Sad News Reaches Us

Alan Boswell, the Wednesbury-born keeper who played ten first-team games for Wolves in the late 1960s, has died at the age of 74.

The boyhood Wanderers fan made more than 60 appearances for Walsall before going on to have over 220 League outings for Shrewsbury, the town where he settled, lived and worked for decades.

But there was a stint, too, at Molineux, where he had watched as a starry-eyed youngster in the club’s glory years.

He was signed by Ronnie Allen as a rival to or even replacement for Phil Parkes but his hopes of winning supporters over plummeted during a notorious 6-0 home defeat against an Alun Evans-inspired Liverpool.

All his senior matches came for Wolves in that 1968-69 season, the personal highlights of which were a clean sheet in a win at Coventry and a penalty save in a wintry draw at Chelsea.

Wolves Heroes co-owner John Richards heard the sad news on local radio today and said: “I played with Alan quite a lot in my first season with the reserves. He was a great help to the younger defenders, talking and encouraging them. He was a decent keeper but had to compete with Lofty for a first-team place.

“Something else I remember is that he was always smartly dressed – and the same applied to his kit. He was immaculate when he went out on to the pitch.”

We visited Alan at his home in Shrewsbury in March, 2009 and direct our readers now to the fruits of that long interview here rather than repeating chunks of the fascinating information we gleaned.

The extrovert keeper also played for Bolton, Port Vale and Oswestry. We at Wolves Heroes extend our condolences to his family and friends.