Keith Welch

Keith Welch
Personal information
Date of birth (1968-10-03) 3 October 1968 (age 56)
Place of birth Bolton, England
Height 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)[1]
Position(s) Goalkeeper
Youth career
1986–1987 Bolton Wanderers
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1987–1991 Rochdale 205 (0)
1991–1999 Bristol City 273 (0)
1999–2002 Northampton Town 117 (0)
2002 Tranmere Rovers 2 (0)
2002 Torquay United 3 (0)
2003 Mansfield Town 9 (0)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Keith Welch (born 3 October 1968) is an English footballer who played as a goalkeeper in the Football League between the 1980s and 2000s, with Rochdale, Bristol City, Northampton Town, Tranmere Rovers, Torquay United and Mansfield Town.[2]

He started with Bolton Wanderers as a trainee, but moved to Rochdale in 1987[2] and made his Football League debut with them, going on to play 205 League games for the club.[3] He transferred to Bristol City in 1991 for £200,000 and went on to play 321 times for them before moving on in 1999.[2]

He spent the next three seasons at Northampton Town making 127 appearances before leaving in 2002. As of January 2010 he had the third-longest spell for consecutive minutes keeping a clean sheet at Northampton, having managed 467 minutes in 2000.[4]

He signed for Tranmere Rovers in Summer 2002, primarily to act as cover for John Achterberg, but he suffered a groin injury on his opening-day debut against Port Vale.[5] He made his second Tranmere appearance on 21 September 2002 against Crewe Alexandra, but he dislocated his shoulder in the game, and was substituted for Tranmere's goalkeeping coach Eric Nixon.[6] This was to be his final appearance for Tranmere although he went on to have further short spells that season with Torquay United and Mansfield Town.[2] He made his final Football League appearance on 29 March 2003, for Mansfield against Peterborough United,[7] and he was subsequently released by Mansfield that summer.[8]

  1. ^ Dunk, Peter, ed. (1987). Rothmans Football Yearbook 1987–88. London: Queen Anne Press. p. 310. ISBN 978-0-356-14354-5.
  2. ^ a b c d "Keith Welch". Soccerbase: Players. Racing Post. Retrieved 24 August 2011.
  3. ^ Football League Career Stats at Neil Brown - Rochdale players
  4. ^ Northampton's Chris Dunn not looking for personal glory, BBC 27/01/10
  5. ^ "Football: Mathias outlines case for defence; Boss's warning as Tranmere prepare for awkward cup-tie. - Free Online Library".
  6. ^ "Mathias keeping dilemma". Liverpool Daily Post. Trinity Mirror North West & North Wales Limited. 23 September 2002. Archived from the original on 20 April 2013. Retrieved 30 July 2012.
  7. ^ Rollin (eds), Glenda & Jack (2003). Sky Sports Football Yearbook 2003-04. Headline. ISBN 0-7553-1228-7. {{cite book}}: |last= has generic name (help)
  8. ^ Player lay-offs no cause for alarm, Independent 3/06/2003[dead link‍]