How James Collins Has Scored His Way Into EFL Folklore

James Collins has shown that wherever he ends up, he has a knack for scoring goals.

Despite not necessarily making a name for himself until late in his career, Collins journey has excelled in recent years. The striker continues to mature an honourable stint across the English Football League, where he has achieved multiple promotions and a Golden Boot title.

Now 34-years-old Collins finds himself at Lincoln City in League One, where he has produced seven goals since signing in the January transfer window.

Early Days

James Collins has had quite the journey across English Football. Starting at 18-years old, the Irishman graduated from Aston Villa’s youth academy in 2009. Without making an appearance for Villa, the teenager was sent out on multiple loan spells - venturing out to Darlington and Burton Albion. During this time, the striker bagged a respectable number of goals to circulate his name around.

Collins was finally able to settle into a club when League Two Shrewsbury Town picked him up on an 18-month contract in 2011. Spending a year and a half at the club, the talisman managed to pick up 22 goals in 66 matches, including one against Premier League powerhouses Arsenal in the FA Cup third round.

ON THIS WEEK: In 2011, James Collins puts Town in front against @Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium #salop pic.twitter.com/gK2klBknTe

— Shrewsbury Town FC (@shrewsburytown) September 20, 2016

With stints at Swindon and Scottish side Hibernian, scoring handfuls of goals, Collins found himself back at Shrewsbury in 2014. Mr Consistent was certainly ready for round two as he produced 20 goals in 68 matches back at the Shrews in another 18-month spell, becoming the club’s top scorer in 2014/15. The equivalent of three years spent in Shropshire concluded when the striker was sent on loan duties over to Northampton Town in League Two, for the rest of the 2015/16 season. The striker plucked eight goals from 21 games and won promotion with the Cobbers.

Following that loan spell, James Collins made another move across the fourth division. Crawley Town, who had just finished 20th in League Two, picked the striker up on a three-year contract despite his accomplished competency of the league. Although this was a backwards move for Collins, he once again showed what he was all about. The then 26-year-old found the net 20 times in his 45 games in West Sussex, putting himself in the forefront of the shop window heading into the summer.

Late Bloomer

Although James Collins’ footballing portfolio included a plethora of goals at this point, he had never quite managed to make a consistent step up to League One or greater. This unexpectedly continued further following his triumphant campaign spent at Crawley.

The journeyman yet again signed for a League Two side; this time around it was Luton Town in 2017. 19 goals and a promotion from the fourth tier in his first season was an accurate foreshadowing of what his Luton Town career would look like. It followed with the 2018/19 season - a monumental one for the Hatters. James Collins and company reached new heights as they topped League One and took the club to the Championship at first attempt. Adjoining the team’s vibrant success, Collins topped the League One scoring charts with a statement 25 goals. The incredible success led to the Irishman’s first international call-up in 2019, scoring on his debut for Ireland against Bulgaria.

At the age of 28, the striker step foot in the Championship at last, rewarding his goalscoring prowess. The goals did not come to a halt from this step up; Collins managed 14 goals in his first Championship campaign, helping to keep Luton Town up. Then, after one more season of being Luton top scorer in 2020/21, the striker moved away from Bedfordshire for new challenges.

5️⃣0️⃣0️⃣-🆙

Congratulations to James Collins who made his 500th career appearance in club football when he came on yesterday 👏

Collo has scored 1️⃣7️⃣7️⃣ goals at Darlington, Burton, Shrewsbury, Swindon, Hibs, Northampton, Crawley and Luton Town since leaving Aston Villa 🎯#COYH pic.twitter.com/5T98i72Mjl

— Luton Town FC (@LutonTown) January 25, 2021

James Collins left his beloved Luton for a move across to South Wales with Cardiff, missing out on the Hatters fairytale rise. Despite Collins’ missed opportunity, the striker set up an admirable career himself.

Post Luton Town

It was never going to be easy for James Collins leaving the club he called home. Although Cardiff was a fine career prospect, it did not quite materialise how the striker would have liked. At 31-years-old, he only found the back of the net three times for the Bluebirds before leaving for newly relegated Derby County in League One.

Collins was acquired as part of Liam Rosenior’s heavy summer recruitment in 2022. The first season most definitely did not go to plan for the Rams as they failed to reach the playoffs in the third tier. The next season a much better one, however. Derby secured automatic promotion back to the Championship, with James Collins bagging 14 goals in the process for his sixth career promotion.

James Collins on my mind 🥰#DCFC pic.twitter.com/oOSta1FAG7

— Derby County (@dcfcofficial) July 2, 2024

Fast forward to this year's campaign, Collins was yet to find a single goal heading into the January transfer window so decided it was time to leave the Rams to join Lincoln City, six months after signing a Derby contract extension. Yet another League One move, the now 34-year-old continues to get the crowd jumping as he has scored seven goals since joining the Imps.

Goalscoring Notoriety

When you think James Collins, you think goals. The marksman continues to find himself up on the leaderboards. With a total of 90 League Two goals, he is the twelfth highest all-time League Two scorer – rivalling the likes of Andy Cook and John Akinde. Furthermore, with 77 goals in the third division, Collins is sat 18th in the League One scoring chart.

With his outstanding records, James Collins has quickly risen to become one of the EFL’s household names. Despite sharing his tallies across 13 clubs and his international team, the journeyman has remarkably managed to stay consistent for the majority of them. Even now at 34, the Irishman’s vision for goal does not seem to be tainting and who knows when it will.