Terence David John Boyle (born 29 October 1958) is a Welsh former professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...

. During his career, he made over 500 appearances in the

Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional association football, football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, it is the oldest football league in Association football around the world, the w ...

and made two appearances for the Wales national team in 1981. A centre-half, he was highly regarded by supporters for his strong tackling and uncompromising style. He is the manager of the

Wales national semi-professional football team The Wales 'C' National Team is a football team that represents the Football Association of Wales governed Welsh football league system. The team is selected using players that play in the Cymru Premier, the highest level of Welsh football. Home ...

and also works as a youth coach at

Aldershot Town Aldershot Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Aldershot, Hampshire, England. The team competes in the National League, the fifth level of the English football league system. The club was founded in the spr ...

Early life

Born in

Ammanford Ammanford ( ) is a town and community (Wales), community in Carmarthenshire, Wales. At the 2021 United Kingdom census, 2021 census the community had a population of 5,445, and the wider built up area had a population of 8,285. Ammanford is se ...

, Boyle attended

Llanelli Boys' Grammar School ; ) is a market town and community (Wales), community in Carmarthenshire and the Preserved counties of Wales, preserved county of Dyfed, Wales. It is on the estuary of the River Loughor and is the largest town in the Principal areas of Wales, ...

and played for the school rugby team as a

centre Center or centre may refer to: Mathematics *Center (geometry), the middle of an object * Center (algebra), used in various contexts ** Center (group theory) ** Center (ring theory) * Graph center, the set of all vertices of minimum eccentricity ...

. He also represented

Carmarthen Carmarthen (, ; , 'Merlin's fort' or possibly 'Sea-town fort') is the county town of Carmarthenshire and a community (Wales), community in Wales, lying on the River Towy north of its estuary in Carmarthen Bay. At the 2021 United Kingdom cen ...

in javelin.

Club career

A former captain for Wales at schoolboy level, Boyle began his career at

Tottenham Hotspur Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as simply Tottenham (, , , ) or Spurs, is a professional Association football, football club based in Tottenham, North London, England. The club itself has stated that it should always ...

, signing apprenticeship forms in April 1975 before turning professional soon after in September 1975, making his way through the youth system. Unable to oust established players such as

Mike England Harold Michael England (born 2 December 1941) is a Welsh former footballer and manager. Playing career Playing as a central defender, England began his career at Blackburn Rovers in 1959, before moving to Tottenham Hotspur in July 1966, ult ...

and

Keith Osgood Keith Osgood (born 8 May 1955) is an English former professional footballer who played for Tottenham Hotspur, Coventry City, Derby County, Leyton Orient, HJK and Cambridge and represented the England team at youth and schoolboy level. Football ...

from the side, he did not make a first team appearance at

White Hart Lane White Hart Lane was a Association football, football stadium in Tottenham, North London and the home of Tottenham Hotspur F.C., Tottenham Hotspur Football Club from 1899 to 2017. Its capacity varied over the years; when changed to all-seater i ...

and moved to

Crystal Palace Crystal Palace may refer to: Places Canada * Crystal Palace Complex (Dieppe), a former amusement park now a shopping complex in Dieppe, New Brunswick * Crystal Palace Barracks, London, Ontario * Crystal Palace (Montreal), an exhibition buildin ...

. He spent four years with Palace, including a loan spell at

Wimbledon Wimbledon most often refers to: * Wimbledon, London, a district of southwest London * Wimbledon Championships, the oldest tennis tournament in the world and one of the four Grand Slam championships Wimbledon may also refer to: Places London * W ...

before joining

Bristol City Bristol City Football Club is a professional football club based in Bristol, England. The team compete in the , the second level of the English football league system. Founded in 1894, the club competed in the Southern League and Western L ...

in 1981 in exchange for

Kevin Mabbutt Kevin Mabbutt (born 5 December 1958) is an English retired footballer who played for Bristol City and Crystal Palace in the Football League. He played over 100 league games for Bristol City, before joining Crystal Palace in October 1981 in ex ...

. He went on to play for Newport County, being named in the 1986 Third Division

PFA Team of the Year The Professional Footballers' Association Team of the Year (often called the PFA Team of the Year, or simply the Team of the Year) is an annual award given to a set of 55 footballers across the top four tiers of men's Football in England, En ...

, before joining

Cardiff City Cardiff City Football Club () is a professional association football club based in Cardiff, Wales. It currently competes in , the third tier of the English football league system in the 2025–26 season following relegation. Founded in 1899 a ...

in August 1986 for a tribunal set fee of £22,500. The transfer proved controversial with Newport as they had expected a significantly larger fee for Boyle, who was the club captain at the time of the move. He made over 168 appearances for the ''Bluebirds'', including helping them win promotion to

Division Three The Football League Third Division was the third tier of the English football league system in 1920–21 and again from 1958 until 1992. When the FA Premier League was formed, the Third Division become the fourth tier of English football. In 2 ...

in the 1987–88 season and playing in the 1988 Welsh Cup final as Cardiff defeated

Wrexham Wrexham ( ; ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in the North East Wales, north-east of Wales. It lies between the Cambrian Mountains, Welsh mountains and the lower River Dee, Wales, Dee Valley, near the England–Wales border, borde ...

