Colin Woodthorpe joined Norwich in July 1990 from Chester City, the club that he had joined as an apprentice in 1985 as an associate schoolboy. He made his league debut for Chester in August 1986 and by the time of his transfer to Carrow Road, Colin had made 155 league appearances at left back, scoring six times. Mark Bowen's occupation of the left back position limited Colin's chances and he did not make his Canary debut until 11th May 1991 in a 2-1 defeat away to Sheffield United. After 53 games (1 goal) for the Canaries and limited first team opportunities, Colin jumped at a chance to move to Aberdeen who were offering better financial terms. Norwich City received £400,000. He never truly settled in Scotland and returned to England in July 1997 to join Gary Megson's Stockport for £200,000. He has since totaled up 119 league appearances for County scoring 4 goals.

Despite captaining Stockport in 2001/02, he was given a free transfer at the end of the 2001/02 season with County's manager Carlton Palmer obviously not impressed with Woodthorpe's contribution towards their relegation into Division Two. At the time of writing, Colin appeared to be on the brink of joining non-leaguers Morecambe after impressing against Barrow in a pre-season friendly during August 2002. However Colin held out for a return to league football and was successful, signing for Bury on a short term contract towards the end of August 2002. He made his Bury debut as a half-time substitute for Barrass in their 1-1 draw at Jan Molby's Hull on 24th August 2002.

Colin was one of four players released by Bury on 16th May 2005 but has since been re-signed. He remained with the Shakers until May 2008 when he was released

Colin moved into management at the end of May 2010 when he became assistant manager to former teammate Dave Challinor at Colwyn Bay. In their only full season at Colwyn, they finished second and won promotion to Conference North via the play-offs.

At the beginning of November 2011, Challinor and Woodthorpe resigned from Colwyn Bay to take up similar roles at AFC Fylde. Fylde were promoted into the Conference North in 2013/14. The following campaign saw them finish second losing in the play-offs whilst in 2015/16 they finished third. In 2016/17, they won the Conference North title, finishing six points clear of second place Kidderminster.

In 2018/19 they finished fifth in the Conference and reached the Conference play-off finals only to lose 3-0 to Salford City on 11th May 2019 who will enter the Football League. Some of that disappointment was removed when Fylde played in the FA trophy final beating Leyton Orient on 19th May 2019, winning 1-0.

Challinor and Woodthorpe were sacked on 12th October 2019 with Fylde in the relegation zone after losing four consecutive matches. They had been at the club for eight years.

He took up the Assistant Manager at Runcorn Linnets of the Northern Premier League Division One North West in the summer of 2020. The appointment suited his domestic arrangements following the death of his wife Karole from breast cancer in 2018. "My youngest, Ash, has special needs and is in his last year of high school so it all fits in geographically so I can be around and be a support to him, [and other sons] Nathan and Elliott." Nathan signed a professional contract with Crewe in the summer of 2020.