Former Belper Town and Stocksbridge Park Steels player Jas Colliver can list a long line of achievements from his career.
He won cups and played with three of the greats – Chris Waddle, Neil Redfearn and Jamie Vardy.
Colliver, whose management career has so far seen him manage Staveley Miners Welfare, Clipstone, Sheffield FC and Handsworth (the club he has the most affinity with), can say he’s a former room-mate of Gary Bennett, that’s he been to Blackpool along with the IKEA in Ilkeston.
Colliver, an old prodigy of Peter Rinkcavage’s, also knows a thing or two about pig’s heads, red cards and he’s an expert on how to successfully defend a ten versus two situation on the football field.
This is Jas Colliver’s Non League Journey:
“The starting point is Rotherham United where I played at as a young kid right through to YTS level. I got extended school-boys terms but I turned it down to extend my education at college. Long story short, I went to college and I was playing in the college team and I went to play for Worksop Town’s under 19s. I will have been 16 or 17 so I was playing above my age.
“I was fortunate to get a sniff of the first team as I was well thought of by the first team manager Paul Mitchell. Chris Waddle was in the team and he was just one of the unbelievable players they had. Just to be in and around that squad at that age was so good for my development. There wasn’t just me who was of a young age. There was Hindley! Ryan Hindley obviously, a good pal of mine. So that’s where it first started.”
“Bennett didn’t get in until 2am” (November 2001)
“We actually got to the FA Cup first round proper and we played Bournemouth away. Me and Hindley were involved the match-day squad and it was a big day for Worksop Town and ourselves as young players. We’d been involved in the rounds prior to it. We stayed overnight so Mitch asked everyone who they want to share a room with? Me and Hindley looked at each other to say ‘me and you, young lads together, let’s get a room’. Mitch said ‘no chance, we’re not putting you two together, you’ll be up all night before the club’s biggest game in its history’. So they split us up and put me with a bloke called Gary Bennett. They had signed him the day before. Nobody had heard of him but he had been at Man City, Sunderland, Cardiff, Carlisle. I was 18, he was nearly 40 and I’d not met him before! I was ultra professional so I went to bed early and prepared the right way whereas Bennett was out all night on the p*ss. I looked at my watch at 11pm, midnight, no sign of him. About 2.30am he rolled in. He’d had a skinful and he played 12 hours later.
“We lost 3-0 but it was a good experience being around it. I think it may have the first game at Bournemouth’s rebuilt stadium. Eddie Howe was playing that day. So was Jason Tindall. Warren Feeney was. So there were some good established players playing in that Bournemouth squad. There was also 4500 fans watching.”
Stocksbridge Park Steels
“I then thought ‘what do I need to do to get matches at an early age’? I went to Glapwell who have re-established themselves now. At the time they were a Northern Counties East League team. That gave me some experience at 18 and then I signed for Stocksbridge. I had three years there and I had some of my best times there in a successful team under Peter Rinkcavage and Jason Maybury. We had some real successes and I played loads of games in three years for them. I don’t know if you can remember some of the players who played up there; Stefan Zoll, an unbelievable character and absolute goal machine. Technically he was great. He had speed, he was strong. Micky Goddard was up there so was Neil Redfearn for a short space of time. He was quality and we won the Sheffield Cup at Hillsborough when he was with us. Without being disrespect, but I look around now at what’s around at the same standard and there’s just no comparison. Wayne Bullimore was an absolute technical. You’d give him the ball and you knew he wouldn’t give it away. He could switch it. I rate every player we had.
“Gary Middleton who played centre-half is a legend in Non League. He’s in Ilkeston Town’s best eleven. Talking of characters and defenders who defend for their lives and put their heads where others wouldn’t, that’s Middy. He used to play with a gum shield in. He’d go to head a ball and take his gum shield out and shout ‘Middy’s’. He’d head the ball and put his gum shield back in. We’d always laugh because Middy didn’t care what he looked like. Now people go out caring what they look like and not produce and Middy didn’t care. He always had the worst footwear and shin pads!
