He started his career with Droylsden and played in the Football League with Preston North End, Bradford City, Oldham Athletic and Scunthorpe United.
He turned down a move to Stockport County and returned to City in September 1977 to play for the juniors on a monthly basis following an injury to another young keeper, Tony Armstrong.
[5] He waited two years to replace first-choice goalkeeper Roy Tunks for his Preston debut, which came on 28 February 1981 against Chelsea, keeping a clean sheet in a 1–0 victory and earning The Sun newspaper's man of the match award.
[5] Litchfield played only five more league games for City, and following a loan spell with Oldham Athletic in October 1988,[4] he joined Scunthorpe United in June 1989 as competition for Paul Musselwhite.
[7] Litchfield played 25 league games for Scunthorpe in the Fourth Division but a knee problem limited his appearances during the 1990–91 season, which brought about his retirement at the age of 34.