Derek Collins

{{short description|Scottish footballer}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2021}}

{{Infobox football biography| name = Derek Collins

| image =

| fullname = Derek Collins

| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1969|04|15|df=y}}

| birth_place = Glasgow, Scotland

| height = {{height|ft=5|in=8}}

| position = Defender

| youthyears1 =

| youthclubs1 = Renfrew Waverley

| years1 = 1987–1998

| years2 = 1998–2001

| years3 = 2000–2001

| years4 = 2001

| years5 = 2001

| years6 = 2001–2005

| years7 = 2005–2006

| clubs1 = Greenock Morton

| clubs2 = Hibernian

| clubs3 = → Partick Thistle (loan)

| clubs4 = → Preston North End (loan)

| clubs5 = → Sliema Wanderers (loan)

| clubs6 = Greenock Morton

| clubs7 = Gretna

| caps1 = 417

| caps2 = 40

| caps3 = 12

| caps4 = 0

| caps5 =

| caps6 = 117

| caps7 = 17

| goals1 = 11

| goals2 = 0

| goals3 = 1

| goals4 = 0

| goals5 =

| goals6 = 1

| goals7 = 0

| nationalyears1 =

| nationalteam1 =

| nationalcaps1 =

| nationalgoals1 =

| club-update = 21:53, 26 September 2009 (UTC)

}}

Derek Collins (born 15 April 1969 in Glasgow) is a Scottish former professional footballer.

Collins started his playing career with Greenock Morton where he spent over a decade after making his debut in 1987. In 1997 Collins joined Hibernian and returned to Greenock Morton via loan spells at Preston North End,{{cite news|url=http://www.footballsquads.co.uk/eng/2000-2001/d1/preston.htm|title=Preston North End|publisher=FootballSquads|accessdate=11 September 2008}} Partick Thistle{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/scot_div_2/1088216.stm|title=Partick Thistle 3-0 Stenhousemuir|work=BBC Sport|date=26 December 2000|accessdate=11 September 2008}} and Sliema Wanderers of Malta.{{cite news|url=http://www.maltafootball.com/archive/news/2001-08.shtml |title=Latest News |publisher=maltafootball.com |accessdate=11 September 2008 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20071214214210/http://www.maltafootball.com/archive/news/2001-08.shtml |archivedate=14 December 2007 }}

In his second spell with Greenock Morton, Collins established himself as the holder of the record number of appearances for the club. (534 appearances, overtaking the previous record holder, David Wylie, by 52 games.)

In January 2005, Collins signed for Gretna where he combined his playing role with coaching duties before becoming a coach full-time for the 2006–07 season.

Derek Collins also has the honour of being the only player to play in all four of Scotland's senior leagues with the same club (Greenock Morton), a feat he achieved when he captained Morton against Gretna in Gretna's first ever Scottish Football League game.

When Davie Irons left Gretna for Morton as manager, Collins went with him as his assistant.

In September 2009, after a poor start to the season, Collins and Irons were sacked by Morton.{{cite news|url=http://scotzine.com/2009/09/21/davie-irons-sacked-as-morton-manager/|publisher=scotzine.com|title=Davie Irons sacked as Morton manager|date=21 September 2009|accessdate=26 September 2009|archive-date=10 January 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200110203719/http://www.scotzine.com/2009/09/21/davie-irons-sacked-as-morton-manager/|url-status=dead}}