League One club appoint ex-Sunderland, Leeds United and Sheffield United player as manager

Former Sunderland, Leeds United, Hartlepool United, Sheffield United and Preston North End player Neil Collins has been appointed manager at League One club Barnsley.

The Tykes reached the play-off final last season but suffered heartbreak when Sheffield Wednesday netted a last-second winner at Wembley Stadium. However ex-Sunderland man Collins, 39, has been to take the club forward.

Collins was signed by Mick McCarthy in August 2004 for a fee of £25,000 and made 11 appearances during the 2004-05 season as Sunderland won promotion to the Premier League as champions of the Championship.

However. Collins failed to make a single appearance in the top-flight for the Black Cats as they were quickly relegated during their first season back in the Premier League. Collins then moved on to Wolves and various other EFL clubs before becoming a manager.

“First of all, I’d like to say a huge thanks to the Tampa Bay Rowdies for supporting me in exploring this opportunity," Collins said. "Without all the staff and players incredible hard work this would not have been possible.

“I am absolutely thrilled to be stepping back into the EFL and even more so to be joining a club of this stature. Everything I do will be aimed at repaying the faith shown in me by the owners and Khaled and of course giving the Barnsley faithful a team that they can be proud of.

“I am fortunate to be working with a squad that just achieved a play-off final but understand there is a lot of work to be done if we want to replicate that success and go a step further. I can’t wait to get started and work on getting this club back to where it belongs.”

“We are happy to be able to bring Neill to Oakwell to work with our staff and continue upon the foundation we implemented at the start of the last campaign," added Barnsley CEO Khaled El-Ahmad.

“The primary focus is now allowing Neil to settle in and begin to build relationships with the staff and players at Oakwell and commence preparations for the upcoming season.”