Michael Collins has been appointed head coach of the Bantams this morning, making the step up from being in charge of the club's under-18s.

The 32-year-old may be relatively unknown to many City fans but has more than 300 league appearances under his belt.

And having been keen to enter coaching from an early age, he already holds his UEFA A license.

Here is a run-down of his career to date.

  • Born April 30, 1986 in Halifax
  • Began playing career at Huddersfield Town having come through their academy. The midfielder made 147 league appearances for Town, scoring 19 goals after making his debut against Blackpool on February 19, 2005.
  • Makes his debut for Republic of Ireland under-21s, qualifying through his parentage, in August 2007, going on to make six appearances.
  • Having spent six seasons with the Terriers in League One, Collins joined Championship side Scunthorpe ahead of the 2010/11 season. Made 79 appearances for the Iron, 25 of them from off the bench, over four seasons during which time the club dropped into the bottom tier.
  • Having had a loan spell at AFC Wimbledon, joins Oxford in the summer of 2014.
  • After playing 39 League Two games in his first campaign at the Kassam Stadium, he fails to make an appearance in his second season and links up again with former Scunthorpe boss Russ Wilcox on loan with York City in October 2015.
  • Collins is keen to extend his stay with the Minstermen only for Wilcox to get the sack.
  • Instead he joins Indian League club Bengalaru in January 2016 to play under former Bantams full back Ashley Westwood.
  • Despite winning the league during his Indian spell, he finds it hard to find a club on his return before signing for Leyton Orient in October 2016.
  • Enjoys his time at Brisbane Road – where he became involved in coaching at the club's academy – despite off-field turbulence at the club which sees them relegated to the National League.
  • Opts against signing a new deal with Orient to join the Bantams as under-18s coach in July 2017.
  • On quitting playing to join City, he said: "I've always known from a young age that I wanted to move across into coaching and eventually management and it didn't frighten me if that was going to be at a young age.

"I knew that when the right opportunity came up I'd take it, regardless of what was happening in my playing career and that is what has happened. I thoroughly enjoyed playing, but even when I was a player I was always fascinated with tactics and how the game works, so as soon as the opportunity came up, I felt like I was ready and I made the call.

"It's a big call, I know that. A lot of people have told me that I should have kept playing, but I've got of a little bit of a different mentality and I felt like I was ready and just wanted to get stuck into coaching."

  • Comes out of retirement in December 2017 to combine his City role with playing for home-town club Halifax Town in the National League.
  • Appointed new head coach of the Bantams in June 2018.