Colin Methven - Player Profile

Colin John Methven was born in India on the 10^th December 1955 to Scottish parents and he was brought up in his native Scotland.

His height, even as a youngster always marked him out as one to watch and he enjoyed a promising youth career representing Leven Royals.

At the age of 18 Colin signed to play for East Fife and he soon became a regular in the starting XI clocking up over 150 league appearances for the Fifers.

Colin had already caught the eye of various scouts from South of the border but following another fine display in a pre-season friendly against Wigan Athletic he was approached to sign on full-time terms with the Latics.

In September 1979 Colin signed for Wigan for a fee of £30,000, at the time the fee represented a big outlay for the newly elected Football League side but it was to prove an incredible bargain.

Colin went on to make over 300 appearances for the Latics (296 league appearances ) and is recognised as one of Wigan’s greatest ever players.

He was part of the team that claimed the Freight Rover trophy in 1985 and when Blackpool came calling to buy his services in 1986 he was club captain.

Colin’s debut for the Latics is best forgotten as the side crashed to a heavy 4-0 defeat on the 9^th October 1979 against Huddersfield Town at Leeds Road, but in truth the damage was done long before Methven replaced Derek Brownbill from the substitutes bench.

After seven seasons Wigan would have loved to retain the services of Colin but with finances under pressure they simply could not match the terms offered by the Seasiders and Colin was signed for a fee of £20,000 on the 1^st July 1986.

Blackpool soon fell in love with the big Scot and he clocked up over 200 appearances in the following four seasons before falling out of favour and being sent on loan to Carlisle United in September 1990.

At the end of the loan spell Colin signed for the Saddlers and he clocked up over 100 appearances for Walsall over the following three seasons.

On leaving Walsall Methven signed for Barrow (non-league) where he saw out his playing days.

Colin then moved on to coaching and was part of the coaching set up at AFC Fylde for a number of years.