Colin Dobson

Colin Dobson (9 May 1940 – 16 February 2023) was an English professional footballer who played as an inside-forward. He also had a long career in coaching and coached domestic and national teams in Arabia.

For the Australian rules footballer, see Colin Dobson (Australian footballer).

Colin Dobson
Personal information
Full name Colin Dobson[1]
Date of birth (1940-05-09)9 May 1940[2]
Place of birth Eston, England[3]
Date of death 16 February 2023(2023-02-16) (aged 82)
Place of death Middlesbrough, England
Height 5 ft 8 in (1.73 m)[4]
Position(s) Inside-forward
Youth career
1955–1957 Sheffield Wednesday
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1957–1966 Sheffield Wednesday 177 (49)
1966–1972 Huddersfield Town 155 (50)
1972 → Brighton & Hove Albion (loan) 4 (0)
1972–1976 Bristol Rovers 62 (4)
Total 398 (103)
International career
1961 England U23 2 (0)
Managerial career
1984–1985 West Riffa
1985–1987 Al Rayyan
1994–1995 Al Arabi
1997 Oman U17
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Dobson began his career with Sheffield Wednesday in 1961 and went on to score 52 goals in 193 games for the First Division club. He was sold on to Huddersfield Town for a £20,000 fee in August 1966 and helped the club to the Second Division title in 1969–70. He was loaned out to Brighton & Hove Albion in 1972 before joining Bristol Rovers 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, 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, Kuwaiti side Al Arabi, as well as the Oman under-17s. He has worked behind the scenes for Bristol Rovers, Coventry City, Port Vale, Aston Villa, Sporting Lisbon (Portugal), Gillingham, Stoke City, and Watford.

Club career

Sheffield Wednesday

At fifteen, Dobson began his career at Sheffield Wednesday.[3] He became a part-time professional in November 1957 and turned fully professional in 1961.[4][5] Wednesday finished the 1961–62 season in sixth place in the First Division under the stewardship of Vic Buckingham. He scored one goal in the 1961–62 Inter-Cities Fairs Cup, in a 5–2 home victory over Lyon; Wednesday went on to reach the quarter-finals, where they were knocked out by Barcelona after a 2–0 defeat at Camp Nou. 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. He was not selected for the 1966 FA Cup final defeat to Everton.[4] In league and cup competitions, Dobson scored 52 goals in 193 first-team appearances at Hillsborough.[6]

Huddersfield Town

Dobson moved on to Tom Johnston's Huddersfield Town for a £20,000 fee in August 1966.[7] He made a significant 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 Second Division. 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 semi-final defeat to Arsenal at Highbury. He then was a top-scorer for a second time as he bagged 11 goals in 43 matches in the 1968–69 season, as new boss Ian Greaves took the "Terriers" to within ten points of promotion. Dobson built a successful partnership with Frank Worthington 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 at the end of the season. He also played four Third Division games at Pat Saward's Brighton & Hove Albion in January 1972 on a loan deal that was expected to be made permanent.[7][3] However, he fractured his ankle in the last of these games, his full home debut against Walsall on 12 February.[3]

Bristol Rovers

In June 1972, Dobson signed with Bristol Rovers as a player-coach, having been a former teammate of manager Don Megson at Sheffield Wednesday.[3] He had to wait until 24 November before he made his debut for the club, in a match against Southend United.[4] Rovers finished fifth in the Third Division in 1972–73, before winning promotion in second place in 1973–74. The team 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.[8]

International career

Dobson won two England under-23 caps in 1961, making his debut as a substitute for Alan Suddick as England beat Yugoslavia 4–2 in Belgrade on 29 May; his second cap came against Romania four days later.[3] In the summer of 1968, he was selected by the Football Association for a Commonwealth tour of the United States, New Zealand, Malaysia and Hong Kong.[7]

Style of play

Dobson was a skilful and pacey inside-forward.[4]

