[2] Born in East Stonehouse, Cotton played for Sheppey United and Reading before moving to east London club West Ham United in the summer of 1903 along with Ernest Watts, Herbert Lyon and Tommy Allison.
[1] After eight Southern League appearances and one in the FA Cup, Cotton lost his place to Fred Griffiths and moved to Liverpool.
[3][4] Cotton made his Liverpool debut against Nottingham Forest on 1 January 1904 and kept his place until a 5–2 defeat against Everton in the Merseyside derby on 1 April resulted in the return of Peter Platt in goal.
He totalled 12 League appearances during 1903–04 and witnessed the club's relegation to the Second Division at the end of the season.
[5] He then returned to West Ham in September 1904,[6] and made 10 appearances over two seasons,[4] being kept out of the team for the most part by Matthew Kingsley.