The Aaron Collins story!

Tuesday 15th November 2016.

Notts County are winning 1-0 against Boreham Wood in an FA Cup First Round Replay at Meadow Lane, the game is deep into injury-time, and then BOOM!

Aaron Collins (No.39) gets possession around 25 yards out and with an instinctive swivel to get away from a defender followed by a cute touch to set himself, he smashes the ball with venom straight into the top corner and wheels off with a beaming smile as the White Stripes' 'Seven Nation Army' blasts out over the tannoy.

He knows he's bagged a worldie and it's some goal to cap a five-minute cameo from the bench. It's also imprinted in my mind forever because that's the moment where my belief in Aaron Collins and what he can do on a football pitch, first began.

Aaron Collins just being Aaron Collins (Photo: Dan Westwell).

I've followed his career ever since that night - from loan spells at Tranmere Rovers (scored in a record-equaling 9-0 win over Solihull Moors), Maidstone United (the Kenzo jumper for the unveiling), Colchester United (bagged in the Essex Derby) and then Morecambe where he really kicked on and had the unique and sometimes spectacular Liam Mandeville as one of his partners in mayhem. For a brief period, he even re-united with the brilliant Tom Owen-Evans (his old youth team pal) when he returned to Newport County, the club where it properly began for him, in the second part of the 2017/18 season.

Deceptively strong (much more so than he gets credit for in my opinion) and possessing a ripped physique, there's loads of hidden qualities to his game other than his brilliant technique which enables him to unleash the spectacular in the blink of an eye - something he's produced so many times now.

He's also developed a habit for scoring crucial late goals throughout his career. A last-gasp strike at Oldham for Morecambe was one, the 96th minute winner at Mansfield two years back for Forest Green was another, whilst the 50th goal of his career caused mayhem just a few weeks back because it completed the comeback at Rochdale and secured his first ever hat-trick in professional football.

His celebrations can be just as memorable and his first goal for FGR (away at Salford; went to that game) is one of several which have gone viral. It was a pleasure putting together his goals compilation recently and I wouldn't do it for just any old footballer!

Talent on the pitch is one thing but it's what someone is like as a person which is far more important and, again, Aaron Collins has every quality a manager would want in a dressing room.

Everyone I've spoken to speaks so highly about him. If his constant smile doesn't immediately win people over then his humble nature and hard-working attitude certainly will do. Without an ego and completely down to earth, if you treat him right then he'll run through the proverbial brick wall and give you absolutely everything he’s got.

Just ask Joey Barton about that!

If that’s not enough, his personality helps get the best from others. If somebody is struggling, having Aaron Collins nearby... and just basically being Aaron Collins, whether he's sticking his tongue out or being one of the lads, can lift the gloom straight away.

He's totally genuine and it's easy to spot from a million miles away because it's qualities which no transfer fee in the world can buy! If I could watch a team every week that has just 25% of Aaron Collins' qualities as a person then I'd die very happily because his aura and his impact is that good.

Aaron Collins just being Aaron Collins... scoring THAT goal against Boreham Wood
(Photo: Dan Westwell).

Of course, it’s very, very easy when things are going well and everyone loves you, but when times are tough, he also has that desire and determination to keep working hard in order to be the best he possibly can - not just as a player, but as a person too.

It's why he overcame rejection as a youngster when he got released by Bristol Rovers and had to go and work in McDonalds before joining Newport's youth team. It's why he overcame a difficult spell at Wolves where he had multiple loans out for 'experience' with little in the way of first team chances. It's why he overcame the double disappointment of not getting promoted two years in a row at Forest Green Rovers. And, very recently, it's why he overcame possibly the biggest frustration of his career to date in not scoring for so long at the start of this season but still went on to be top scorer with 19 (not 18; sorry Sam Finley) goals from November onwards.

In those fleeting but real moments of self-doubt which happens to everyone at some point in life, it takes an inner-resilience to overcome stuff, and everything he's achieved is testament to the guy he is!

But deep down, and above everything, he’s still just a big kid at heart with bags of enthusiasm and joyfulness whose primary aim is to make his mum, dad and girlfriend proud and be a great big brother for Lewis who is still at Newport. The escapade up the traffic lights in his full Bristol Rovers kit which went viral shows he's as barking mad as 'Alfie' (you've got to know your players) and he's just got unlimited amounts of love and energy.

There's a big reason why Bristol Rovers got promoted this season! And there’s an even bigger reason why, in years to come when little Junior Gasheads have become fully grown adults, they'll always buzz off the memories of this team. 

What a wonderful legacy that is!

Aaron Collins just being Aaron Collins (Photo: Bristol Rovers FC).

That result against Scunthorpe on the final day of the season was ALWAYS going to happen. If you know, you know - and you only have to take one look at the togetherness by everyone in the celebrations following the last gasp winner at Rochdale to know something special was brewing from a unique group of players who possessed that certain something. It happens only once in a generation at even the best clubs across the country.

Only a small pool of footballers ever get to be part of something so special in their careers.

Promotions happen but the unbreakable bond is on another scale altogether and for Aaron Collins, Saturday 7th May 2022 was the culmination of years of knockbacks, graft to prove people wrong and reach a definitive moment in his life where he could experience something beyond the realms of what he ever thought was emotionally possible.

In those moments on the pitch afterwards where he probably didn't have a clue what he was saying, or up the traffic lights on Gloucester Road at ten o'clock at night, or at the Awards Night on the Sunday when he's stood like a movie star in sunglasses with his arms aloft, every part of his personal journey to reach that moment will have felt worth it. Every sacrifice, every setback and every frustration was released in those moments and they can be cherished forever now!

And what will mean so much more to him is that he knows he's made his mum, dad, girlfriend and entire family even prouder of him than they already were.

So happy birthday for next week mate, keep doing exactly what you're doing and never change!

And as you've probably been engrossed reading this for the last few minutes, you might have forgotten the words to 'Happy Birthday'. It goes like this... ‘DON'T YOU KNOW PUMP IT UP’ - THE GAS ARE GOING UP!'

Aaron Collins just being Aaron Collins (Photo: Bristol Rovers FC).