2007–08 season. On 30 January 2009, Collins was rewarded with a new two-and-a-half-year contract by Sunderland, keeping him at the club until at least the end of the 2010–11 season. He won the Fans' Player of the Year award in 2008 and 2009. Stoke City On 29 August it was reported that Sunderland had accepted a bid from Stoke City for Collins (despite this, he was an unused substitute when the two sides played each other the next day) As expected, he signed for Stoke on 1 September for £2.75 million rising to £3.5 million. Collins made his Stoke debut in a 2–1 defeat at home to Chelsea in the following match against Bolton Wanderers Stoke were leading up until the 88th minute when Collins fouled Sam Ricketts in the penalty area costing Stoke three points. Collins struggled to establish himself at left back during the 2009–10 season often rotating with Danny Higginbotham. Collins begun the 2010–11 season in good form and has stated that he needs to keep performing well if he is to hold his left back position."There is a lot of competition here now in every area on the pitch, so the lads who are playing at the moment, like myself, know we have to keep performing. If we don't then there are options there for the manager to change things" However, he again struggled and was dropped back to the bench with Higginbotham and Marc Wilson being preferred at left back. Collins was left out Stoke's 25-man Premier League squad by manager Tony Pulis for the 2011–12 season. Collins joined Ipswich Town on a three-month loan deal from Stoke City on 9 September 2011. He played in 16 Championship matches for Ipswich scoring three goals before returning to Stoke. Collins stated that he expected to leave Stoke in the 2012 January transfer window. He did not secure a transfer away from Stoke and made a rare appearance in the fifth round of the FA Cup away at Crawley Town. He also played against Valencia in the UEFA Europa League at the Estadio Mestalla. On 9 March 2012, Collins joined West Ham United on loan until the end of the 2011–12 season. He made his debut on 10 March in a 1–1 home draw against Doncaster Rovers coming on as an 80th minute substitute for Kevin Nolan. On 17 March Collins scored on his full debut for