Michael Collins’ time as Bradford City head coach came to an end on Monday evening when he parted company with the club.

The 44th man entrusted with managing the Bantams on a permanent basis, Collins took charge of City for just six league games, plus the League Cup defeat to Macclesfield Town last month.

Comparison of Collins’ Reign in Games Played

Unfortunately, it will come as no surprise to learn that no permanent manager of the football club has taken charge for fewer games than Collins with the exception of wartime football.

The only manager to have been in charge for fewer competitive games was Robert Sharp, City’s manager during the latter years of the Second World War. As such, Sharp was unable to manage City in the league, because the league had been suspended due to the War.

Outside of that, it is interesting to note that the shortest permanent reign in charge of City was Collins predecessor, Simon Grayson. Grayson took charge in just 14 games – though it could be argued that Peter Jackson’s resignation in the early weeks of the 2011-12 season usurps that. However, given that Jackson’s interim reign was made permanent, this website counts his entire 19-game reign as one stint.

There were other shorter reigns, such as Ray Wilson’s 10-game reign in charge in 1970, as well as Jim McAnearney and Tom Hallett’s spell of 12 games following the tragic death of Grenville Hair in 1968. They, however, were caretaker/interim reigns.

Shortest Managerial Records in Games
Michael Collins (2018): 7 games
Simon Grayson (2018): 14 games
Albert Harris (1952): 17 games
Peter Jackson (2011): 19 games
Chris Hutchins (2000): 21 games

Comparison of Collins’ Reign in Days in Charge

Michael Collins was in charge of Bradford City from June 18th to September 3rd, a total of 78 days. While his reign is inevitably one of the shorter ones in terms of games in charge and is still the shortest in terms of time too, it is not by an incredible distance.

Again, Simon Grayson’s time in charge of City just prior to Collins is the second-shortest – with Albert Harris’ 1952 stint in charge also coming in at under 100 days. The great Peter Jackson’s 2011 reign again includes his initial period as a caretaker before that was made permanent.

Michael Collins (2018): 78 days
Simon Grayson (2018): 87 days
Albert Harris (1952): 90 days
Chris Hutchins (2000): 141 days
Peter Jackson: (2011): 180 days

Collins’ Win Percentage

While clearly a much smaller sample, Michael Collins leaves Bradford City with two wins from his seven games in charge, a win percentage of 28.5%.

That is higher than the reigns of the following permanent managers:

Peter Jackson (2011): 21%
Simon Grayson (2018): 21.4%
Colin Veitch (1926-28): 21.5%
Terry Yorath (1989-90): 22.8%
Bryan Robson (2003-04): 25%
Nicky Law (2002-03): 26.4%
Jim Jeffries (2000-01): 28.3%
David Menzies (1921-26): 28.4%