Football Daily - Nathan Collins - The Football Interview

Episode Date: March 12, 2026

In this week’s edition of the Football Interview, Kelly Somers speaks to Brentford and Republic of Ireland captain Nathan Collins. They discuss his journey into football coming from a footballing family and moving to England at the age of 15 to join Stoke City's academy. He talks about being the first in his family to play for Republic of Ireland and their chances of making the World Cup this summer. He also speaks about life at Brentford under Keith Andrews. 0’30 - First memories of playing football and always being around football 1’30 - Could he have ended up in Gaelic football and first football team 2’40 - His first big break and coming over to England at 15 3’53 - What game would he relive? 5’00 - Has he allowed himself to think about making the play off with Ireland? 5’30 - Keith Andrews coming in and his relationship with him 6’45 - What was he like as a youngster and family 8’36 - How he spends his spare time 9’40 - What do people get wrong about him? 10’49 - What would he be if he wasn’t a footballer? 11’00 - Post football 12’00 - Proudest moment and what else he wants to achieve

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This isn't about quarterly earnings or about tech reviews. It's about what technology is actually doing to your work and your politics, your everyday life. And all the bizarre ways people are using the internet. Listen on BBC.com or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Kelly Summers and this season I'll be interviewing some of the biggest names in football asking them the questions they don't normally get asked as I try to find out more about the person behind a player or manager. The first half will be on football the second on their life away from the game. This isn't just any interview, this is the football interview.

And this week's guest is the Brentford captain Nathan Collins. Let's firstly talk about your first memory of playing football. One memory that always pops into my head, it was my first goal at like four or five and I took it around keeper and I scored. I don't know if it actually happens. I don't think anyone know if it actually happened but it always just popped into my mind. There's no witnesses to this. Potentially not. I've never actually said it really openly. So I think it happens but I'd be surprised if I didn't. If I just had no with this like so, so clearly. Take me back to that time in your life. Was football a big thing? I grew up at football basically. Everything I'd done throughout my whole

life was with football or any kind of ball really. I played a lot of Gaelic football as a kid. I would have trained football twice with my team during the week and then I would have trained twice with my Gaelic team and then I had a football match on the weekend and then a Gaelic match on the weekend. So when parents would drive me to my match, watch that match, finish that match, go home, eat something really quick, straight back out the door for another match and then they'd go to the pub and relax and they were finishing with me then. They were happy. Was there ever a chance you could have gone into Gaelic football rather than football? Well, you could admit it. I was not bad. When I was that age, I was bigger than everyone.

I'd have to run over everyone. So I had that advantage. I'd love it. I'd love to go back and play one day or when I finish football. I really enjoy it. Talk me through your first football team then. You've told me about this goal that the jury's out on whether it got scored or not. What was the first proper team that you played for? First proper team would have been Cherry Orchard. I think my granddad was a coach and sometime he might have played for them. My dad played for my uncle, played for my cousin played for them.

My other uncle played. My older brother played. You were always going to be a footballer. Yeah, I probably had no choice really. I started there for like six, seven and I played there until 15. I grew up, basically I've done a lot of my grown-up playing football there. There was times I trained with my brothers team and they'd be four years older than me and my dad would put me into that training session and I'd get bullied and battered and I think he kind of wanted me to get that feeling.

Character building. Yeah, where then I'd go back and I'd make sure I'm still have to do the best at my own age group and then when I go with my brothers I have to do a lot more to be there but it was a bit of character building. I always just wanted to be the best player I could be kind of. What was your big break then? or the moment? I guess my first break could be when I made my debut for Stoke. Away to Swansea, we were down to nine men.

I think the game was kind of over with 10 minutes to go and the manager put me on and maybe that was my big break of getting a chance or just put my name into a first team match. Going into a game where your team are down to nine men. That's character building. It was thinking of it. I was actually kind of mad. You came over to England when you were quite young,

didn't you? How old were you? I was 15, yeah. What was that like? I loved that. Did you? Desper. I left school and played football for every day.

Like I loved it. You put it like that. Yeah, I loved it. Listen, it wasn't easy. You see all your mates growing up together and, you know, it's kind of making that jump from like a teenager to an adult and kind of enjoying life in a different way where I was in Diggs, just dedicated, just sleeping early eating and just playing football and not really participating in life itself.

