-time-unknown head coaches like Daniel Stendel, Gerhard Struber and new Watford boss Valerien Ismael all enjoying relative success.
The Reds will expect another tilt at promotion and, with a lot of the same players still at the club, Collins has a good base to work from.