“I knew I was ready. I’d spent enough years coaching at a high level to know I was good at the job, so walking out onto the grass to look after our first team group at the outset was tremendously exciting.
“I wasn’t their manager or coach, so the pressure was on to deliver quality sessions and I did feel under scrutiny at first, but the longer I spent in the role the more I enjoyed it.
“Savouring every bit of the experience, I don’t mind confessing that when the new head coach was eventually announced, I felt a tinge of disappointment. Those 42 days absolutely flew by.”
This is the voice of Wolverhampton Wanderers’ Under-21 head coach James Collins, reflecting on his spell in joint-caretaker charge of the first team at Molineux between October and November 2022.
Upon Bruno Lage’s departure, Under-18s head coach Steve Davis and Collins were asked to be joint interim managers. It was decided that Davis would be responsible for all media duties and dealing with the board, while Collins was given the task of coaching the players.
Describing himself as task-orientated and somebody ‘more concerned with the X’s and O’s’, the dynamic between Collins and Davis, a well-regarded people person, was very natural.
The duo, who had worked together previously at Crewe Alexandra, dovetailed well but results across their eight matches in charge were mixed.
Unable to turn the tide, Wolves won twice, drew one and lost five during a period between Lage’s dismissal and the arrival of Julen Lopetegui.
Building trust and team cohesion
“Lage was a fantastic coach, a brilliant tactician, but maybe it was not a key strength of his to connect with the players, so it was quite easy for us to get some quick wins at the outset by showing plenty of love and interest in the players as individuals,” recalls Collins as he looks back on that spell in caretaker charge.
“Steve and I sat down with the leadership group early on and asked what they felt they needed from us, and the meeting got a very positive response.
“From my end I also had to earn their trust on the grass,” he continues.
“Players will quickly sniff you out and lose respect for you if they don’t like the sessions or are not having you as a coach. Thankfully that was one area I knew I probably didn’t have to worry about.”
Adapting to tactical challenges
Our conversation drifts from the training ground to the ‘surreal’ nature of match days where the caretaker pair had to pit their wits against the likes of Mikel Arteta, Brendan Rodgers, Roy Hodgson and Graham Potter.
They were pinch yourself moments but when in game mode, Collins says it was not difficult to focus.
“You're trying to find solutions to their tactical problems, and they're trying to find solutions to yours. It’s an 11v11 game that in many ways isn’t that different to taking the Under-18s at Crewe Alexandra,” he says without any hint of irony. “When you’re in the moment you have the blinkers on and concentrate solely on the work you need to do.
“Facing Potter’s Chelsea was an eye opener though,” the 46-year-old confesses. “They were changing their system every 10 minutes, and as soon as we altered ours to cope with it, he would switch to something different. At that point I was thinking ‘wow, this doesn’t happen every week in Under-21 football!’
“It was an exciting, wonderful experience that can only help you improve as a coach.”
Uncertainty in caretaker roles
From the outset Collins and Davies did not have a fixed timeframe from the club in terms of how long their caretaker roles would last.
At one stage it seemed near-certain that Michael Beale would be taking over at Molineux, but that deal fell apart at the last minute, creating an extension to the limbo period.
“As a coach you are always trying to build, but as we were operating day-to-day, unsure of how long we would be in place, we held back from that a little. If I’d known we would stay on for as long as we did, we could have put slightly longer-term plans and ideas into place,” admits Collins ruefully.
Commitment to youth development
“Looking back on what we did, I am so pleased we gave opportunities to some of the young players though. Steve and I had a very long conversation on this topic, and we felt we couldn’t really go back to our day jobs if we hadn’t given some of the boys a chance.
“There would no point in us telling the senior management how good some of our Under-18 and Under-21 players were, if we didn’t put any of them in when we had the chance, so I’m proud we brought the likes of Joe Hodge and Hugo Bueno into the team and gave them opportunities.
“Human nature tells you experienced players will be more reliable when results are on the line, so I think it’s incredible how some Premier League managers have the courage and bravery to throw young kids in. It was a different, slightly unique scenario for us.”
Early coaching beginnings at Crewe Alexandra
Collins may have been thrown in at the deep end with Wolves, but with 26 years of coaching at professional level already behind him at that point, he was more than prepared.
His journey began at Crewe, when at the age of just 18, having only just signed his first professional contract, the first team manager at the time asked him and teammate Neil Critchley (current Blackpool manager) if they would start coaching some of the club’s junior teams.