So that was always tough to see that. And but it's all I ever wanted was just to play. football so I wasn't really that bothered. I was so happy just to be able to be at an academy and enjoy my game. We've gone on to have a brilliant career over here in England at a few different clubs now. Has there been any particular game that if you could relive it, you would. My Ireland debut maybe something like that. Maybe the hungry game relive that over and enjoy that whole moment again because stuff like that doesn't happen often. Go on make the island fans happy. Talk us through your memories of that hungry game. It's a blur. All I remember is the last human is that's all I

really cared about in the end of the game. It was a bit of a nutting game kind of. There wasn't a lot of chances either end. I don't think we were playing our best. I don't think they were playing great. I think it got to 75th maybe. And you're just like, I don't know. It's just not happening really.

It's not clicking. We're not creating enough. And then magic, a little bit of magic from Finn. He chipped a little pass through for Troy and it'll love to finish. And you're like, oh, there's a chance here. There's a massive chance. And then last kick of the game,

you get to toe onto it. And you're like, you can't believe. It does pictures and you just see like a hundred Irish players and staff just running. Not in any direction, just randomly and you're just like, how can this game sometimes just have this effect on you and on your body and just to, and I think that's why you play football. I think that's what you want, them moments to enjoy them and just to have them moments in life is something special. Well, incredible times for Ireland and potentially even better, it's not been so bad

at Brentford this season, has it? No, it's been an enjoyable season. Yeah, really good. What's the secret? Because everyone wants to know, you'll know, that the wider kind of noise was that you've got a new manager in, never managed in the Premier League before, lost Thomas Frank. It's going to be a difficult season for Brentford where you've dispelled any of those theories. When you're in football, you hear a lot of things and you see on TV and whatever, on Sky Sports, whatever, or on BBC. We never said that. But like, nobody knows what's going on in the building. No one knows the quality of squad we have or players,

bringing in or the staff the hours they do or so when we come back from our off to summer off and we come back in like this it just felt like another day what's keith andrews like as a manager because understandably given what he's done the whole world is now fascinated by him i've known keith a long time so before before he was a manager i've known him since i was like 16 i've known him a long time i had him under 17s ireland 18s 19s 20s so were you pleased when you knew who's getting We can't really say no at this point, can you? No, I didn't. No, I didn't.

No, I was buzzing for him because I know how hard he's worked to get to this stage of his career. He has that balance of when to shout at you and when to be your mate and that man managing is really important. Let's try and get to know you a little bit more away from the pitch. Firstly, I always like asking what were you like as a youngster? If you ask my mum or dad, they'd say, I was a head case. I was just a bit itchy. I always had to move. I could never sit still and relax. I always had to do something.

So they had to burn me out. They had to, I always want to be in the grass or playing football or just running around just to drain my energy. And I think it was hard work for my parents, I'd say it like that. It sounds like maybe it was quite a chaotic household with how many siblings have you got?

I've got older brother, younger sister, younger brother. So I think it was just a constant battle of me trying to beat my older brother but it was so hard because the age difference. We all had training at different times and they'd be running out of the house and you'd forget your boots or they'd be taking two cars

taking two cars, different directions. It was a bit of a carnage, but you wouldn't have it any other way. You're still close now? Yeah, of course. I talked to them more or less every day on the phone and every chance I get to go home, I will. So my mom goes to every game home and away, so she watches them all. So she flies out. They still in Ireland?

Yeah, they live in Ireland, so she flies over and she'll go, she goes everywhere to be fair. She's mad. Home and away? Yeah. That is some commitment. I know. I tell her like, listen, you don't have to. She's like, no, I want to.

Not everyone's got a son that's a Premier League footballer though. I kind of get the appeal. I think, no, I don't think she watches the match. I think she just looks at me the whole game and sees what I'm doing. I'll come after her, why are you scratching your leg so much in the match? I don't know. How do you know that? Oh, bless that. That's really sweet.

How would your best friend describe you? I'd like the thing that they describe him as just the same lad I was as a grown-up. The first thing we'd pop into head, they wouldn't say I'm a footballer. I think they'd just say, ah, Nathan, yeah, he's just a good lad. Like, he's a bit of cracker, and he comes out when he can. But like I don't think they look at me as a footballer which I really enjoy. And it just means when I'm with them I can just be myself and just enjoy being one of the lads like. So if the manager gives you a day off, what would you do?

It depends on whether if it's like a week day and it's good weather, I'll play golf with a few of the lads here and we'll get out in the sun and... Are you any good? I'm alright, listen, I can play. I'm not the greatest but I'm not the worst. Who do you play with here? The group right now is me, Kino, Lewis Potter, Chris, Azure. Hack on Valde Merson. It's a good crew because we have a lot of players

and we do a little Ryder Cup stall here. So it's staffy players. Wow. Yeah, because there's a lot of players and we've done that last year. So we've done 18 holes in the morning. We went for some lunch and then we done 18 holes in the like afternoon. And yeah, it was really good fun.

