Colin Woodthorpe (born 13 January 1969 in

Liverpool Liverpool is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the List of English districts by population, 10th largest English district by population and its E ...

) 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 ...

who played for Chester City,

Norwich City Norwich City Football Club (also known as The Canaries or The Yellows) is an English professional football club based in Norwich, Norfolk. The club competes in the EFL Championship following their relegation from the Premier League in the 2 ...

Aberdeen Aberdeen (; sco, Aiberdeen ; gd, Obar Dheathain ; la, Aberdonia) is a city in North East Scotland, and is the third most populous city in the country. Aberdeen is one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas (as Aberdeen City), ...

Stockport County Stockport County Football Club are a professional football club in Stockport, England, who compete in EFL League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. Formed in 1883 as Heaton Norris Rovers, they were renamed Stockport Co ...

and Bury before moving into management roles.

Playing career

Chester City

Woodthorpe made his first-team debut for Chester City in the 1985–86 season at

Rochdale Rochdale ( ) is a large town in Greater Manchester, England, at the foothills of the South Pennines in the dale on the River Roch, northwest of Oldham and northeast of Manchester. It is the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough ...

in the

Associate Members' Cup The English Football League Trophy, known for sponsorship purposes as the Papa Johns Trophy after restaurant chain Papa John's Pizza, is an annual English association football knockout competition open to all clubs in EFL League One and EFL L ...

as a 17-year-old apprentice. The following season saw Woodthorpe make his

Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in the world. It was the top-level football league in Engla ...

debut at Bury in a 1–1 draw and he ended the campaign with 30 league starts and two goals to his name. He also found the net in the northern final of the Associate Members' Cup, but Chester lost 2–1 on aggregate to

Mansfield Town Mansfield Town Football Club is a professional football club based in the town of Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, England. The team competes in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. Nicknamed 'The Stags', they play in a blue and y ...

. He remained a regular in the left-back slot for the remainder of his time at the club and did not miss a game in the 1989–90 season. At the end of the campaign he joined top-flight side

for a six-figure sum, having made 155 league appearances and scored six times in four years with Chester's first team.

Norwich City

His four years with Norwich included some highlights, such as playing against

Inter Milan Football Club Internazionale Milano, commonly referred to as Internazionale () or simply Inter, and colloquially known as Inter Milan in English-speaking countries, is an Italian professional football club based in Milan, Lombardy. Inter i ...

in a

UEFA Cup A cup is an open-top used to hold hot or cold liquids for pouring or drinking; while mainly used for drinking, it also can be used to store solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, china, cla ...

tie (1993), appearing in an

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competit ...

semi-final against

Sunderland Sunderland () is a port city in Tyne and Wear, England. It is the City of Sunderland's administrative centre and in the Historic counties of England, historic county of County of Durham, Durham. The city is from Newcastle-upon-Tyne and is on t ...

(1992) and scoring in a 3–0 win over

(1991).

Aberdeen

In 1994, he moved north of the border when he joined

for £400,000, again providing matches in European competition. In three years at

Pittodrie Pittodrie Stadium, commonly referred to as Pittodrie, is an all-seater stadium in Aberdeen, Scotland. Used primarily for football, it has been the home ground of the Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL) club Aberdeen F.C. since they wer ...

Woodthorpe made 51 league appearances before returning to the north-west with

in 1997.

Stockport County

Stockport County had just won promotion to Division One, a level the club would remain at until 2002 when they were relegated and Woodthorpe left on a free transfer, despite captaining the side in his final season at

Edgeley Park Edgeley Park is a football stadium in Edgeley, Stockport, England. Built for rugby league club Stockport RFC in 1891, by 1903, the rugby club was defunct and Stockport County Football Club moved in. Edgeley Park is an all-seater stadium ho ...

Bury

Woodthorpe joined Bury at the start of the 2002–03 season. His first goal for the Shakers was a local derby winner at

in the

Football League Trophy The English Football League Trophy, known for sponsorship purposes as the Papa Johns Trophy after restaurant chain Papa John's Pizza, is an annual English association football knockout competition open to all clubs in EFL League One and EFL Leag ...

and his first season ended with Bury reaching the

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 division become the fourth tier level. In 2004, following the f ...

play-offs. Woodthorpe remained a regular figure in the Bury defence, despite being 20 years older than some teammates and opponents. Aged 39, he was released by Bury in May 2008.

Management career

In May 2010 Woodthorpe was appointed as assistant to player manager

Dave Challinor David Paul Challinor (born 2 October 1975) is an English professional football manager and former player who played as a centre-back in the Football League for Tranmere Rovers, Stockport County and Bury. He is the manager of club Stoc ...

Northern Premier League The Northern Premier League is an English Association football, football league that was founded in 1968. It has four divisions: the Premier Division (which stands at level 7 of the English football league system), Division One East, Division ...

club

Colwyn Bay Colwyn Bay ( cy, Bae Colwyn) is a town, community and seaside resort in Conwy County Borough on the north coast of Wales overlooking the Irish Sea. It lies within the historic county of Denbighshire. Eight neighbouring communities are incorpor ...

where they finished second and won promotion to

Conference North The National League North, formerly Conference North, is a division of the National League in England, immediately below the National League division. Along with the National League South, it is at the second level of the National League Sys ...

via the play-offs, before later moving to

AFC Fylde AFC Fylde is a professional association football, football club based in Medlar-with-Wesham, Wesham in the Borough of Fylde, Lancashire, England. They are currently members of the and play at Mill Farm Sports Village, Mill Farm. Originally kn ...

with Challinor in the summer 2012. After almost eight years in the role and an FA Trophy win at Wembley, Challinor and Woodthorpe left AFC Fylde in October 2019, after a poor start to the season.AFC Fylde on Twitter: "Club statement: AFC Fylde have parted ...
twitter.com, 12 October 2019 Woodthorpe joined Runcorn Linnets as assistant manager on 19 June 2020.

Family

His son Nathan is also a footballer, at

Crewe Alexandra Crewe Alexandra Football Club is an English professional association football club based in the town of Crewe, Cheshire, that competes in League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. Nicknamed 'The Railwaymen' because of ...

References

External links

*
Career information at ex-canaries.co.uk
{{DEFAULTSORT:Woodthorpe, Colin Living people 1969 births English men's footballers Chester City F.C. players Norwich City F.C. players Aberdeen F.C. players Stockport County F.C. players Bury F.C. players Premier League players English Football League players Scottish Football League players Men's association football defenders Footballers from Liverpool