Tom Collins was the second of two Centre of Excellence graduates to pen a professional contract with Stevenage in summer 2011. It was a vindication of the work that Boro’ had put into the youth setup following promotion to the Football League, while also recognising Collins’ progress made in the reserve ranks against some of the more established League teams.

However, only a couple of months after signing professional terms with Boro’, it was announced that Collins had left the club by mutual consent in order to join Hayes and Yeading United.