The story of another local youngster scouted by Dario Gradi and his crew.
Wayne Collins was signed from Cheshire non-league side Winsford United on 29th July 1993 for £10,000, making 129 appearances in all competitions, scoring a total of 16 goals. The Alex cashed in on his impressive displays, with Sheffield Wednesday shelling out £600,000 for his services. Sadly, he only made a handful of appeances for the Owls, where he gained a limited amount of Premiership experience.
Fulham paid £400,000 for his services in January 1998, where he helped them to win the Second Division title under Kevin Keegan, and then later to play a role in Jean Tigana's Division One Championship winning team of 2000-01.
As the Cottagers made their much anticipated return to top-flight football, Collins was always under threat of being replaced by a foreign star financed by Muhammed Al-Fayed's millions. Indeed he was. The summer of 2001 saw Wayne unceremoniously dumped onto the transfer list, but old boss Dario Gradi brought him back on a free-transfer, along with fellow veteran Geoff Thomas and £500,000 summer signing Dave Brammer.
Wayne was not fully fit when he re-joined the Alex, but did find a little success in a defensive midfield role in the early games, however, he was always going to find it hard to break the Brammer - Sorvel/Thomas central midfield partnership.
Collins was essentially a bit-part player, who made a few appearances in the last quarter of the season, with both Dave Brammer and Geoff Thomas injured.
The typifying moment of his campaign came at promotion chasing West Bromwich Albion in April 2002, when he was forced to deputise for injured right-back David Wright. Collins was at fault for two of the Baggies' goals that night, who ultimately went on to destroy us 4-1. Another woeful display against Sheffield United summed up the most disappointing of seasons.
Collins made 16 appearances for Crewe, none of which really stood out, which was a huge blow to the club, considering he was on an expensive contract, reported to be in excess of £5,000 a week.
He made one sole appearance this season, in the late stages of an LDV cup tie against Blackpool (something which I can't remember, so it musn't have been that good).
Despite his successful first spell at the club, his second lacklustre stay won him no allies, as his tendency to sit back on his big contract was basically not welcome at a club like Crewe.
The termination of his contract signals the end of an unhappy spell at the club, but CreweAlex.com wishes him all the best for the future.
Click here for the CreweAlex.com player profile of Wayne.