Alan Henry Boswell (8 August 1943 – 24 August 2017) was an English
football goalkeeper
In many team sports which involve scoring 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 intercepting o ...
who made 479 league and cup appearances in a 12-year career in the
English 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 Engl ...
.
He began his career at
Walsall
Walsall (, or ; locally ) is a market town and administrative centre in the West Midlands County, England. Historically part of Staffordshire, it is located north-west of Birmingham, east of Wolverhampton and from Lichfield.
Walsall is th ...
in 1961, before moving on to
Shrewsbury Town
Shrewsbury Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Shrewsbury, Shropshire, England. The team competes in League One, the third tier of English football. The club plays its home games at the New Meadow, having mo ...
in 1963. He spent five years at the club, before winning a move to
First Division club
Wolverhampton Wanderers
Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club (), commonly known as Wolves, is a professional football club based in Wolverhampton, England, which compete in the . The club has played at Molineux Stadium since moving from Dudley Road in 1889. The club's ...
in 1968. The next year he moved on to
Bolton Wanderers, before signing with
Port Vale
Port Vale Football Club are a professional football club based in Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent, England, which compete in . Vale are the only English Football League club not to be named after a place; their name being a reference to the valley o ...
in July 1972. He left
Vale Park
Vale Park is a football stadium in Stoke-on-Trent, England. It has been the home ground of Port Vale F.C. since 1950.
The ground has seen its capacity go up and down, its peak being 42,000 in 1954 against Blackpool, although a club record 49, ...
in May 1974, and later turned out for
Oswestry Town, who he managed in the first half of the 1976–77 season.
Career
Walsall
Boswell started his career with home town club
Walsall
Walsall (, or ; locally ) is a market town and administrative centre in the West Midlands County, England. Historically part of Staffordshire, it is located north-west of Birmingham, east of Wolverhampton and from Lichfield.
Walsall is th ...
, joining as an amateur in 1958 and turning professional in 1960. Walsall finished 14th in the
Second Division
In sport, the Second Division, also called Division 2 or Division II is usually the second highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Following the rise of Premier League style compet ...
in
1961–62, under the stewardship of
Bill Moore. He remained the first choice keeper at
Fellows Park in
1962–63, as the "Saddlers" were relegated into the
Third Division. He moved on to league rivals
Shrewsbury Town
Shrewsbury Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Shrewsbury, Shropshire, England. The team competes in League One, the third tier of English football. The club plays its home games at the New Meadow, having mo ...
, who finished mid-table in
1963–64,
1964–65 and
1965–66, before missing out on promotion by four places and three points in
1966–67. The "Shrews" finished third in
1967–68, missing out on promotion by a single point. He was the first choice stopper for
Arthur Rowley
George Arthur Rowley Jr. (21 April 1926 – 19 December 2002), nicknamed "The Gunner" because of his explosive left-foot shot, was an English football player and cricketer. He holds the record for the most goals in the history of English lea ...
's side throughout his five years at
Gay Meadow
Gay Meadow was the home ground of Shrewsbury Town football club in Shropshire, England. Just outside the town centre, on the banks of the River Severn, it opened in 1910.
The ground closed at the end of the 2006-07 Football League season and t ...
.
Wolves and Bolton
Boswell signed with
Wolverhampton Wanderers
Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club (), commonly known as Wolves, is a professional football club based in Wolverhampton, England, which compete in the . The club has played at Molineux Stadium since moving from Dudley Road in 1889. The club's ...
in 1968, but played just ten
First Division games in
1968–69, including a 6–0 defeat to
Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a populat ...
at
Molineux. He was sold on to
Bolton Wanderers at the end of the campaign, who were competing in the Second Division under the stewardship of
Nat Lofthouse
Nathaniel Lofthouse (27 August 1925 – 15 January 2011) was an English professional footballer who played as a forward for Bolton Wanderers for his entire career. He won 33 caps for England between 1950 and 1958, scoring 30 goals, with o ...
