I told Aston Villa to rip my contract up after what I said to Dean Smith and John Terry
James Collins has opened up on his decision to rip up a short-term contract with Aston Villa before even finishing his first training session after signing a deal under Dean Smith.
At the age of 35, Collins had been training with Villa under Steve Bruce before he was sacked in October 2018. Replaced by Smith, the former Brentford boss allowed Collins to continue training with the group and was handed a deal soon after.
Collins first signed for Villa in the summer of 2009 on the last day of the window before returning to West Ham in August 2012. Then, after his career at West Ham came to an end, he technically returned to another of his former clubs in Villa, but has since explained why he didn't follow through with the move.
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"My time at West Ham, the only thing I think about really is the way I left," Collins said on That Peter Crouch Podcast. "Fair enough if they didn’t want me, but I was there for 11 years and I probably should have retired after that I think. I went to Ipswich and I basically couldn’t get through training.
"I went back up to Villa when I left West Ham. I don’t know if this is out there, but I went up to Villa with Steve Bruce. I was going to sign, then Brucey gets the sack. I was thinking, ‘what’s going to happen here’. Dean Smith gets the job and JT [John Terry] goes in with him, so I spoke to JT and he said to keep on coming up and they’d have a look at you.
"I felt good, went up there and trained. They offered me a contract. I had to sign it on the Thursday to be on the bench for the Saturday or something like that. I signed it on the Thursday at about 10:20am. By the time I’ve signed the contract and gone out to training, the boys have started their warm-ups and they’re doing their sprints. I thought, me being old, I’ll just go straight into the sprints. I did a sprint and popped my calf.
"I just signed this contract for Villa. I went over to Dean Smith and JT and went, ‘boys, I’ve just popped my calf’. Because I did my calf so much I knew it would be quite bad. I went, ‘I’ll run in quick and run the contract up’. I ran back in to see Sharon, the secretary, asked her if the contract was sent off. She said no, so I said we’d have to rip it up because I’ve just pulled my calf.
"I could’ve sat there, but I knew my calves and I could’ve been two or three months [before returning to fitness]. I went back in and said to rip it up. I couldn’t do that to the club. Got fit after that and then ended up at Ipswich."