Coaching career

Dobson left Bristol Rovers to become the youth coach at Coventry City in May 1976.[4] He acted as Port Vale's coach voluntarily from December 1983 to March 1984 to help out former teammate turned manager John Rudge before managing West Riffa in Bahrain.[9] Later he became the coach of Qatari side Al Rayyan, before returning to England to take up the youth coach position at Aston Villa. He also was the youth coach at Portuguese Sporting Lisbon, the youth coach and chief scout at Gillingham, a coach back at the Coventry City youth set-up, before taking up the position as first team coach of Kuwaiti Al Arabi. In September 1995, he returned to Port Vale as a temporary coach and departed Vale Park again in May 1996.[9] He went on to coach Oman at the 1997 FIFA U-17 World Championship in Egypt. He later worked as chief scout at Stoke City and was credited with the discovery of England international goalkeeper Ben Foster.[10] He was appointed chief scout at the Britannia Stadium in 2000 by director of football John Rudge, but left to scout for Watford in June 2005, only to return to the "Potters" by 2008.[11][12] He left the club in June 2013.[13]

Death

Dobson died in Middlesbrough on 16 February 2023, at age 82.[4]

Career statistics
Appearances and goals by club, season, and competition
Club Season League FA Cup Other[lower-alpha 1] Total
DivisionAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoals
Sheffield Wednesday 1961–62[8] First Division 281120313312
1962–63[8] First Division 381430004114
1963–64[8] First Division 361110213912
1964–65[8] First Division 4292000449
1965–66[8] First Division 3343100365
Total 177491115219352
Huddersfield Town 1966–67[8] Second Division 371710103917
1967–68[8] Second Division 391210724714
1968–69[8] Second Division 391120204311
1969–70[8] Second Division 3191010339
1970–71[8] First Division 911020121
1971–72[8] First Division 00001010
Total 155506014217552
Brighton & Hove Albion (loan) 1971–72[8] Third Division 40000040
Bristol Rovers 1972–73[8] Third Division 91000091
1973–74[8] Third Division 3913130451
1974–75[8] Second Division 62000062
1975–76[8] Second Division 80001090
Total 6243140695
Career total 398103202234441109
  1. Includes League Cup, Football League Trophy, English Football League play-offs and Full Members Cup.

Honours

Huddersfield Town

Bristol Rovers

References
  1. "Colin Dobson". Barry Hugman's Footballers. Retrieved 9 March 2017.
  2. "Colin Dobson". www.adrianbullock.com. Retrieved 31 October 2022.
  3. "When football didn't deliver the right break for Colin Dobson". In parallel lines. 25 August 2019. Retrieved 1 February 2023.
  4. "Obituary – Colin Dobson". www.bristolrovers.co.uk. 17 February 2023. Retrieved 17 February 2023.
  5. "Obituary – Colin Dobson". www.swfc.co.uk. 17 February 2023. Retrieved 17 February 2023.
  6. "Town Legends". YorkshireLive. 1 November 2005. Retrieved 20 February 2023.
  7. Thomson, Dougie (19 December 2009). "Town nostalgia: Old boy Colin Dobson back in Town". Dougie Thomson, Huddersfield Daily Examiner. Retrieved 23 January 2013.
  8. Colin Dobson at the English National Football Archive (subscription required)
  9. Kent, Jeff (1996). Port Vale Personalities. Witan Books. p. 85. ISBN 0-9529152-0-0.
  10. Tattum, Colin (9 November 2010). "Ben Foster on going back to where it all began with Birmingham City". Birmingham Mail. Retrieved 24 October 2016.
  11. Stanway, Rob. "Cheif Scout Leaves". stokecity-mad.co.uk. Retrieved 23 January 2013.
  12. "Penrice joins scouting network to monitor foreign transfer markets". The Sentinel. 13 December 2008. Retrieved 23 January 2013.
  13. "John Rudge faces Potters exit in Britannia shake-up". The Sentinel. 19 December 2012. Retrieved 23 January 2013.
  14. Partington, Mikey (15 May 2020). "Dobson On Promotion To Division One & Frank Worthington". www.htafc.com. Retrieved 17 February 2023.
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