2–0. In 1989, his former Crystal Palace teammate Ian Evans brought him to

Swansea City Swansea City Association Football Club ( ; ) is a Welsh professional football club based in Swansea, Wales. It competes in the EFL Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. Swansea have played their home matches at ...

where he had recently been appointed manager. He played 47 times in the 1989–90 season before moving on to

Merthyr Tydfil Merthyr Tydfil () is the main town in Merthyr Tydfil County Borough, Wales, administered by Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Council. It is about north of Cardiff. Often called just Merthyr, it is said to be named after Tydfil, daughter of K ...

in the Conference League. He later moved into the

Welsh Premier League The Cymru Premier, known as the JD Cymru Premier for sponsorship reasons, is the national football league of Wales. It has both professional and semi-professional status clubs and is at the top of the Welsh football league system. It was found ...

with Barry Town. He ended his playing career with player-manager roles at

Ebbw Vale Ebbw Vale (; ) is a town at the head of the valley formed by the Ebbw Fawr tributary of the Ebbw River in Wales. It is the largest town and the administrative centre of Blaenau Gwent county borough. The Ebbw Vale and Brynmawr conurbation has a ...

, Inter Cardiff and Cinderford Town.

International career

Boyle made his debut for

Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...

on 24 February 1981, scoring during a 3–1 victory over

Republic of Ireland Ireland ( ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 Counties of Ireland, counties of the island of Ireland, with a population of about 5.4 million. ...

Tolka Park Tolka Park () is an Ireland, Irish association football ground located in the Northside Dublin, north Dublin suburb of Drumcondra, Dublin, Drumcondra, on the northern banks of the River Tolka. It is currently the home ground of League of Irelan ...

. He made one more appearance for Wales, three months later in May 1981, when he came on as a substitute in place of

Joey Jones Joseph Patrick Jones (born 4 March 1955) is a Welsh former footballer who played as a full-back. Jones most notably played for Liverpool, with whom he won two European Cups. He is also known for his long association with Wrexham, playing for ...

during a 2–0 victory over

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

International goals

:''Wales score listed first, score column indicates score after each goal.''

Coaching career

In August 1994, Boyle was appointed player-manager of Welsh Premier League club Barry Town but left the role in November of the same year. Boyle works for the Football Association of Wales Trust, Pro Licence holder since 2007 and is manager of the

. He also previously worked as assistant manager to Tomi Morgan at

Porthmadog Porthmadog (), originally Portmadoc until 1972 and known locally as "Port", is a coastal town and community (Wales), community in the Eifionydd area of Gwynedd, Wales, and the historic counties of Wales, historic county of Caernarfonshire. It li ...

. In June 2011, he was appointed manager of

Neath Neath (; ) is a market town and Community (Wales), community situated in the Neath Port Talbot, Neath Port Talbot County Borough, Wales. The town had a population of 50,658 in 2011. The community of the parish of Neath had a population of 19,2 ...

following the departure of Andy Dyer, but was sacked less than six months later in November 2011, along with his assistant Peter Nicholas, following a poor run of results. In 2012, he was appointed senior professional development coach at

Honours

Cardiff City *

Welsh Cup The FAW Welsh Cup (), currently known as the JD Welsh Cup for sponsorship reasons, is a knock-out football competition contested annually by teams in the Welsh football league system. It is considered the most prestigious of the cup competitions ...

: 1988 Individual *

: 1987–88 Fourth Division

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Boyle, Terry 1958 births Living people English Football League players Men's association football defenders Tottenham Hotspur F.C. players Cardiff City F.C. players Crystal Palace F.C. players Bristol City F.C. players Newport County A.F.C. players Swansea City A.F.C. players Welsh men's footballers Wales men's international footballers Welsh football managers Wimbledon F.C. players Barry Town United F.C. players Merthyr Town F.C. players Cardiff Metropolitan University F.C. players Carmarthen Town A.F.C. players Bangor City F.C. players Sportspeople from Ammanford Footballers from Carmarthenshire Cymru Premier managers Cymru Premier players Wales men's under-21 international footballers People educated at Llanelli Boys' Grammar School Aldershot Town F.C. non-playing staff Barry Town United F.C. managers Ebbw Vale F.C. managers Ebbw Vale F.C. players Inter Cardiff F.C. managers Inter Cardiff F.C. players Cinderford Town A.F.C. managers Cinderford Town A.F.C. players