Colin Donald Boulton (born 12 September 1945) is an English former

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 ...

who played as a

goalkeeper In many team sports that involve scoring goal (sport), goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie, or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or i ...

Football career

"Solid", "dependable", "ever present" are among the things that were said about him. Boulton was the only Derby County player to take part in all 84-league games during the team's two Championship winning seasons. Boulton was born in Cheltenham. His career began at Charlton Kings, then he played for Gloucester Police. Boulton was actually a Police Cadet in Cheltenham when he was noticed by Rams manager Tim Ward. Boulton arrived at the Baseball Ground in August 1964. His course to the first team was not always a smooth one, and it must have seemed to him that he was being overlooked as

Brian Clough Brian Howard Clough ( ; 21 March 1935 – 20 September 2004) was an English football player and manager, primarily known for his successes as a manager with Derby County and Nottingham Forest. He is one of four managers to have won the Englis ...

signed Rochdale keeper Les Green in 1968. It took another three seasons for Boulton to get his chance in the first team. Boulton kept 23 clean sheets during the Championship-winning 1971–72 season. He was also ever present in the team that won the First Division in 1975. In September 1976, Boulton joined

Southampton Southampton is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Hampshire, England. It is located approximately southwest of London, west of Portsmouth, and southeast of Salisbury. Southampton had a population of 253, ...

on loan for a month, as manager Lawrie McMenemy had lost confidence in Ian Turner (who had helped "the Saints" win the

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout association football, football competition in domestic Football in England, English football. First played during ...

only a few months earlier) and reserve 'keeper Steve Middleton. He played five league games for The Dell club, winning two and losing two, including a 6–2 defeat at Charlton Athletic and victory at

Wolverhampton Wanderers Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club ( ), commonly referred to as Wolves, is a professional association football, football club based in Wolverhampton, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league s ...

by the same scoreline; in his five games, he conceded 11 goals. Boulton went on to make 344 first team appearances for Derby County before a move to America where he played for Tulsa Roughnecks and Los Angeles Aztecs between 1979 and 1980. Boulton's final team was back in England, where he played for Lincoln City. However, in his fourth game he sustained an injury that was to end his playing career. On 2 March 2009, it was announced that Boulton had been voted the greatest goalkeeper in Derby County's history.

Later career

On retiring from football, he initially returned to his original career as a police officer, but by the mid-1990s, he was working for a

Huddersfield Huddersfield is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Kirklees in West Yorkshire, England. It is the administrative centre and largest settlement in the Kirklees district. The town is in the foothills of the Pennines. The River Holme's confl ...

-based sports company.

Honours

Derby County *

Football League First Division The Football League First Division was the top division of the Football League in England from 1888 until the end of the 1991–92 season, when its teams broke away to form the Premier League. From 1992 to 2004, the name First Division was g ...

champions: 1971–72, 1974–75 * 1975 FA Charity Shield

References

External links

Colin Boulton - Derby County FC - Sporting-Heroes.net
{{DEFAULTSORT:Boulton, Colin 1945 births Living people Footballers from Cheltenham Derby County F.C. players Southampton F.C. players Lincoln City F.C. players English Football League players Men's association football goalkeepers North American Soccer League (1968–1984) indoor players North American Soccer League (1968–1984) players Tulsa Roughnecks (1978–1984) players Los Angeles Aztecs players English men's footballers English expatriate sportspeople in the United States Expatriate men's soccer players in the United States English expatriate men's footballers