| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Clinton William Boulton[1] | ||
| Date of birth | (1948-01-06)6 January 1948[1] | ||
| Place of birth | Stoke-on-Trent, England[1] | ||
| Date of death | 1 January 2021(2021-01-01) (aged 72) | ||
| Height | 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m)[2] | ||
| Position(s) | Defender;midfielder | ||
| Youth career | |||
| 1963–1965 | Port Vale | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1965–1971 | Port Vale | 244 | (11) |
| 1971–1979 | Torquay United | 262 | (34) |
| Minehead | |||
| Total | 506+ | (45+) | |
| *Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||
Clinton William Boulton (6 January 1948 – 1 January 2021) was an English professionalfootballer. Adefender, he made 506 league appearances in a 14-year career in theFootball League.
He began his professional career withPort Vale in August 1965. He went on to play 267 league and cup games for the club, helping the "Valiants" to winpromotion out of theFourth Division in 1969–70. He was sold toTorquay United for a fee of £10,000 in November 1971. He remained with the "Gulls" for the next eight years, playing 286 games in all competitions. He left the club in 1979 and later played fornon-League sideMinehead.
Clinton William Boulton was born on 6 January 1948 inStoke-on-Trent. Brought up inBucknall, he went to school in Cellarhead.[3] He began his career as an apprentice with localFootball League clubPort Vale in July 1963.[1] He chose to begin his career at Vale rather thanPotteries derby rivalsStoke City as he reasoned he had a better chance of breaking into the first-team for the lower ranked Vale.[4] He made his debut onBoxing day 1964, in a 3–0 defeat toHull City atVale Park, having been tasked withmarkingKen Wagstaff.[5] At the age of 16 years and 354 days, he became theyoungest player in the club's history.[6] He played five games of the1964–65 season, as the "Valiants" wererelegated out of theThird Division underJackie Mudie.[1] Boulton scored on the last day of the season, in a 2–1 home win overWalsall.[1] This made him the youngest goalscorer in the club's history.[7] He turned professional in August 1965 at the age of 17, and made 20 appearances in1965–66.[1] He became a mainstay of the defence by1966–67, featuring 39 times, scoring three goals.[1] He played 42 games underStanley Matthews; however, he "gave away two needless penalties" in a defeat toPortsmouth atFratton Park in theFA Cup, andThe FA also charged the club with paying Boulton andGordon Logan illegal bonuses.[1] Matthews made him clubcaptain at the age of 18.[6] He remained at the club under new bossGordon Lee, and made 46 appearances in1968–69.[1] He was then an ever-present in the 52 game1969–70 season, also scoring six goals, as Vale werepromoted out of theFourth Division after securing a fourth-place finish; he played consistently alongside defendersRon Wilson andRoy Sproson, and goalkeeperKeith Ball.[1] He played 47 games in1970–71, scoring two goals.[1] Sixteen games into the1971–72 season, in November 1971, he was sold on toTorquay United for a fee of £10,000.[1] It was the third highest fee the club had ever received and was accepted to pay for newfloodlights at Vale Park.[8] He played a total of 267 games for Port Vale in all competitions, scoring 12 times.[1]
He replacedIan Twitchin at right-back. He quickly settled into the side, playing all but the last four of the remaining games ofthe season as Torquay struggled unsuccessfully to avoid relegation out of the Third Division. He began the1972–73 season as first-choice in the centre of defence, though he soon moved back to right-back in a reshuffle of the team. He was an ever-present until the local derby againstExeter City onBoxing Day 1972 but played just five games in the remainder of the season.ManagerJack Edwards was replaced byMalcolm Musgrove, and Boulton was an ever-present in1973–74. The "Gulls" continued to battle in the bottom half of the table in1974–75 before reaching ninth in1975–76. Musgrove was replaced byFrank O'Farrell, who was in turn replaced byMike Green, in a chaotic campaign in1976–77. He was deployed as an emergency centre-forward atDoncaster Rovers in August 1976 and scored ahat-trick in a 4–0 win.[9] He was named the club's Player of the Season in 1976–77. Boulton remained a regular until the end of the1977–78 season, as Torquay again finished ninth. However, he played just eleven times in the1978–79 season, with his final game for Torquay coming on the final day of the season, a 1–0 defeat away toRochdale. He leftPlainmoor that summer and was awarded atestimonial by Torquay with afriendly match againstSouthampton on 15 January 1980. He played 286 games for the club in league and cup competitions, scoring 36 goals.[10] He later played forSouthern League sideMinehead, as well as Galmpton United and Foxhole United.[8]
Since retirement from football, he owned a company inDevon that producedblinds andawnings.[11] Boulton died during a game ofgolf on 1 January 2021.[9]
An adaptabledefender, he was also able to play inmidfield.[9] His usual position was at full-back, where he utilised his tough-tackling skills and pace.[6]
Source:[12]
| Club | Season | Division | League | FA Cup | Other | Total | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | |||
| Port Vale | 1964–65 | Third Division | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 1 |
| 1965–66 | Fourth Division | 18 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 20 | 0 | |
| 1966–67 | Fourth Division | 35 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 39 | 3 | |
| 1967–68 | Fourth Division | 39 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 42 | 0 | |
| 1968–69 | Fourth Division | 41 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 46 | 0 | |
| 1969–70 | Fourth Division | 46 | 6 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 52 | 6 | |
| 1970–71 | Third Division | 45 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 47 | 2 | |
| 1971–72 | Third Division | 15 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 16 | 0 | |
| Total | 244 | 11 | 14 | 1 | 9 | 0 | 267 | 12 | ||
| Torquay United | 1971–72 | Third Division | 24 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 26 | 0 |
| 1972–73 | Fourth Division | 28 | 9 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 31 | 9 | |
| 1973–74 | Fourth Division | 46 | 9 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 48 | 9 | |
| 1974–75 | Fourth Division | 36 | 7 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 37 | 7 | |
| 1975–76 | Fourth Division | 44 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 6 | 2 | 51 | 4 | |
| 1976–77 | Fourth Division | 32 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 34 | 3 | |
| 1977–78 | Fourth Division | 41 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 45 | 4 | |
| 1978–79 | Fourth Division | 11 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 13 | 0 | |
| 1979–80 | Fourth Division | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | |
| Total | 262 | 34 | 11 | 0 | 13 | 2 | 286 | 36 | ||
| Career total | 506 | 45 | 25 | 1 | 22 | 2 | 553 | 48 | ||
Individual
Port Vale