Players won. So thank you. Oh, that was my next question. Have you got any like secret hobbies or? I like cooking. Is that something? When I cook, I just like, I don't know. I think I just forget about everything.

I'm just in my own little zone. and just my head kind of goes quiet, which is nice. Yeah, yeah. You're a good cook? Depends who you ask. If I was asking your girlfriend? Yeah, she's actually saying, no, you're getting better at cooking.

Oh, I was like, was that mean I was bad? Fair enough. What do people get wrong about you the most? Maybe I get the bit of stereotype guy, he's just a footballer. Like, maybe they, maybe they get that. And then, oh, he's actually pretty nice to talk to. He's all right.

He's kind of relax, he's chill. Yeah, yeah. I just, I think I always said the main thing I just want to be, like I always want to be just a good person as well. Like I think that's important for me just to be a nice person, a good person, a caring person. As much as I want to be the best footballer I can ever be, I also want to be like the best person I can be. And I think that's something that I always strive towards as well. What's the toughest moment of your career been? Has there been a tough moment?

I had one game for Brentford against Wolves and I had two mistakes in the game. I gave way two goals. We lost three one or something like that. and I got battered off the walls fans. Because I just left wolves and the fans had so much to go against me and so much stick, I was like, oh my god, this couldn't have got any worse. But that, to be fair, that night Thomas Frank rang me and he's like, and this and night,

and yeah, that's probably the worst game you'll ever have in your career. And he's like, so it's only you up from here. And I was like, that's pretty good way I'm looking at it, actually, you're not really wrong there. If you weren't a footballer, what would you have been? I don't know.

I don't know. I don't have a clue. I don't have it. I've never thought of anything. Probably a good thing you were football. No, I'd never taught of anything else. That's the scary thing. I never taught of doing anything else.

I never thought of participating. I was always sports. If it wasn't football, it would be a different sport, most likely. Okay, then when you finish, could you see yourself Nathan Collins the coach? I don't know. I'd like to just relax maybe and stay away from football for a bit. As I put a lot into it and I put a lot of effort into it and try to learn and watch a lot about football.

So maybe a bit of a break from there. I'd like to just relax. a few years and just play some golf, chill out with my family. Sounds like quite a good plan. If you can do that, why not? And then maybe I'll get into sort of, maybe, I'd like business a bit. I'm trying to get into that, but I can't really. I'm trying to, I'm struggling. You're trying to get into business. What are you trying to get into? I don't know, really. I'm just trying to get into it a bit.

Saying I'm trying to get into business is quite bored. Maybe become a crypto billionaire, that'd be nice. You'd be quite nice. You find out to do that. Let me know. Yeah, I will. I just, I said, I don't know. I'll see, I'll see when that, when that comes around the corner and I'll take it a bit more serious. But now, But now I'm trying to enjoy football. I'm getting the feeling that you're just one of those. Next game. We'll see how it goes.

I should have known that was good. What are you proudest of in your career? Probably playing for my country. Yeah, it was a big moment for me and my family. My family and my uncles, my cousins, we all had all the caps, Ireland underage. We had 50 and 60 and 17, 18, 19, and 21s. We never got a senior cap out of like,

one, two, three, five people that played, like, nearly professionally. We never got a senior cap. So for me to be able to get it, it was kind of just like a good feeling for everyone that has impacted and was in that journey and that I'm with that family name

can have that senior cap to it. That was a really proud moment. If you could only achieve one more thing in your career, what would it be? Win the World Cup. Everyone says that. Can I say that?

Can I say that? Why can't you say? You come win the World Cup? Yeah, that'll be unprofit. That's every play. Yeah, I think so. Yeah, that'd be, yeah, that's the, I'd retire the next day.

Thank you for your time. Perfect. Thank you, everyone. I'm Rich Hall, and this is Sports Strangest Crimes, presents Confessions of a Super Bowl Streaker. When people ask me what I do, I say to them, well, by day or by night. The story of one man's mission to conquer the holy grail of streaking the Super Bowl. Mark Roberts is too lively for his body. He's just like the entertainer.

Mark pushes the boundaries of what is socially acceptable. No chance. Texas. It's really strict, but then the more thoughts about it. You're not thought I'm gone. What are you about? Sports Strangest Crimes presents Confessions of a Super Bowl streaker. Listen on BBC sounds.

This is not the future we were promised. Like, how about that for a tagline for the show? From the BBC, this is the interface, the show that explores how tech is rewiring your week and your world. This isn't about quarterly earnings or about, tech reviews. It's about what technology is actually doing to your work and your politics, your everyday life. And all the bizarre ways people are using the internet. Listen on BBC.com or wherever you get your podcasts.