Colin Dobson (born 9 May 1940) is an English 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 le ...

who played as an

inside-forward Forwards (also known as attackers) are outfield positions in an association football team who play the furthest up the pitch and are therefore most responsible for scoring goals as well as assisting them. As with any attacking player, the role ...

. He has also had a long career in coaching and has coached domestic and national teams in

Arabia The Arabian Peninsula, (; ar, شِبْهُ الْجَزِيرَةِ الْعَرَبِيَّة, , "Arabian Peninsula" or , , "Island of the Arabs") or Arabia, is a peninsula of Western Asia, situated northeast of Africa on the Arabian Plate. ...

. He began his career with

Sheffield Wednesday Sheffield Wednesday Football Club is a professional association football club based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. The team competes in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. Formed in 1867 as an offshoot of ...

in 1961, and went on to score 52 goals in 193 games for the First Division club. He was sold on to

Huddersfield Town Huddersfield Town Association Football Club is a professional football club based in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, England, which compete in the . The team have played home games at the Kirklees Stadium since moving from Leeds Road in 1994. The ...

for a £20,000 fee in August 1966, and helped the club to 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 ...

title in 1969–70. He was loaned out to

Brighton & Hove Albion Brighton & Hove Albion Football Club (), commonly referred to simply as Brighton, is an English professional football club based in the city of Brighton and Hove. They compete in the Premier League, the top tier of the English football league ...

in 1972, before joining

Bristol Rovers Bristol Rovers Football Club are a professional football club in Bristol, England. They compete in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. They play home matches at the Memorial Stadium in Horfield, they have been c ...

as a player-coach in the summer. He was promoted out of the Third Division with Rovers in 1973–74. Over 15 years in the

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 ...

he scored 103 goals in 398 league appearances. He also won two caps for the England under-23s. After retiring as a player, he embarked on an extensive career in coaching and scouting. He has managed the Bahraini club West Riffa, Qatari club

Al Rayyan Al Rayyan (; also spelled as ''Ar Rayyan'') is the third-largest municipality in the state of Qatar. Its primary settlement is the city of the same name, which occupies the entire eastern section and largely surrounds Metropolitan Doha and funct ...

, Kuwaiti side Al Arabi, as well as the Oman under-17s. He has worked behind the scenes for Bristol Rovers,

Coventry City Coventry City Football Club is a professional association football club based in Coventry, West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. The team currently compete in the EFL Championship, Championship, the second tier of the English footbal ...

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 ...

Aston Villa Aston Villa Football Club is a professional football club based in Aston, Birmingham, England. The club competes in the , the top tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1874, they have played at their home ground, Villa Park ...

Sporting Lisbon Sporting Clube de Portugal, founded Sporting Club de Portugal (), otherwise referred to as Sporting CP, often known abroad as Sporting Lisbon , is a Portuguese professional sports club based in Lisbon. It is best known for the professional foot ...

(Portugal), Gillingham,

Stoke City Stoke City Football Club is a professional football club based in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England, which competes in the . Founded as Stoke Ramblers in 1863, it changed its name to Stoke in 1878 and then to Stoke City in 1925 after Stoke ...

, and

Watford Watford () is a town and borough in Hertfordshire, England, 15 miles northwest of Central London, on the River Colne. Initially a small market town, the Grand Junction Canal encouraged the construction of paper-making mills, print works, a ...

Club career

Dobson began his career at

, who finished the 1961–62 season in sixth place in the First Division under the stewardship of

Vic Buckingham Victor Frederick Buckingham (23 October 1915 – 26 January 1995) was an English football player and manager. He played for the then second division side Tottenham Hotspur. As manager he won the 1953–54 FA Cup with West Bromwich Albion and f ...

. He scored one goal in the 1961–62

Inter-Cities Fairs Cup The Inter-Cities Fairs Cup, sometimes referred to as the European Fairs Cup, Fairs Cities' Cup, or simply as the Fairs Cup, was a European Association football, football competition played between 1955 and 1971. It is often considered the predecess ...

