Neill Collins enjoyed a stellar career that included three promotions to the English Premiership, a promotion to the Championship with Leeds United and provided him with the opportunity to line up alongside Joe Cole for the Tampa Bay Rowdies.

However the defender, who is now head coach at the Rowdies, will always be grateful to Queen’s Park for responding to his letter - and handing him a footballing lifeline.

Collins played 35 games for the Spiders after making his debut as 17-year old in 2001 before moving on to Dumbarton and then Sunderland.

And, despite John McCormack’s men struggling at the wrong end of the SFL, it’s a time he remembers fondly.

Neill told Lanarkshire Live Sport: “It was a tough introduction. I made my debut, played the last couple of games, and then we got relegated from the Second Division.

“Queen’s Park were a club who had any of their good players snapped up by other teams.

“The following year we were battling at the bottom end of the table with such a young team, we had literally the top U18 team in Scotland, and a Third Division team full of 17 and 18 year olds. So it was tough, but by the same token it was a great way to learn.

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“I played almost 40 games for Queen’s and developed quickly.

“I made a lot of mistakes as well, but I look back on it very fondly - despite some difficult results and circumstances.”

Neill’s journey at the Spiders started after being rejected by other, bigger clubs.

(Image: Getty Images)

And it’s that, that he believes has been the key to their success in developing young stars like current Scotland internationals Andy Robertson and Lawrence Shankland.

He continued: “When I was 14 and 15 I got let go by all the professional clubs I was training with. I wrote to go on trial at Queen’s Park, and ended up in the youth teams there.

“They are great at snapping up young talent that’s maybe not fully developed yet and giving it a pathway.

“I think the culture of the club is why they are so good at developing young players.

“Where they’re based at Hampden is obviously attractive, and what they do is give people an opportunity.

“I felt at 17, playing reserve football every week, then at 18 playing first team football every week that my development went faster than a lot of 17/18 year olds who were in full-time but not playing serious football.

“I feel like that’s why they’ve gone on to produce such good players, because they get them in their first-team.

“When you’re exposed to that environment that’s why you improve so quickly.”

(Image: AFP/Getty Images)

Neill enjoyed a long and successful career in England that saw him play a key role in helping Wolves back to the Premiership under Mick McCarthy in 2009, and making more than 200 appearances for Sheffield United as they battled for promotion back to the Championship.

And speaking from his US home, Neill admitted that there is only one thing that frustrates him from his career. The fact he didn’t ever have the opportunity to return to Hampden in Scotland colours.

He continued: “There have been people who have been capped down to timing.

“That’s football though, I’m not bitter about it, it’s just timing and it’s life.

“Did I ever do enough to be a Scotland regular? Absolutely not, but I think there were points in my career where I deserved an opportunity considering some of the players who played in my position who did receive a call-up.

“There are guys who have got a Scotland cap who I wouldn’t swap my careers for just to have that.

“It would’ve meant a lot for me and my family to play for my country because we’re big Scotland fans, I’ve been to watch the national team plenty.

“But at one point in my career they had a strong team and were doing really well, so I couldn’t complain.

“It’s just a sign of the times, right now if you’re a left-back then you’re screwed.

“If, right now, I was playing in the Championship regularly then I’d be in the Scotland squad because they have a lack of centre-backs.

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“That’s just the way it goes.”

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