Brentford and Ireland captain Nathan Collins talks about his World Cup dreams

Kelly: Let’s try to get to know you a little better off the field. First, I always like to ask: What were you like when you were little?

Nathan: If you ask my mom or dad, they’ll say I was a headdress! I was a little itchy and always had to move. I could never sit back and relax. I always had to do something. So they had to burn me. I always wanted to sit on the grass or play soccer, and run just to drain my energy. I guess I’ve been working hard for my dad, I like to say it that way!

Kelly: It looks like it might have been a quite chaotic house. How many brothers do you have?

Nathan: I have an older brother, a younger sister, and a younger brother. I think it was just a constant battle between me and me trying to get over my older brother. It was very difficult because of the age difference. We’ve all trained at different times and they’ll get out of the house and you’ll forget your shoes or they’ll be in two cars in different directions. It was a small massacre, but she couldn’t have had it any other way.

Kelly: Are you still close now?

Nathan: Oh yes of course. I talk to them more or less every day on the phone. Every chance I get to go home I will. My mom goes to every game, whether home or away. She watches them all.

Kelly: So she flies? Are they still in Ireland?

Nathan: Yes, they live in Ireland, so she flies and goes everywhere to be fair.

Kelly: Home and away?

Nathan: Yes.

Kelly: That’s some commitment!

Nathan: I know that. I say to her: “Listen, you don’t have to.” She says: “No, I want to.”

Kelly: Though, not everyone has a son who is a Premier League footballer… I kind of get that appeal!

Nathan: Yeah, I don’t think she watches the games. I think she looks at me the whole game and sees what I’m doing. She will ask you: Why were you scratching your leg so much in the match? … ‘I don’t know. How do you know that?

Kelly: Oh, bless her, that’s really nice. How would your best friend describe you?

Nathan: I like to think they would describe me as the same boy I was growing up. The first thing that comes to their mind is that they will not say that I am a footballer. I think they’d just say, ‘Oh Nathan, he’s just such a good lad…he’s a bit crazy and gets out when he can’…but I don’t think they’d look at me as a footballer, which I really enjoy. It just means that when I’m with them, I can be myself and enjoy being one of the boys.

Kelly: If your manager gave you a day off, what would you do?

Nathan: It depends. If the weather is good on a weekday, I’ll play golf with a few of the guys here and we’ll get out in the sunshine.

Kelly: Are you good?

Nathan: I’m fine. Listen, I can play. I’m not the greatest, but I’m not the worst.

Kelly: Who are you playing with here?

Nathan: The group now is me, Ken Lewis Potter, Chris Agger, Haakon Valdemarsson. It’s a good crew because we have a lot of players and we play Ryder Cup style.

Kelly: Oh nice!

Nathan: So, it’s staff versus players.

Kelly: amazing!

Nathan: Yes, because there are a lot of players. We did that last year. We did 18 holes in the morning, went to lunch, then did 18 holes in the afternoon, and it was really fun. The players won, thank God!

Kelly: Oh, that was my next question. Do you have any secret hobbies?

Nathan: I love cooking, that’s something. When I cook, I think I forget everything. I’m just in my little zone and my head kind of calms down, which is nice.

Kelly: Are you a good cook?

Nathan: Depends on who you ask..

Kelly: If I were to ask your friend…

Nathan: Yes, she’s actually saying, “Oh, you’re getting better at cooking!”

Kelly: That’s his little care!

Nathan: Yeah, and I was like… “Does this mean I was bad?”

Kelly: fair enough. What do people get most wrong about you?

Nathan: Maybe I get a bit of a stereotype: “Oh, he’s just a footballer.” Maybe they understand that and then think, “Oh, he’s really nice to talk to… He’s okay… He’s kind of relaxed… He’s calm.”

I always want to be just a good person too. That’s important to me, just being a nice person, a good person, a caring person. As much as I want to be the best footballer ever, I also want to be the best person I can be, and I think that’s something I’m always striving for as well.

Kelly: What is the most difficult moment in your career? Was there a difficult moment?

Nathan: I played one match for Brentford against Wolves and made two mistakes in the match. I gave up two goals, we lost 3-1 or something, and I got beaten up by the Wolves fans because I had just left Wolves and the fans had a lot to get at me, and they had a lot to hold on to. I thought to myself, “Oh my God, it couldn’t get any worse.”

To be fair, that night Thomas Frank called me and said: ‘Listen Nathan, this is probably the worst game you’ll ever play in your career’, and he said: ‘So, it’s just from here.’