FOOTBALL'S SUPERSPY

Tony Collins, born in March 1926, was the first black manager in the Football League working in the early 1960s. Many used to think Keith Alexander held that honour when he bossed Lincoln City in 1993. By now we would expect to see more minority coaches fronting clubs but there are few. It may be prejudice?

Collins managed Rochdale for five seasons, earning £1500 a year. He led his team to the League Cup Final in 1962, at a time when that cup was not regarded as important to many top teams. Collins' fourth tier team lost 0-4 to Norwich over two legs, a rare occurence for such a lowly club.

Having worked with some of the greatest managers in football history, Atkinson, Revie,Stein, they all gave him work and there was no prejudice.

Born in 1926 in Kensington his mother was 17 years old and there was no father registered. Living with his mother's parents, he was a quick and skilful winger whose career was interrupted by the war. Playing for Sheffield Wednesday after the war (1947), York City, Watford, Norwich, Torquay and Crystal Palace his playing career eventually ended at Rochdale where he took over at short notice "team affairs".

His daughter revealed that he had made over a dozen applications to clubs for a coaching job and had received no replies. The evidence is now in the National Football Museum in Manchester.

Leaving Rochdale in 1967, after "banging his head against a brick wall", he became assistant manager at Bristol City and briefly manager in 1980, then chief scout at Leeds for Don Revie, where he found talented stars and compiled dossiers on the opposition. One of his dossiers for Revie when he was England manager was found before an international against Scotland and leaked to the Daily Record, so Collins became dubbed the "Superspy".

His reputation led him to be employed by Ron Atkinson at Manchester United. Collins "found" Ruud Gullit in Holland, Lee Sharpe, Mark Hughes, Norman Whiteside, Paul McGrath, his list was long and impressive. When Alex Ferguson took over at United, Collins was eased on the basis that "the scouting system was rubbish".

He then had a part time scouting job at Leeds United, employed at the tender age of 77. That was 13 years ago. At 90 years old he is still going strong.