Motherwell Boyd's professional career began at Motherwell, where he made 252 league appearances. The most notable of his achievements in his time at
Fir Park was skippering the
Well side that defeated
Dundee United 4–3 in the
1991 Scottish Cup final, considered one of the most exciting in the competition's history.
Chelsea Boyd's form as an attacking full back saw him win a move to
Chelsea that year. However, Boyd struggled to settle and spent only one year at
Stamford Bridge.
Celtic Boyd was transferred to boyhood heroes Celtic in an exchange deal which saw
Tony Cascarino going to Chelsea. He played for Celtic for the remainder of his career, serving as club captain from 1997 to 2002. He holds the distinction of having been the captain who lifted Celtic's first league title in ten years in 1998, preventing
rivals Rangers from securing a record-breaking ten championships in a row. As Boyd's career moved on, he began playing more in the centre of defence, whilst continuing to operate at full back on either side of the pitch when required, making him a versatile defender. Boyd continued to captain the club after the arrival of
Martin O'Neill at
Celtic Park in 2000. In O'Neill's first season in charge Boyd played a significant part in the securing of a domestic
treble, only the third in the club's history; Boyd became only the second Celtic captain (after
Billy McNeill) to captain Celtic in a treble-winning season. He also helped them win another
Scottish Premier League title in
2001–02.
International career Boyd is the sixth most capped player for Scotland with 72 caps, meaning that he is a member of the Scotland national football team roll of honour and can be found in the
Scottish Football Museum at
Hampden Park. His international career saw him garner 72 Scotland caps, playing at
UEFA Euro 1992 and
UEFA Euro 1996 and also the
1998 World Cup. In the latter tournament, he scored an
own goal in a match against
Brazil when the ball deflected off him as he ran back facing his goalkeeper, giving the Brazilians a 2–1 win in the tournament's opening match. ==Post-playing career==