During his career, he made over 500 appearances in the Football League and made two appearances for the Wales national team in 1981. A centre-half, he was highly regarded by supporters for his strong tackling and uncompromising style. He is the current manager of the Wales national semi-professional football team and also works as a youth coach at Aldershot Town. Born in Ammanford, Boyle attended Llanelli Boys' Grammar School and played for the school rugby team as a centre. He also represented Carmarthen in javelin. A former captain for Wales at schoolboy level, Boyle began his career at Tottenham Hotspur, signing apprenticeship forms in April 1975 before turning professional soon after in September 1975, making his way through the youth system. Unable to oust established players such as Mike England and Keith Osgood from the side, he did not make a first team appearance at White Hart Lane and moved to Crystal Palace. He spent four years with Palace, including a loan spell at Wimbledon before joining Bristol City in 1981 in exchange for Kevin Mabbutt. He went on to play for Newport County, being named in the 1986 Third Division PFA Team of the Year, before joining Cardiff City in August 1986 for a tribunal set fee of £22,500. The transfer proved controversial with Newport as they had expected a significantly larger fee for Boyle, who was the club captain at the time of the move. He made over 168 appearances for the "Bluebirds", including helping them win promotion to Division Three in the 1987–88 season and playing in the 1988 Welsh Cup final as Cardiff defeated Wrexham 2–0. In 1989, his former Crystal Palace teammate Ian Evans brought him to Swansea City where he had recently been appointed manager. He played 47 times in the 1989–90 season before moving on to Merthyr Tydfil in the Conference League. He later moved into the Welsh Premier League with Barry Town. He ended his playing career with player-manager roles at Ebbw Vale, Inter Cardiff and Cinderford Town. Boyle made his debut for Wales on 24 February 1981, scoring during a 3–1 victory over Republic of Ireland at Tolka Park. He made one more appearance for Wales, three months later in May 1981, when he came on as a substitute in place of Joey Jones during a 2–0 victory over Scotland. In August 1994, Boyle was appointed player-manager of Welsh Premier League club Barry Town but left the role in November of the same year. Boyle currently works for the Football Association of Wales Trust, Pro Licence holder since 2007 and is manager of the Wales national semi-professional football team.