Colin Methven

{{short description|Indian-born Scottish footballer}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2020}}

{{Use British English|date=May 2012}}

{{Infobox football biography

| name= Colin Methven

| image =

| fullname = Colin John Methven{{Hugman|13526|accessdate=10 April 2017}}

| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1955|12|10|df=y}}

| birth_place = India

| height = {{height|ft=6|in=2}}{{Cite book |title=Rothmans Football Yearbook 1988–89 |publisher=Queen Anne Press |year=1988 |isbn=0-356-15879-9 |editor-last=Rollin |editor-first=Jack |edition=19th |location=London |pages=[https://archive.org/details/rothmansfootball0000unse_c5r2/page/66/mode/2up 66] |oclc=655312435}}

| position = Defender

| youthyears1 = –1974

| youthclubs1 = Leven Royals

| years1 = 1974–1979

| years2 = 1979–1986

| years3 = 1986–1990

| years4 = 1990–1991

| years5 = 1990–1993

| years6 = 1993–1994

| clubs1 = East Fife

| clubs2 = Wigan Athletic

| clubs3 = Blackpool

| clubs4 = → Carlisle United (loan)

| clubs5 = Walsall

| clubs6 = Barrow

| caps1 = 154

| caps2 = 296

| caps3 = 175

| caps4 = 12

| caps5 = 97

| caps6 = 7

| totalcaps = 741

| goals1 = 15

| goals2 = 21

| goals3 = 11

| goals4 = 0

| goals5 = 3

| goals6 = 0

| totalgoals = 50

}}

Colin John Methven (born 10 December 1955) is a Scottish former professional footballer.

A centre-half, Methven began his career with East Fife in 1974, whilst also working as a mineworker. He went on to make 154 league appearances and score fifteen goals in five years, before joining Wigan Athletic in September 1979 for a fee of £30,000.

Methven remained at Springfield Park for seven years, making close to 300 appearances for the club and scoring 21 goals. He was part of the team that won the Freight Rover Trophy in 1985.{{cite web

|url=https://www.wiganathletic.com/news/2013/june/freight-rover-85-where-are-they-now/

|title=FREIGHT ROVER 85 WHERE ARE THEY NOW?

|publisher=wiganathletic.com

|date=1 June 2013 |accessdate=5 June 2019}} He was the club's captain when Blackpool came in for his services in 1986 for £20,000.

He made his debut for the Seasiders on the opening day of the 1986–87 season in a goalless draw with Chesterfield at Bloomfield Road and became a virtual ever-present for the next four years.

Methven was a "footballing" centre-half who enjoyed going up for attacking corners, as evidenced by his 50 career league goals, and he was voted Player of the Year for two consecutive years by Blackpool's fans, who were angry when he was sold to Walsall in November 1990 after an earlier loan spell at Carlisle. In his early days of his short spell as Blackpool manager, Graham Carr declared that Methven was "neither fast enough nor good enough for Fourth Division football".{{cite book|author=Roy Calley|title=Blackpool: A Complete Record 1887-1992|publisher=Breedon Books Sport|year=1992|ISBN=1-873626-07-X}}

In the final game of the 1990–91 season, on 11 May 1991, Methven helped Walsall to a 2–0 win at Blackpool, denying the hosts automatic promotion to Division Three.

In 1998, Wigan Athletic fans voted Methven as the club's Best Football League Player of All-Time.{{cite web|url=http://www.wiganlatics.premiumtv.co.uk/page/LegendsDetail/0,,10429~75126,00.html|title=Latics Legends: Colin Methven|accessdate=17 April 2017|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20061007194255/http://www.wiganlatics.premiumtv.co.uk/page/LegendsDetail/0%2C%2C10429~75126%2C00.html|archivedate=7 October 2006|url-status=dead}}

Methven finished his career with Barrow in 1994.

References

{{reflist}}

;Sources

  • {{cite book|author=Roy Calley|title=Blackpool: A Complete Record 1887-1992|publisher=Breedon Books Sport|year=1992|ISBN=1-873626-07-X}}