Eamonn Anthony Stephen Collins (born 22 October 1965) is an Irish retired footballer and football manager, who is now a players' agent. In his playing career, he was the youngest player ever to turn out in a professional game in England, when he played for Blackpool in 1980, six weeks before his 15th birthday. For much of his career, he played for teams where his mentor at Blackpool, the former England player, Alan Ball, was either manager or player. He also played for the Republic of Ireland at the 1984 UEFA European Under-18 Football Championship and the 1985 FIFA World Youth Championship. Playing career Blackpool Collins was born at Inchicore, Dublin, close to Richmond Park, the home of St Patrick's Athletic. He signed apprenticeship forms with Blackpool in April 1980 and became a member of the club's youth team, playing in the under-18 league. On Saturday, 6 September 1980, he had played against the Manchester United youth team and scored twice. On the following Tuesday, 9 September, Collins was called into the squad to play at Bloomfield Road in an Anglo-Scottish Cup quarter-final first-leg tie against Kilmarnock. In a later interview, Collins recalled the events leading up to the match:"That Monday I was just back to my normal jobs, getting all the coaches' kit ready, cleaning the players' boots. From eight till ten, I did all my jobs. After that I was going out to train with the youth team and some of the reserves. Then the first team coach, Ted MacDougall, came over to me and said, 'Eamonn, you're training with the first team today'. I honestly thought it was a wind-up. They were playing a lot of practical jokes on me at the time, with me having just arrived over from Ireland at 14. Doing a lot of silly stuff. So I just kept on walking over towards the youth team. Then Alan Ball shouted across, 'Come over Eamonn, you're training with us'. Only then did I realise it was serious." In the match, Collins came on as a second-half substitute for Dave Hockaday and, at the age of 14 years and 323 days, became the youngest player to have appeared in a professional match in England. The match itself was won 2–1, with Kilmarnock winning the second leg 4–2, to go through to the next round on aggregate. Collins was surpassed as the UK's youngest ever footballer