, in a 5–2 home victory over

Lyon Lyon,, ; Occitan: ''Lion'', hist. ''Lionés'' also spelled in English as Lyons, is the third-largest city and second-largest metropolitan area of France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of t ...

; Wednesday went on to reach the quarter-finals, where they were knocked out by

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

after a 2–0 defeat at

Camp Nou Camp Nou (, meaning ''new field'', often referred to in English as the Nou Camp), officially branded as Spotify Camp Nou for sponsorship and financial reasons, is a football stadium in Barcelona, Spain. It has been the home stadium of FC Barcelo ...

. The "Owls" again posted sixth-place finishes in 1962–63 and 1963–64, before slipping to eighth position in 1964–65 under new boss Alan Brown. They dropped down to 17th spot in 1965–66. In league and cup competitions, Dobson scored 52 goals in 193 first team appearances at Hillsborough. He moved on to Tom Johnston's

for a £20,000 fee in August 1966. He made a big impact with 17 goals in 39 games in the 1966–67 season; strike partner Tony Leighton also claimed 20 goals to help Town to a sixth-place finish in the

. Dobson finished as the club's top-scorer with 14 goals in 47 games in the 1967–68 campaign, including one in the

League Cup In several sports, most prominently association football, a league cup or secondary cup generally signifies a cup competition for which entry is restricted only to teams in a particular league. The first national association football tournament t ...

semi-final defeat to

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

Highbury Highbury is a district in North London and part of the London Borough of Islington in Greater London that was owned by Ranulf brother of Ilger and included all the areas north and east of Canonbury and Holloway Roads. The manor house was situ ...

. He then was top-scorer for a second time as he bagged 11 goals in 43 matches in the 1968–69 season, as new boss

Ian Greaves Ian Denzil Greaves (26 May 1932 – 2 January 2009) was an English association football, football player and manager. He was born in Crompton Urban District, Crompton, Lancashire. He won a Football League Championship, League Championship meda ...

took the "Terriers" to within 10 points of promotion. Dosbon built a successful partnership with

Frank Worthington Frank Stewart Worthington (23 November 1948 – 22 March 2021) was an English footballer who played as a forward. Worthington was born into a footballing family in Shelf, near Halifax, West Riding of Yorkshire. Both of his parents had played ...

and claimed nine goals in his 33 appearances as promotion was achieved with a first-place finish in 1969–70. However, he appeared just 12 times in the 1970–71 campaign, claiming one goal, and departed

Leeds Road Leeds Road was a association football, football stadium in Huddersfield, England. It operated from its construction in 1908 until the Kirklees Stadium was opened nearby for the 1994–95 in English football, 1994–95 season. It was the home of ...

at the end of the season. He also played four Third Division games on loan at

Pat Saward Patrick Saward (17 August 1928 – 20 September 2002) was a professional association football, footballer in the English Football League, English football League and for the Republic of Ireland national football team, Republic of Ireland. He d ...

in January 1972. Dobson signed with

Don Megson Donald Harry Megson (born 12 June 1936) is an English former footballer and football manager. Don Megson is regarded as one of Sheffield Wednesday's greatest servants. He was signed from Mossley in the Cheshire League by Wednesday in 1952. He m ...

as a player-coach. The "Pirates" finished fifth in the Third Division in 1972–73, before winning promotion in second place in 1973–74. The "Gas" avoided relegation by a three-point margin in 1974–75 and then by a five-point margin in 1975–76. He scored four goals in 63 league and cup games during his time at the

Eastville Stadium Eastville Stadium, also known as Bristol Stadium and Bristol Stadium – Eastville, was a stadium in Eastville, a northern suburb of the English city of Bristol. Constructed in 1897, it was the home of Bristol Rovers F.C., the Bristol Bulldog ...