. The "Trotters" finished 16th in
1969–70, before suffering relegation in last place in
1970–71. In his last season at
Burnden Park
Burnden Park was the home of English football club Bolton Wanderers who played home games there between 1895 and 1997. As well as hosting the 1901 FA Cup Final replay, it was the scene in 1946 of one of the greatest disasters in English footba ...
,
1971–72, Bolton finished seventh in the Third Division.
Port Vale
He moved to
Gordon Lee Gordon Lee may refer to:
*Gordon Lee (comic store owner) (1958–2013), American comic book store owner charged with distributing obscene materials
*Gordon Lee (congressman) (1859–1927), U.S. congressman from Georgia
*Gordon Lee (footballer) (193 ...
's Third Division
Port Vale
Port Vale Football Club are a professional football club based in Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent, England, which compete in . Vale are the only English Football League club not to be named after a place; their name being a reference to the valley o ...
in July 1972 and kept a
clean sheet on his debut in a draw with
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 ...
at
Spotland on 12 August that year.
He spent two seasons of regular football with the club, leaving some unpleasant memories for many Vale fans: conceding seven goals to
Rotherham United
Rotherham United Football Club, nicknamed The Millers, is a professional football club based in Rotherham, South Yorkshire, England, which compete in the . The club's colours were initially yellow and black, but changed to red and white around 1 ...
at
Millmoor
The Millmoor Ground, commonly known as Millmoor, is a football stadium in Rotherham, South Yorkshire, England. It was the home ground of Rotherham County F.C. between 1907 and 1925 and then its successor Rotherham United F.C. until 2008. Th ...
, he was sent off for fighting during a 1–0 win at
Swansea Town at
Vetch Field
The Vetch Field was a football stadium in Swansea, Wales. It was used for football matches and was the home ground of Swansea City until the club moved to the newly built Liberty Stadium in 2005. Opened in 1912, the ground held around 12,000 ...
, and managed to palm the ball into his own net in a 1–1 draw with former club Walsall at
Vale Park
Vale Park is a football stadium in Stoke-on-Trent, England. It has been the home ground of Port Vale F.C. since 1950.
The ground has seen its capacity go up and down, its peak being 42,000 in 1954 against Blackpool, although a club record 49, ...
.
He was favoured ahead of
Reg Edwards in
1972–73 and
1973–74.
He was given a free transfer in May 1974 by new manager
Roy Sproson
Roy Sproson (23 September 1930 – 24 January 1997) was an English footballer and football manager for Port Vale. A one-club man, he holds the all-time appearance record for Vale, making 837 starts (and 5 substitute appearances) for Vale ...
, and moved on to non-league side
Oswestry Town, where he also served as manager in the first half of the
1976–77 Southern League Division One North season.
Style of play
Boswell was a
goalkeeper
In many team sports which involve scoring 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 intercepting o ...
ahead of his time, as he was castigated for his teammates for warming up outside the goal area before games, which became common practice after his retirement.
He also bought his own kit and wore gloves, which few other goalkeepers did at the time.
Personal and later life
After retiring from football, he ran a
newsagent's shop in
Shrewsbury and found success in the
pool table
A billiard table or billiards table is a bounded table on which cue sports are played. In the modern era, all billiards tables (whether for carom billiards, pool, pyramid or snooker) provide a flat surface usually made of quarried slate, that ...
industry.
He married Rosalind and had twin daughters.
Another daughter, Faye Turney, was one of the
15 British naval personnel seized by Iran in 2007. His death was reported on 24 August 2017.
Career statistics
Source:
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Boswell, Alan
1943 births
2017 deaths
Sportspeople from Walsall
English footballers
Association football goalkeepers
Walsall F.C. players
Shrewsbury Town F.C. players
Wolverhampton Wanderers F.C. players
Bolton Wanderers F.C. players
Port Vale F.C. players
Oswestry Town F.C. players
English Football League players
English football managers
Oswestry Town F.C. managers
Southern Football League managers