Interview with Jamie Collins

By Paul McNamara

It should be of little surprise that Jamie Collins’ strong bond with Havant & Waterlooville didn’t warrant any consideration when he opted to sign for local rivals Eastleigh at the close of last season. After all, the midfielder, who has excelled during his first few months at the Silverlake Stadium, has overcome greater challenges than any negative supporter reaction he might ever encounter from disaffected Hawks.

At the age of nine, Collins was the victim of a horrific freak accident which, with an extra dash of misfortune would have resulted in the amputation of his right leg from the knee downwards. The player, understandably, can recall events of that day with assured clarity.

‘I was on the way to watch my Dad’s friend play cricket at the local park. The game got cancelled, so we went to walk over to the shop and saw a car on fire. Being kids, as we were, we stood about watching, from about 40ft away. The car exploded, and the rod that holds the bonnet up shot out of the car and went through my leg. It left me with a big hole in my leg. I found out later, that if it had gone in an inch higher, I’d have lost my leg from the knee downwards, so I was lucky in one way, and unlucky in another’.

Rather than be cowed by the experience, Collins became imbued with a sense of determination and remarkably, within three years, was training at Watford FC.

‘The incident never really stopped me playing sport. If anything, it pushed me on even more to achieve all that I wanted to. 

‘I couldn’t do anything for a good ten months to a year. I was in a specialist burns unit, then going back there once every six weeks for a check-up. I had to wear a stocking that acted as a second skin for nearly two years. It was a long time, as a kid, to not be able to participate in any sport, but it was what I had to do to get better’.

Collins’ iron will was next tested when, at the age of 20 and having agreed professional terms the previous year, Watford deemed him surplus to their requirements. A dream that had begun with the coach of his Sunday team arranging a trial at the Hertfordshire club ended with a thud.

‘I dropped straight down to the Conference South with Havant & Waterlooville. Dean Holdsworth, who I’d known for a long time, was player coach there, and he told me to come down for the remainder of the season. I had some great times there. At the start it was difficult. When I went there, they were struggling at the bottom end of the table. I had three months that season (2004/2005), and at the end of it we managed to stay up’.

Collins subsequently joined the Hawks on a permanent basis, and stayed put until 2009. If the Barking born player expected that move to pull the curtains on any aspirations he had harboured to go into combat with the game’s finest players, he was happily proven incorrect.

Collins captained Havant & Waterlooville throughout their famous F.A. Cup run in 2007/2008, which culminated with a 5-2 fifth round defeat in front of over 42,500 fans at Liverpool’s fabled Anfield home. Ever the competitor, though, it isn’t his day on Merseyside which Collins most fondly recalls from that year’s exploits.

‘My favourite game was Swansea City at home (a Roberto Martinez led Swansea team that would go on to end the campaign at the top of League One, and which contained Leon Britton and Angel Rangel, two integral components in the Welsh outfit’s current Premier League side). In the away game we were battered and were lucky to come away with a 1-1. But, Swansea at home, on the day we outplayed them and fully deserved to win 4-2. We had a full house, 4,500 at West Leigh Park. It was an unbelievable atmosphere, and to know we were going to play Liverpool was the biggest buzz’.

Despite those electrifying days elsewhere in Hampshire, when Richard Hill, the manager at Eastleigh, offered Collins the chance to join the Spitfires’ promotion tilt, there wasn’t a moment’s hesitation.

‘No. I didn’t even think about it. I played for Newport County in this league and, as it turned out, we clinched the league title playing against Havant & Waterlooville. I was also at Hampton & Richmond Borough for a little while and played against Havant there, so I think I was away long enough for it not to make any real difference. I don’t think it would have made a difference (to his decision to sign for Eastleigh) even if I’d left and come straight here. It might have upset the fans, but as a player you have to do what is best for you’.

As Hill’s first capture of the close season, Collins was destined to be one of the new boys when the squad gathered for their first day back at work on July 1st – a scenario that he admits is guaranteed to send a few butterflies fluttering in the stomach.

‘I think no matter where you are that’s the case (being nervous on the first day in a job). I knew Glen (Southam) from when he came on trial at Aldershot. I’d played with Toddy (Chris Todd) at two previous clubs (Newport and Forest Green Rovers). I’d also actually been to the World Cup in Germany with Dean Beckwith to watch the England v Portugal match. It was a trip organised by a mutual friend. It was funny seeing him again.

‘But, no matter how many lads you know, coming into a new club on that first day is a little bit nerve wracking. The lads made me feel welcome straight away, though, so it’s easy to come in and be yourself’.

Having been a key part of the Newport side which ran away with the Conference South title in 2010, accruing 103 points (28 more than nearest challengers Dover Athletic), scoring 93 goals, and losing only three matches in the process, Collins is perfectly placed to judge whether his current club have what it takes to achieve their season’s aim – namely, promotion into the Conference Premier.

‘I think, player for player, the lads here are probably, on paper, better than the ones at Newport. As the season’s gone on we’ve developed a great team spirit. We’ve got a very good team for this level’.

Collins, however, does agree that the league in which he is now playing contains more quality than the one that he won with the Exiles.

‘I think so. We lost three games over the whole season at Newport. We went 64 games at home unbeaten. It was either, we were that good, or other teams were poor. It was probably a bit of both.

‘Now, if you look at Sutton United, they’re a really good team, Ebbsfleet United have strengthened, Dover are a good side, and Bishop’s Stortford are flying at the moment, but if we carry on the way we are we’ll be there or thereabouts at the end’.

The Spitfires have suffered one major blow this season – an F.A. Cup third qualifying round defeat at the hands of lowly Conference North club, Oxford City. Relentlessly positive, Collins suggests that Eastleigh’s cup elimination could yet be a blessing.

‘I think it works in two ways. When we went on the cup run at Havant, we missed out on the play-offs by two points. Would you have taken the play-offs over a cup run? Across a season you might have done, I don’t know. We were extremely disappointed to lose (against Oxford). We played OK and should have got something out of the game, but they had three shots and scored three goals. From our point of view it’s disappointing, but they’ve done well’.

With that blip confronted in the forthright manner of one of his rattling on-field tackles, there are further words of praise for his team-mates, and a confirmation of the personal ambition that burns as fiercely as it ever has.

‘I would love to play league football again. If you ask anyone where they want to play, it’s in the league. If you put this team we’ve got now in the league, and I’m not just saying it because I’m here, I don’t think we’d struggle. I think we’d do alright. Having played in the league with Aldershot (between August 2011 and January 2012), I think this team would stay up comfortably. If we can do well this season, you look at the teams that have been promoted from this league into the Conference Premier, they typically do well. There’s no reason why, if we went up, we couldn’t be up there again next year’.

Wise words, spoken by a wholly impressive individual.