“They were all good characters and good lads. We had togetherness, the banter and we’ve got loads of stories from the changing room, the nights out, the long-distance coach trips, it goes on and on. We certainly have some tales to tell, but i don’t think they all can be released!
“Every time we had an away trip Rinky would dictate the time we left. No matter if we had won, lost or drawn, we weren’t leaving until 6pm. We’d have our bottles to drink back on the bus and just want to get off, but Rinky was like ‘no we’re not leaving until 6pm on the dot’. Rinky would have three or four pints and if I was car sharing with him you could guarantee there’d be some p*ss stops on the way home. With the Stocksbridge days as well we always had the fans on the team bus so we’d always have to drive round Stocksbridge to drop them all off! We wouldn’t get back to the clubhouse until late.
“Obviously there was Vardy who was a young, raw and rash player who was a character. He had a lot of learning to do, but it was actually Rinky who gave him his debut. I don’t care what anyone says he did. We played in the same team together and there was times when I played at right-back and he was right-midfield. He was playing in Stocksbridge’s reserves and he was more of a squad player then. What he has gone onto do is frightening.”
Ilkeston Town
“Before I signed for Belper I had three months with Ilkeston and there’s funny story about when I left to go to Belper. Ilkeston used to pay you on the Friday night so prior to the Saturday game the money was already in my bank and I was earning decent money. I turned up at this match expecting to play and Nigel Jemson pulled me and said ‘you’re not involved today’. I asked why and he said ‘Belper have come in for you and I think you know about it so I don’t want you involved’. He was right, I did know about it! My mind was made it about going to Belper. I hung around for half-an-hour and then he said to me that I go home if I wanted so I did. I got paid for doing nothing and I actually think I nipped to the IKEA in Ilkeston to spend my wages!”
Belper Town
“We had some real success with Belper and I wouldn’t have ever left there. It was only because of a change in management and I left. We were successful. We won cups and we missed out on promotion to Stocksbridge coincidentally when Vardy played against us in the (NPL Division One South) play off final. That is one of the most disappointing days of my career and I still look back to the day even now. I think ‘could I have done more’? I was centre-half and you can see clips and pictures of Andy Ring, another legend of the game, running through and there’s only me and him in the frame. I still look at it and say ‘was he offside, was my shape right, was I too deep’? We had chances that day and although we were playing against a good Stocksbridge team we were as good as anyone in that league. We missed out on automatic promotion by one point and then lost in the play off final.
“The Derbyshire Cups are the main memories. We played Alfreton and we were underdogs and we won. We didn’t feel that we were underdogs as we had a strong team and a system that worked. We also won the League Cup and President’s Cup. We played at Pride Park for one of the finals and lost out to Matlock. We had some really good times and it is a great club. The whole club is a welcoming club, that’s the board, volunteers, supporters, everyone.
“We had good Non League players who had either come out of the professional game or who went into the professional game. So there were Ross Hannah and Lee Stevenson. Ant Wilson was there too and how never made it as a professional footballer I will never know? The car school I was in was Ross Hannah, me, Ant Wilson, Ryan Hindley, Lee Stevenson – that’s a talented car school, but also a group of mates who grew closer.
“Big Hobo was captain to start with. A lad called John Hobson. He was playing centre-half and as time went on I was moved from right-back to centre-half and I was given the captain’s armband. It was a privilege to be captain of successful times and of such a good club. I was a fairly young captain but I earned the respect from the lads.
“(Manager) Andy Carney lived on Carney-time. He did what he wanted! He was so laid back. When I was at Ilkeston it was Nigel Jemson at Ilkeston and it was ultra professional there, maybe over the top professional. So I went to Belper and Carney was the other side of the coin from Ilkeston. Don’t get me wrong he was professional and organised, but he was so chilled out and relaxed. He had an understanding of the lads and what was needed to win games. He got a dressing room that worked hard for him and he got good players in. The players produced week-in-week-out.
“He got a few good loan deals done. One of them was Tom Naylor who is now the captain of Portsmouth. He came from Mansfield Town on loan and he went onto play for Derby in the Championship. He was such a good player for us at Belper.”
