Raith Rovers boss Neill Collins on why he was so grateful to get Kirkcaldy job

Ex-Tampa Bay Rowdies and Barnsley boss Collins, 41, said: “When you’re in the job I’m in and you decide to commit to a football club it’s a big decision.

“Not just from a football point of view but from your life and your family life’s point of view.

“I was in a position where there was serious interest and an offer was made, but I just wasn’t ready to commit. I just wasn’t convinced, more from the family side.

“I knew what was going on, but just from a family perspective I had moved them across from Tampa to Barnsley, and things hadn’t worked out the way we would have expected.

“I just felt the next one was so important, not just to get it right for me but if I’m going to move my kids again and everything I want to make sure I’m 100 per cent.

“To be fair to Andy (Raith chief executive Andrew Barrowman) and Potts (technical director John Potter), they were pretty relentless.

“If other people had maybe taken the opportunity I might not have been sitting here. But things happen for a reason.

“The longer it went and nothing had happened I kept thinking about it and other things were happening in football that constantly change your opinion. We’re here now and I know it was a little bit of a long wait for the fans, but I hope it’s worth it.

“Andrew and John really tried to do everything they could to get it right, as opposed to just getting anyone. So hopefully I repay that.”