Colin Donald Boulton (born 12 September 1945) is a 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 as 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 ...

Football career

"Solid", "dependable", "ever present" are among the things that were said about him. Boulton was the only

Derby County Derby County Football Club () is a professional association football club based in Derby, Derbyshire, England. In 2022, it was announced that DCFC was acquired by Clowes Developments (UK) Ltd, a Derbyshire-based property group. Founded in 188 ...

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 Engl ...

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 in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire built-up area, which also covers Po ...

on loan for a month, as manager

Lawrie McMenemy Lawrence McMenemy MBE (born 26 July 1936) is an English retired football coach, best known for his spell as manager of Southampton. He is rated in the ''Guinness Book of Records'' as one of the twenty most successful managers in post-war Englis ...

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 knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...

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 Charlton Athletic Football Club is an English professional football club based in Charlton, south-east London, which compete in . Their home ground is The Valley, where the club have played since 1919. They have also played at The Mount in ...

and victory at

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 ...

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 market town in the Kirklees district 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 confluence into ...

-based sports company.

Honours

Derby County * Football League First Division champions: 1971–72, 1974–75 *

1975 FA Charity Shield The 1975 FA Charity Shield was the 53rd FA Charity Shield, an annual football match played between the winners of the previous season's First Division and FA Cup competitions. The match was played on 9 August 1975 at Wembley Stadium and contested ...

References

External links

Colin Boulton - Derby County FC - Sporting-Heroes.net
{{DEFAULTSORT:Boulton, Colin 1945 births Living people Sportspeople from Cheltenham Derby County F.C. players Southampton F.C. players Lincoln City F.C. players English Football League players 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 footballers English expatriate sportspeople in the United States Expatriate soccer players in the United States English expatriate footballers