Worksop Town and Frickley Athletic
Colliver assisted Peter Rinkcavage for a period at Worksop and Frickley
“Rinky, who probably got the best out of me as a player, took me to Worksop Town and Frickley as his assistant and we had some difficult situations where we always managed to do alright. Frickley were really struggling when we went in and we kept them up. It was by default in the end, but we had to put ourselves in that position to be kept up. If they had been dead and buried like they were when we went in then they wouldn’t have got the reprieve. I loved it at Worksop with Rinky too and that’s where I delivered a full pre-season for the first time.”
Handsworth (2011/12)
Colliver won the NCEL Division One title and President’s Cup under Russ Eagle in 2011/12
“I’ve had some really happy times at Handsworth and that’s where I started out as a kid at four-year-old. My dad was one of the founders of the Football Club so I have real fond memories and I see it as my community.
“The double season under Russ Eagle, I can still see it now. I see people like my dad’s mates stood around the pitch supporting us, the banners and the fans. There’s some avid fans who watched us week-in-week-out and they’ve passed away now.
“The double-winning season under Russ; we had a style of play and we stuck to it and we had some good players. Young Sam Smith was scoring 20-odd goals a season and he’s back at Handsworth now. Then was Danny Patterson who is obviously well-known and would be probably good for you to speak to as I bet he’s got some good stories, but might you need more than an hour as he’s had a few clubs!”
Staveley MWFC
Colliver initially joined Staveley as a player before becoming player/manager for the 2014/15 season
“Staveley were an ambitious team looking to progress and that’s what I wanted. I didn’t want to be 28 or 29 and thinking my career was done. I wanted to work under ambitious management at an ambitious club. Billy Fox signed me and made me captain straightaway. But he didn’t play me for the first ten games! Fair play, I worked hard and worked my way back into the team and we had some good times.
“That’s when I drifted towards management and it all happened too quickly. I look back nearly ten years on and I’m still fit and active and I think I could have had another ten years playing at a decent level. I almost fell into it. My background is coaching as I have the UEFA B coaching licence. I did it early. But at Staveley it started with Billy ‘can you take the warm-up’? Then it is ‘can you take training on a Tuesday night’? Then all of a sudden you’re in a coaching role and the manager goes and it is ‘well who’s going to manage on Saturday’? So I did it temporarily and I got the job later on. Looking back it was too early. I was young and ambitious and I saw an opportunity. Every opportunity I’ve had I’ve felt I couldn’t turn them down.”
“Keep it tight lads”
“For the first game of the (2014/15) season when I was player/manager of Staveley I had to play because we were short and I had to bring in my brother-in-law Del Geary to help me. He was in the dugout on his own. I told the players ‘first game of the season Bridlington at home, they are going to be favourites for the league, keep it tight’.
“Just to rewind, the day before one of my good pals Bob Bradbury passed away and it was chucking it down with rain. Staveley’s pitch used to be bad for rain. I looked at the forecast and thought it would be off as there would be ducks on the pitch at Staveley. So because Bob had passed away I thought I’d go out and have a drink.
“Five minutes into the game I was still a bit half-cut as I’d been out and risked it. I couldn’t believe the game was on. My right-back took a throw-in and threw the ball to me. He bounced it on the floor and I mis-controlled it and I headed it into my own area and now I was chasing back. The Bridlington lad nips in and I clatter him – penalty! So five minutes in we’re 1-0 down, I’m on a yellow card and I’d just given a team-talk telling them to keep it tight. It was one of the worst games ever from me. I had to go in at half-time and give another team-talk and that’s what I found hard as player/manager – especially when I’d had a beast.”
Departure from Staveley (2015)
“I did the job for about a year. When I first sat with the chairman Terry (Damms) we spoke about working within the budget, progressing youngsters into the first team and making sure the discipline was good. That’s the three things he was passionate about. He didn’t look at league positions and he was realistic at where the budget was at. We felt we either matched or exceeded those expectations. We were causing upsets and competing against the sides with the big budgets so we did well.
“I left with about four games to go (of the 2014/15 season) and I wasn’t happy with how it finished, but you move on. The club has gone from strength to strength in the last six years and I can’t fault what Terry has done for that community and club.”