Taking up the story Collins recalls, “Our first thought was ‘does he not rate us as players?’ We were teenagers just starting out with our minds on having great playing careers, so if I’m honest neither of us really fancied doing it at that point.
“That said we both recognised it was a privilege to be asked, and we couldn’t really turn it down. So, the pair of us started coaching in the evenings, taking games on Sundays, and we’d also shadow first team coach Steve Holland (current England assistant manager) when he was doing evening sessions with the under-9s, under-10s etc.
“Playing and coaching at the same time helped my understanding of the game, and watching how the Manager and Steve [Holland] would put on the same sessions with the under 10s, 14s or 16s as they did with the first team – adapting it to suit their abilities – was a real eye opener. They were such clever coaches to learn from.
“Looking back, it was like a university of coaching. I’ll forever be grateful for those early opportunities.”
Collins made 24 appearances for Crewe Alexandra before moving on to part-time National League side Northwich Victoria in 2001. During that period, he continued coaching the younger age groups at his former club.
Collaborative coaching success
In the summer of 2002, impressed with the development made by Collins and Critchley, Crewe offered the pair full-time roles within the Academy.
Unusually, the good friends job shared the Under-16 and Under-18s, switching roles at Christmas so that they both enjoyed half a season as head coach at each age group. For FA Youth Cup ties they would come together as joint managers, and it was a system which worked well for them.
In the years that followed, they each worked their way up the ranks at Gresty Road until Critchley left in 2013 to join Liverpool’s Academy.
Within a couple more seasons Collins had progressed from the Under-23s to being a first team coach at Crewe, working in tandem with manager Steve Davis, who would later be reunited with him at Wolves.
Setback and transition to Head of Coaching
Early in 2017 when Davis was dismissed, Collins felt there was a mutual understanding that he would be next in line to become first team manager, but instead the club opted to recruit David Artell.
With a new backroom team arriving, he was offered a position as Head of Coaching at the club.
“It’s a really good job but for me at that time, it just wasn’t right,” he says. “I’d had my first real kick in the teeth as a coach and it hit me hard. I felt I had done my apprenticeship and was ready to manage. I had to be out on the grass, connecting with players. I did my best in that role, but those two years were tough.”
The challenges at Premier League Under-21 level
On New Year’s Day 2020, Collins ended his long association with Crewe to become Wolverhampton Wanderers’ Under-21 coach.
Across the past four and a half years – broken up briefly by that spell with the first team - it is a role he has revelled in, and one that he continues to enjoy.
What are the biggest differences he has found?
Without hesitation Collins replies, “The pathway to the first team is less clear, because the standard of Premier League football is so enormously high. For talented young players to get to where they want to be, the journey is simply not as clear as it might be for someone at Crewe, where the difference between the Under-21s and first team is not too great, and opportunities are more plentiful.
“Some players arrive with me expecting to quickly make the first team, so a big part of my job is navigating some of them through the realism of how hard it’s going to be for them to make the next step.
“They’ve been stars at the younger age groups, but in the Under-21s they might have to go out on loan or spend lots of days being a ‘mannequin’ of sorts in first team training. As a coach at this level, you do spend more time talking to the players, guiding them through a period where their mental strength will be tested.”
Embracing uncertainty and learning from experience
One of the great frustrations for many coaches operating at Under-21 level is the constant uncertainty over how many players will be asked to join in first team training at the last minute.
For Collins though, it is not a problem, and his past experiences have been instrumental in helping him cope.
“In my early days at Crewe we’d have technical sessions on a Friday night that would be open to all age groups. Sometimes 25 would turn up, another time you’d have six, and they’d all be of different ages. Until they stood in front of you, there was no way of planning the session out,” he reminisces with a smile.
“I think that helped me become more adaptable as a coach, and it’s something I’ve carried with me. In the Under-21s we are here to service the first team anyway, and I’m totally fine with that. If my players get pulled out of a session to train with world class first teamers that’s better than anything I can give them anyway.”
So, after getting a taste of life at Premier League level in that joint-caretaker role, we conclude our chat by asking if the experience has altered Collins’ perspective on which direction he’d like his career to take.
“I love developing players, improving young footballers and trying to affect their lives positively, so if you said I’d be doing this until I retire, I’d think I was the luckiest man in the world,” he says.
“But the Premier League is the pinnacle, so if a door opens, I would relish the chance to work at the highest level again. In truth I’d love to be a first team coach.
“I think I’ve proven I can do that job well, and I’d back myself to be a success.”
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