Harold Roberts (footballer)
Personal information | |||
---|---|---|---|
Full name | Harold Roberts | ||
Date of birth | 12 January 1920 | ||
Place of birth | Liverpool, England | ||
Date of death | 11 February 2007 87) | (aged||
Place of death | Chesterfield, England | ||
Height | 5 ft 9 in (1.75 m) | ||
Playing position | Outside left | ||
Youth career | |||
– | Everton | ||
Senior career* | |||
Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
193?–1939 | Harrowby | ||
1939–1948 | Chesterfield | 92 | (9) |
1948–1951 | Birmingham City | 34 | (2) |
1951–1953 | Shrewsbury Town | 70 | (16) |
1953–195? | Scunthorpe United | 17 | (1) |
1955–1956 | Matlock Town | ||
1956–1957 | Gresley Rovers | ||
1957–19?? | Burton Albion | ||
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. |
Harold Roberts (12 January 1920 – 11 February 2007), also known as Harry Roberts, was an English professional footballer who made 213 appearances in the Football League playing for Chesterfield, Birmingham City, Shrewsbury Town and Scunthorpe United.[1] He played as an outside left.
Career
Roberts was born in Liverpool.[2] As a 16-year-old he spent a season with Everton, and then played for Harrowby. He joined Chesterfield in September 1939, just before the Football League was suspended for the duration of the Second World War.[3] During the war, Roberts served with No. 2 Commando. He was wounded in the legs and captured during Operation Chariot, the raid on the French port of Saint-Nazaire in 1942, and owed the possibility of a football career to the repair work carried out by a German surgeon.[3][4] Roberts spent three-and-a-half years in a prisoner-of-war camp in Bremen. On his return, he lodged with Chesterfield coach and former England international Joe Spence, whose individual work with Roberts played a major role in his recovery.[3]
He scored on his first-team debut, in the 1945–46 FA Cup at home to York City, and made his Football League debut on 31 August 1946, in the Second Division in a 1–1 draw at home to Bradford Park Avenue.[5] Described as "an outside-left of great distinction, ... skilful, intelligent and, above all, fast, with an excellent pin-point cross",[3] Roberts made 92 league appearances for the club in two-and-a-half years. In November 1948 he moved on to Birmingham City, recently promoted to the First Division, for a fee of £10,600, at the time a record fee received by the Chesterfield club.[3] During his time at Birmingham he suffered a number of injuries which restricted his appearances to 38 in a two-and-a-half year stay. At the end of the 1950–51 season, Roberts joined Shrewsbury Town of the Third Division South,[2] where he played regularly for two seasons[1] before finishing his league career with infrequent outings for Scunthorpe United over a further two seasons.[6]
Roberts then played non-league football for Matlock Town, Gresley Rovers, for whom he scored 6 goals from 38 games,[7] and Burton Albion, and helped with the coaching of Matlock Town's reserve team as they won the Central Alliance Division Two title and League Cup in the 1959–60 season.[8][9] During the 1960s Roberts spent eight years as a youth worker at Staveley Chantry youth club, where he established a football team. He then returned to Chesterfield F.C., initially as an assistant youth coach, and remained at the club until 1983, when he was one of several staff dismissed by a new board of directors. He later acted as a scout for Sheffield United and Rotherham United.[3][10]
Roberts was married to Dorothy and had two sons,[10] one of whom, Peter, also played league football for Chesterfield.[3][11] Harold Roberts died in hospital in Chesterfield in 2007 at the age of 87.[10]
References
- 1 2 "Harold Roberts". UK A–Z Transfers. Neil Brown. Retrieved 2 June 2009.
- 1 2 Matthews, Tony (1995). Birmingham City: A Complete Record. Derby: Breedon Books. p. 120. ISBN 978-1-85983-010-9.
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "Harold Roberts: 1920–2007". Chesterfield F.C. 12 February 2007. Archived from the original on 4 October 2011.
- ↑ "St Nazaire Raid 28th March 1942". Commando Veterans Association. 26 March 2009. Retrieved 22 June 2009.
- ↑ "Chesterfield's debutants" (XLSX). cfchistory.com. Stuart Basson. Retrieved 24 August 2015.
- ↑ "The Iron Alphabet". Scunthorpe United F.C. 22 June 2007. Archived from the original on 23 February 2012.
- ↑ "Harold Roberts". Gresley Rovers Player Database. Gresley F.C. Retrieved 18 October 2010.
- ↑ "Pen pictures and player profiles". Down Causeway Lane. Matlock Town F.C. Archived from the original on 7 May 2009.
- ↑ "Crook Town and that 1959/60 season". Down Causeway Lane. Matlock Town F.C. Archived from the original on 11 October 2008.
- 1 2 3 "Mr H. Roberts". Derbyshire Times. 22 February 2007. Archived from the original on 7 October 2011.
- ↑ "Chesterfield : 1946/47–2007/08". UK A–Z Transfers. Neil Brown. Retrieved 22 June 2009.
External links
- Roberts' league stats at Neil Brown's site
- Photos of Roberts at Commando Veterans Association website