Clipstone (2015/16)
“I had fire in my belly after leaving Staveley and I got a random from the Clipstone chairman who had just been promoted to the Premier Division. Without being disrespectful I didn’t know where Clipstone is on the map! I’d not played there before! But I thought I’d give it a go. The lads we recruited did really well and we we built something rapidly out of nothing and we were competing. We did well in the FA Cup so the chairman was so appreciative of what we did.”
Clipstone’s 3-2 win at Worksop Town (August 2015)
“We were winning 2-1 at Worksop Town in midweek with a young side which really had been chucked together. We had a lot of young lads who had followed me from Staveley and in that game a bad decision went against us and I shouted at the linesman and got sent out of the technical area.
“There was about 350 fans in the ground and the referee had asked me to leave so I had two options; climb over the boards and walk through the fans and get some stick or take the sting out of the game and walk as slow as I could across the pitch (to the stand). We were massive underdogs and they were flying under Mark Shaw.
“I started walking the full width of the big pitch and I was getting battered by the fans for it. I clocked the Handsworth committee who were there and they let me go in the directors’ box to watch the rest of the game. Worksop equalised and the fans were giving me some more!
“About five minutes later we scored to make it 3-2 after an unbelievable bit of skill from Jamal Smith to flick it on and Soamy (Adam Soames) scored. I was celebrating like mad outside the directors’ box and the Worksop fans wanted to rip my head off! Soamy ran to our dugout to celebrate, but as that was going on, Showy (Mark Shaw) spotted that they (Worksop) could kick off as all our players were celebrating in their own half. Worksop took the centre and it was ten versus two – one player and my goalkeeper! All they had to do was walk it in. Liam Nelthorpe sprinted back and absolutely clattered one of their lads – it was a penalty and red card all day long. The referee didn’t give it! Honest to god, there was uproar afterwards.
“We won 3-2 and it is a sending-off that sticks out. I was smug as anything afterwards and I wasn’t sure whether to go in the bar, but it was when the Worksop fans were boycotting the clubhouse so I knew I’d be safe!
“It was an unbelievable result. For Clipstone to go to Worksop in midweek with the side that Worksop had was an amazing achievement.”
Sheffield FC
“In the February of 2016, Sheffield FC came in for me. Talk about opportunities – the world’s oldest club coming in for you. I didn’t want to leave Clipstone. It was heartbreaking. I remember being in tears saying ‘I’m leaving lads after this game’.
“Sheffield FC were in a difficult position in the league and we kept them up. I had that full pre-season and we had a torrid start. I think we lost the first ten games or picked up four or five points. I thought ‘here we go, the writing is on the wall, we’re going to get sacked’. The chairman could see the longer term plan with the lads I had brought in.
“When we halted the bad run we went on a run of 12 games unbeaten and one of those wins was a 9-0 win over Market Drayton at home. On aggregate we beat Market Drayton 14-1 that season.”
Handsworth (May 2017 to October 2018)
Colliver returned to his ‘community’ to become first team manager
“Towards the end of that (2016/17) season it was deja-vu as Handsworth came in for me. I have a lot of time for all my clubs, but being a Handsworth lad it was another opportunity I couldn’t turn down even though it meant dropping down a league. I saw the ambition of the club as well and I wanted to progress the club.
“The 3G pitch is now down and they’re back at Handsworth and that plan was coming together when I took over (in 2017). I could see where we could go and I could see us having all the community behind us. All my family and friends could walk up on a Saturday afternoon and get behind us. We were getting 150 when we won the league and cup under Russ so I could see the club developing forward. It felt right.
“Ryan France was with me again as my assistant manager. He’s someone I grew up with and is very experienced and someone I totally trust.
“That first season at Handsworth, three went up eventually and we finished fourth (in the Toolstation NCEL Premier Division).
“We should have been in the top three. I understood there could be a bit of pressure, but we also did well in the FA Cup.
“We played FC United and drew with them at our ground before getting beat at their place.
“So we had the FA Cup run, we finished fourth in the league and we got to the final of the League Cup all in the first season.
“We also blooded loads of young players from the club’s youth ranks.