International career

Dobson won two England under-23 caps in 1961. In the summer of 1968, he was selected by

the Football Association The Football Association (also known as The FA) is the Sports governing body, governing body of association football in England and the Crown Dependencies of Jersey, Bailiwick of Guernsey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man. Formed in 1863, it is the ...

for a

Commonwealth A commonwealth is a traditional English term for a political community founded for the common good. Historically, it has been synonymous with "republic". The noun "commonwealth", meaning "public welfare, general good or advantage", dates from the ...

tour of the United States,

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...

and Hong Kong.

Coaching career

Dobson left

to become the youth coach at

. He acted as

's coach on a voluntary basis from December 1983 to March 1984 to help out former teammate turned manager

John Rudge John is a common English name and surname: * John (given name) * John (surname) John may also refer to: New Testament Works * Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John * First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John * Second E ...

, before managing West Riffa in Bahrain. Later he became the coach of

Qatar Qatar (, ; ar, قطر, Qaṭar ; local vernacular pronunciation: ), officially the State of Qatar,) is a country in Western Asia. It occupies the Qatar Peninsula on the northeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in the Middle East; it sh ...

side

, before returning to England to take up the youth coach position at

. He also was the youth coach at Portuguese

, the youth coach and chief

scout Scout may refer to: Youth movement *Scout (Scouting), a child, usually 10–18 years of age, participating in the worldwide Scouting movement **Scouts (The Scout Association), section for 10-14 year olds in the United Kingdom **Scouts BSA, sectio ...

at Gillingham, a coach back at the Coventry City youth set-up, before taking up the position as first team coach of

Kuwait Kuwait (; ar, الكويت ', or ), officially the State of Kuwait ( ar, دولة الكويت '), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated in the northern edge of Eastern Arabia at the tip of the Persian Gulf, bordering Iraq to the nort ...

ee Al Arabi. In September 1995 he returned to Port Vale as a temporary coach, and departed

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, ...

again in May 1996. He went on to coach

Oman Oman ( ; ar, عُمَان ' ), officially the Sultanate of Oman ( ar, سلْطنةُ عُمان ), is an Arabian country located in southwestern Asia. It is situated on the southeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula, and spans the mouth of t ...

at the

1997 FIFA U-17 World Championship The FIFA U-17 World Championship 1997, the seventh edition of the tournament, was held in the cities of Cairo, Ismailia, Alexandria, and Port Said in Egypt between 4 September and 21 September 1997. Players born after 1 January 1980 could particip ...

in Egypt. He later worked as chief scout at

, and was credited with the discovery of

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

international goalkeeper

Ben Foster Ben Foster may refer to: *Ben Foster (actor) (born 1980), American actor *Ben Foster (footballer) (born 1983), English goalkeeper *Ben Foster (composer) (born 1977), British composer, orchestrator and conductor * Ben Foster (director) (born 1984), ...

. He was appointed chief scout at the

Britannia Stadium The Bet365 Stadium (stylised as ''bet365 Stadium'') is an all-seater football stadium in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England and the home of EFL Championship club Stoke City. The stadium was previously called the Britannia Stadium but ...

in 2000 by director of football John Rudge, but left to scout for

in June 2005, only to return to the "Potters" by 2008. He left the club in June 2013.

Career statistics

Honours

Huddersfield Town *

Football League Second Division The Football League Second Division was the second level division in the English football league system between 1892 and 1992. Following the foundation of the FA Premier League, the Football League divisions were renumbered and the third ti ...

: 1969–70 Bristol Rovers *

Football League Third Division 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 ...

second-place promotion: 1973–74

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dobson, Colin 1940 births Living people People from Eston Sportspeople from Yorkshire English footballers England under-23 international footballers Association football forwards Sheffield Wednesday F.C. players Huddersfield Town A.F.C. players Brighton & Hove Albion F.C. players Bristol Rovers F.C. players English Football League players English football managers Expatriate football managers in Qatar Expatriate football managers in Kuwait Al-Rayyan SC managers Association football coaches Association football scouts Bristol Rovers F.C. non-playing staff Port Vale F.C. non-playing staff Aston Villa F.C. non-playing staff Gillingham F.C. non-playing staff Stoke City F.C. non-playing staff Watford F.C. non-playing staff English Football League representative players