Town defender James Collins admits he has not even considered the possibility of staying at the club beyond the end of the season, when his short-term deal is due to expire.

The Welsh international is only two games into his Town career after signing on earlier this month following his release by West Ham at the end of last season.

“I haven’t thought about it to be honest,” said the 35-year-old, who will return to one of his former clubs, Aston Villa, this weekend as Town look to improve on a miserable away record this season. They have won only once on the road, at Swansea at the start of October, suffering six successive defeats in all competitions, failing to score in any of them and conceding a total of 12 goals.

“I was just grateful that I got the call to come in here with the gaffer,” he added. “I know I’m getting on a bit but I’ve never been a quick player. I certainly haven’t lost any pace because I didn’t have any to lose.

“I’m happy to be back playing again and I’m just concentrating on this season. It’s an old cliché but I’ll just take every game as it comes and hopefully do enough with the squad to keep this club in the Championship.

“I love playing football. I love defending, training and being part of a club. I’ll play until physically I can’t play any longer. I’ve been very lucky to have had a such a good career so far and if I keep myself fit, and still believe I have something to offer this team or any other team, I’ll carry on until one day someone turns round and says ‘You’re done’.

“Realistically, I think in my head that I could certainly go on for another couple of years. Like I’ve said, pace has never been an issue so let’s just see where this season, this team and this club takes me, and we’ll go from there in the summer.”

Asked if he would consider staying on board at Portman Road, even if the worst happened and Town were relegated to League One, Collins added: “Certain players don’t want to drop lower because it’s a pride thing. But that’s not me, even if I’ve been lucky to have been used to the Premier League as long as I have been.

“The truth is that I’d be playing in the park with my mates if I wasn’t playing here, so any level will do as long as someone wants me at 37 or 38. I’ll still give my all, as always, in every training session and every game.”

Despite having never played a competitive game in the current campaign until he made his Town debut in the much-needed 1-0 home win over Rotherham, the vastly experienced defender who clocked up appearance number two in last weekend’s 2-0 defeat at Blackburn has no fitness concerns.

He explained: “They’ve been great to me here since I came in. Jim Henry, the fitness coach, knew me from years ago when he was at Aston Villa and I was there with Martin O’Neill.

“He knows me better than anyone. I’m doing more and more obviously. The first week, I didn’t do a great deal because I was getting the body used to it. But this week I’ve pretty much trained fully and every day I’m feeling better, so hopefully I can perform more consistently every week.”

Meanwhile, Collins is pleased to have met up with a number of fellow countrymen at Town, including striker Ellis Harrison who, like his older colleague, hails from Newport.

“He’s a proper Newport lad, a bit livelier than me,” laughed the ex-Hammer. “He’s still Newport at heart but he’s a good lad. I didn’t really know him before I came in, although I knew he’d played for Bristol Rovers.

“He’s got a good attitude, same as all the young lads here. They want to learn and hopefully they can all play their part through to the end of the season and keep us up.

“Gwion Edwards is proper Welsh — even I can’t understand him — and there’s also Emyr [Huws]. I played a lot of times for Wales with him. It was quite a comfortable dressing room to come into.”

Talking of Newport, his home town club are in FA Cup fourth round action this weekend as they look to follow up their shock win over Leicester by claiming another scalp, that of Middlesbrough, who are managed by another Newport native, Tony Pulis.

Collins added: “I don’t see why they can’t do it again. They were tremendous against Leicester a couple of weeks back.

“I went to school with the manager, Michael Flynn, and know him well. He’s a passionate lad — a real Newport lad — and obviously Tony Pulis is also from Newport. It will be a great game and it will be great for the city and the club if Newport can get through.

“They did it a few years back and the buzz around the whole place was brilliant. It’s a tough draw, away to Middlesbrough, but I’m sure Flynny will go up there full of confidence that they can do it.”

Collins went on to explain that if things had worked out differently he might even have been playing in the cup-tie.

“Flynny phoned me up at Christmas time — he probably knew I’d be at home with the kids and might want a chance to get out of the house,” he said.

“He asked if I wanted to go down and play a few games and at the time I felt I might have gone a bit under the radar. It was a friendship thing really, aimed at getting my name back out there, but it never worked out.

“It was very kind of him and Newport to get in contact but fortunately I’m here now and fully focused on keeping this club in the Championship.”

Photo: TWTD

Pecker added 19:15 - Jan 24 Please stay James. You are a fantastic asset to this club and once your playing days are over then a coaching roll is waiting. Please sign as a player next season and then take it from there. Please.
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Cakeman added 05:47 - Jan 25 How refreshing to hear some down to earth sensible comments from a professional footballer. He sounds like a great character and it is a great pity we didn't have him with us a few years earlier. It would be excellent if he can keep injury free and then to remain with us next season.
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Felstow1978 added 08:11 - Jan 25 Town have a "Fitness Coach"????!
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JewellintheTown added 12:56 - Jan 25 "Gwion Edwards is proper Welsh — even I can't understand him" Classic - can't not love Collins! Battle on, lad! Glad you're onboard.
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