“Jed Phillips, Oli Yates, Parirs Dixon, James Leverton, Will Eades and Brad Nicholson, Harry Mitchell, Adam Geelan, Tyler Bradley, Jim Pollard and Joe Turner to name a few.
“So everything was hunky dory and everything was fine.
“The chairman was happy with the league position and the style of play and how we were playing.
“I think we left 15 games into the following season.
“As you know there’s FA Cup and FA Vase games early on so I think we’d only played ten league games.
“We were eighth, seven points below top spot and above Worksop Town when we left and Worksop Town went on and won the league.
“It was disappointing how things ended as I felt we were well on the plan and it wasn’t like they had someone to replace me.
“I wasn’t bitter, I wanted someone to improve the squad and the the club. But it was a spur of the moment decision which didn’t work out. I think they finished below mid-table that season.”
Sunday Football
“I’ve always played Sunday’s, apart from when I was on contract at Belper. Me and my brother ran Handsworth Turf Tavern for three years and the crack you have on a Sunday morning is unbelievable. We’d take it in turns to bring something into the changing room – things like fish from the fish monger’s in Morrison’s and they’d get put in people’s bags. A pig’s head from the butchers once got brought in. Someone who was a Sheffield Wednesday fan opened his bag and there was a pig’s head in it!”
Blackpool
“I’m not saying which club this was with, but this story is about an end of season do in Blackpool where we all went to an Indian restaurant. They must have seen us come in and thought ‘end of night, we’ll stick them upstairs’. They turned the lights on as we went upstairs so nobody ever went up there! We all had false noses, wigs and glasses on as well! The meal was horrendous! Our manager and assistant both said ‘I’m not paying, we’re going’. It was like domino rally. They walked down the stairs and ran out of the front door. Next thing, 15 lads stand up and leg it down the stairs and out of the door. Nobody wanted to stand the bill. One of the lads left his phone inside. He had to run back in and get his phone and get back out of the building! He managed to do it!”
Future
“After Handsworth I was going to go and play and I signed for Rossington. Hindley was the manager and he signed me. But I never kicked a ball for him though.
“But I knew I had to do something and what I did was up-skill myself and I did my UEFA B modules. I almost re-sat the whole thing. I did it in 2002 and that’s a long time ago and the game had evolved. I did that at Sheffield United academy and I was working voluntary with their under 12s, 13s and 14s. My brother-in-law is Derek Geary is the under 18s there so that was great and I passed my UEFA B.
“I think it has been lockdown ever since! My young lad came along in June 2019 so I didn’t want to rush into anything when we had a young baby at home. This last season (2020/21) I signed for Renishaw in the Central Midlands League. I think I could still play in the NCEL Premier Division when I see the standard and I’ve had offers. I’m fitter than I’ve ever been and I’m out running a couple of times a week. Playing at Renishaw was to help a pal out and you fall for it, ‘come and help us out for one game’! So you go for one game and get that appetite back and I went every Saturday afterwards. I’ve enjoyed it.
“I do want to get back into management and hopefully something will come up.”
If you have enjoyed reading Non League Yorkshire over the past few months, please consider making a donation to the not-for-profit organisation NLY Community Sport which provides sport for children and adults with disabilities and learning difficulties. CLICK HERE to visit the JustGiving page. There is a video at the bottom of the page showing our work.
NLY Community Sport, run by James Grayson and Connor Rollinson, has always had combatting social isolation at the top of our objectives when running our Disability Football teams. When we properly return to ‘action’, our work will play an important role in reintroducing our players, who have disabilities and learning difficulties, back into society.
We have six teams, a mixture of Junior and Adult teams – Nostell MW DFC, Pontefract Pirates, Selby Disability Football Club and the South Yorkshire Superheroes (Barnsley) – across Yorkshire.
We have enjoyed great success over the past three years. Several of our players have represented Mencap GB in Geneva, including Billy Hobson from Selby and Greg Smith, whose story is quite inspiring.
You can learn more about the organisation HERE and on our Facebook page.
Watch the video below to see highlights from our three years as an organisation. The video was produced for our players at the end of March to remind them of good memories from the last three years.