Derek Bellotti
English footballer (born 1946)
Derek Christopher Bellotti (25 December 1946 – 10 March 2026) was an English professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper.
Career
Derek Bellotti began his career as an apprentice with Queens Park Rangers in September 1963. He turned professional and spent two seasons on loan to Bedford Town before being released at end of the 1965–66 season without making his debut for QPR.
He joined Gillingham in July 1966 and went on to make 35 league appearances for the Gills. In October 1970, he joined Southend United on loan, playing three games, and later that month was transferred to Charlton Athletic for a fee of £5,000. He played 14 league games for Charlton before moving to Southend United again in December 1971, this time on a permanent basis. He was Southend's regular 'keeper, staying at Roots Hall until May 1974 when he joined Swansea City after playing 74 league games for Southend.
Bellotti only stayed at the Vetch Field for one season, playing 19 times in the league, before moving back into non-league football with Maidstone United, spending two months on loan at Margate from January 1978. Later that year, his career outside football took him to live in Abbotskerswell, Devon and he signed for Cornish non-league side St Blazey from where he signed for Torquay United in October 1979 as cover for John Turner and later for Vince O'Keefe. When Torquay scrapped their reserve team in 1982, he left without making a league appearance, joining Falmouth Town. He subsequently played for Bideford, Saltash United, Newquay, and Torrington.
The public source identifies “Derek Bellotti” as english footballer (born 1946). This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Derek, Bellotti and English.
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The entry’s evidential value lies in the named roles, institutions and publications that can be tested against primary documentation. The source revision retrieved here is dated Apr 22, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q5261803. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1946, 2026, 1963 and 1965.
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This entry incorporates text from “Derek Bellotti” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.