Dan Collins

UEFA A | Head coach Great Britain National Medical Football Team | Age group lead coach | Independent school head of football | FA coach developer

[Dan Collins @Dan_Collins68]

@KieranMaguire The best player in a team that over a three year period won the league, two league cups and back-to-back European Cups (assisting the only goal in one final and scoring the only goal in the other). That he’s not as globally revered as other players of the period is odd. Genius.

[Dan Collins @Dan_Collins68]

And this is what cheeses me off when you hear people in positions of authority in English cricket speak. ‘Will always run in hard’ ‘always at the opposition’ etc. It’s rubbish. In a sport where performance over time is very easily quantifiable WHAT DO THE NUMBERS SAY?! #Ashes

[Dan Collins @Dan_Collins68]

So Carse has struggled in ‘25 after a promising start in tests. If only there was some way to help predict this and assist with the vagaries of selection.

Oh, wait:

Tongue FC bowling ave. 26
Atkinson FC ave. 26
Archer FC ave. 25
Carse FC ave. 33

IT’S NOT BLOODY ROCKET SCIENCE!

[Dan Collins @Dan_Collins68]

So Carse has struggled in ‘25 after a promising start in tests. If only there was some way to help predict this and assist with the vagaries of selection.

Oh, wait:

Tongue FC bowling ave. 26
Atkinson FC ave. 26
Archer FC ave. 25
Carse FC ave. 33

IT’S NOT BLOODY ROCKET SCIENCE!

[Dan Collins @Dan_Collins68]

So Carse has struggled in ‘25 after a promising start in tests. If only there was some way to help predict this and assist with the vagaries of selection.

Oh, wait:

Tongue FC bowling ave. 26
Atkinson FC ave. 26
Archer FC ave. 25
Carse FC ave. 33

IT’S NOT BLOODY ROCKET SCIENCE!

[Dan Collins @Dan_Collins68]

England behind by 42 on first innings. Or, as I like to think of it, a Byrdon Carse opening spell.

#Ashes #Ashes2025

[Dan Collins @Dan_Collins68]

@_PaulHayward Or there’s a structural problem with the England cricket team and its running? Winning away is always hard, Australia haven’t won here since 2001 but they are much more competitive. I’ve long felt England test cricket is often mired in poor strategic thinking at the top.

[Dan Collins @Dan_Collins68]

@Reynox78 ‘Unicorn’ head coaches don’t exist. Yes, they have importance and can help you, you want the best available, but it only works long-term if the processes above them are right. And assuming they are the correct hire of course. A small piece of the puzzle.

[Dan Collins @Dan_Collins68]

The thing that frustrates most about the England cricket team is that they don’t appear to be run as a modern-successful sports side; instead it’s short term thinking, a lack of data-led selection, non-evidence based hires and riddled with unconscious bias #Ashes

[Dan Collins @Dan_Collins68]

Until people at the very top ‘get it’ or buy into it, I suspect this is where we are at. Coaching and selection merry-go-rounds, false dawns, some wins and painful defeats over the longer-term. It can and should be so much better #Ashes

[Dan Collins @Dan_Collins68]

Modern successful sports teams know that they must ‘Get smart or get left behind’. I’ve no cricket skills, but a background in sport and an interest in how good sides are run; England are emphatically not the model! #Ashes

[Dan Collins @Dan_Collins68]

@izzywestbury Surprised it’s not contractually stipulated. I believe in certain competitions (Blast, Hundred etc.) they are obliged to as part of broadcast deal. Doesn’t seem to always apply to tests (I guess host broadcasters not tied to visiting board or some such reason), but yes, agreed.

[Dan Collins @Dan_Collins68]

@owenradley @YidVids A fine case in point. He is talented and might go well. But his numbers and the evidence don’t yet say ‘test match three’. So long-term he’s much more likely to fail. Modern successful sports teams don’t do this sort of mad, non-evidence based decision making.