"Solid", "dependable", "ever present" are among the things that were said about him. Boulton was born in Cheltenham. His career began at Charlton Kings, then he played for Gloucester Police. Boulton was actually a Police Cadet in Cheltenham when he was noticed by Rams manager
Tim Ward. Boulton arrived at the
Baseball Ground in August 1964. His course to the first team was not always a smooth one, and it must have seemed to him that he was being overlooked as
Brian Clough signed Rochdale keeper
Les Green in 1968. It took another three seasons for Boulton to get his chance in the first team. Boulton kept 23 clean sheets during the Championship-winning 1971–72 season. In September 1976, Boulton joined
Southampton on loan for a month, as manager
Lawrie McMenemy had lost confidence in
Ian Turner (who had helped "the Saints" win the
FA Cup only a few months earlier) and reserve 'keeper
Steve Middleton. He played five league games for
The Dell club, winning two and losing two, including a 6–2 defeat at
Charlton Athletic and victory at
Wolverhampton Wanderers by the same scoreline; in his five games, he conceded 11 goals. Boulton went on to make 344 first team appearances for Derby County before a move to America where he played for Tulsa Roughnecks and Los Angeles Aztecs between 1979 and 1980. ==Later career==