Rotherham United claims proved insignificant after Grimsby Town transfer gamble | OneFootball

Rotherham fans negative impression of veteran Danny Collins wasn't what Grimsby experienced during his three-year stay at Blundell Park.

Signing veteran players in their twilight years doesn't always work out at all levels. But, on occasion, they can bring that nous, class, and footballing intelligence that proves invaluable to a side further down the pyramid.

Welsh international defender Danny Collins had a very solid career with the likes of Sunderland, Stoke City and Nottingham Forest in the top two tiers of the English game, and while his time with Rotherham United during the 2015/16 season didn't work out as he'd have hoped, his subsequent three-year spell with Grimsby Town proved a real success.

Collins began his career in his homeland with the likes of Mold Alexandra and Buckley Town, before signing for then fifth-tier outfit and hometown club Chester City in 2001.

After a loan spell with Vauxhall Motors, the centre-back, who'd started out as a forward in his younger years before moving back into a role that suited his attributes far better, began to flourish at the Deva Stadium, ultimately spending nearly three years with the Seals before Championship side Sunderland won the race for the defender, who'd become much coveted by EFL clubs after consistently impressing in non-league football.

Winning the second-tier title in his first season with the Black Cats, Collins had quickly gone from the non-league to the Premier League.

Finding himself in and out of the first-team at the Stadium of Light, Collins and his teammates suffered relegation back to the Championship after just one season, but the Chester-born man, who earned 12 caps for Wales across his 20-year professional career, and his colleagues quickly regrouped and won promotion straight back to the top-flight in 2007, lifting the second-tier title once more, this time under the stewardship of Roy Keane.

Collins grew into a vital part of the Wearsiders team at that time, ultimately being voted Fans' Player of the Year in both 2008 and 2009, making 161 appearances for the club in total.

At the beginning of the 2009/10 campaign, fellow Premier League outfit Stoke City agreed a fee with Sunderland that saw the Welshman join the Potters in their modern halcyon days under the leadership of Tony Pulis.

Like his time in the North East, Collins, who could also fill in at left-back when required, became a reliable figure for the Staffordshire side whose run to the FA Cup final in 2011 saw the club qualify for the following years' UEFA Europa League.

While the Wales international would feature in Europe for the Potters, he was becoming more of a fringe player for Pulis, and after loan spells with Ipswich Town and West Ham United respectively throughout 2011/12, Collins joined Championship side Nottingham Forest ahead of the following campaign.

Again, the defender initially became an important figure at his new club, ultimately spending three somewhat mixed seasons at the City Ground before joining fellow second-tier outfit Rotherham United in 2015, just short of his 35th birthday.

Collins had a difficult season in South Yorkshire

The 2015/16 Championship season was a turbulent one for Collins and the Millers.

While they eventually evaded relegation to League One, the New York Stadium club finishing 21st and just above the drop zone, Rotherham had a high turnover of players and managers at that time, a sure sign of a club in trouble.

While Steve Evans began the season in charge, Eric Black, Neil Redfearn, and finally, Neil Warnock, had spells in the Millers' dugout over the nine-month duration of the campaign.

On a personal level, it was a tough year for Collins, too. Playing 26 times for the club in total, the defender struggled for form and quickly lost the confidence of the Rotherham fan base in what was a largely unhappy time all-round for the aging centre-back.

Unsurprisingly, released after just one season with the Millers, Collins had to wait until mid-September and six weeks into the following season to be snapped up by another EFL club, but this, his final career move at the age of 36, would work out much better for the veteran.

Collins joined League Two Grimsby in the late summer of 2016, initially on a 6-month contract, as manager Paul Hurst looked to add some valuable Football League experience to his side that had won promotion from the National League just a few months prior.

Supporters of Rotherham were quick to inform Mariners fans that their new man wasn't particularly well-thought of by the Millers, and that the defender, was, perhaps, not up to the task at EFL level anymore.

Nothing could be further from the truth as far as Grimsby followers are concerned, however. The 36-year-old slotted straight in alongside the likes of Shaun Pearson, Josh Gowling and Danny Andrew as he helped his teammates consolidate their position in the Football League with a 14th-placed finish in their first season back in the 92.

Proving a class act at the lower level of League Two, Collins would spend the best part of three years at Blundell Park in total, working under Hurst's successors Marcus Bignot and Russell Slade, who both renewed his contract at points within their tenure, along with Michael Jolley, who equally valued the Welshman's nous and reading of the game during his spell in the Grimsby dugout during 2018 and 2019.

The time the defender spent at Blundell Park wasn't always plain sailing, however, with the Mariners embroiled in a relegation battle throughout the 2017/18 season. While only a strong run at the end of the campaign saved the club from a second relegation into non-league, Collins was one of the more reliable, consistent performers.

After being released at the end of the 2019 season at the age of 39, making 114 appearances in total for the Blundell Park side, the veteran had more than proved his worth, and showed those earlier claims made by supporters of former club Rotherham to be insignificant and wide of the mark at a lower level, where his understanding, calmness, composure, and leadership proved vital to multiple Mariners' managers.