During my recent article on injured players I thought could have been stars, I revisited a player we signed in 1989 called Alan Roberts.
He often pops up in conversation with supporters of a certain age – a £60,000 (which is around £160,000 with inflation) purchase who lasted just 12 matches, he’s a footnote in Imps’ history. I had an image of a veteran coming to us later in his career, and I don’t know why. Having dug into him a bit, I can’t help but feel that had he been able to get a run of matches, Alan Roberts could have been a massive player for us.
He came through the youth ranks at Middlesbrough, making his debut as a sub at Rotherham in 1982. By the 1983/84 season, he began to appear sporadically for Boro, with a run of games at the beginning of the season. He bagged his first senior goal at Maine Road against Manchester City, inside 12 seconds, but Boro went on to lose 2-1, and Roberts drifted out of the side, missing a chunk of the season with an injury.
He returned in 84/85, but it wasn’t a classic Boro side. Despite making 30 Division Two appearances, he scored just once, in a 2-1 defeat at Carlisle United. Still only 20, he was on a short-term deal at Ayresome Park, and began to attract the attention of Cardiff City. In January 1985, Boro moved quickly and signed the right winger to a new deal.
However, in 1985/86, a woeful Boro were relegated to the Third Division, with Roberts long since departed. He left Ayresome Park for Darlington and the Feethams, alongside a future Imp, Paul Ward. The fee was £5000, and Mitch Cook was moving in the other direction.
At the time, Darlington had just been promoted to the Third Division, meaning Roberts (and Ward) would likely face Boro the following season. It wasn’t a huge surprise that Darlington and Roberts were relegated, while Boro were promoted. Mitch Cook played just three games for Boro, while Roberts and Ward became mainstays of the Darlington side. Despite the club’s contrasting fortunes, Roberts did have a last laugh of sorts – he scored late to earn his side a 1-1 draw against his old club. Somewhat ironically, Ward was the youngest-ever player-manager at the time.
Roberts was a revelation at Darlington, making 116 Football League starts as a young winger. In total, he hit 19 goals, looking a cut above Division Four. Dave Bassett certainly thought so, and upon conclusion of the 1987/88 season, he paid £15,000 for the youngster’s services.
This was a really good Sheffield United side, with the likes of Tony Agana, Brian Deane and Chris Wilder. Roberts was a regular as they finished second in the Third Division. His assists helped, but he chipped in with goals as well, notably two in the opening eight matches. The Blades were on fire, and Roberts was a key part of their promotion.
The following season, in Division Two, he started their opening seven fixtures, but was critical of the long-ball game and began to become unsettled. A silky winger with skills to beat players, he wanted to be in a footballing side. West Brom were in the same division as the Blades and were eager to spend £75,000 on him. Instead, Colin Murphy decided he was the player he wanted to add flair to an Imps side playing a bit of football on the floor.
The Blades were promoted at the end of the season, so this is a lot like a 24-year-old starting for Burnley this season, becoming disillusioned at his situation, and choosing a move to Grimsby over West Brom. That’s explaining it in modern football terms!
Roberts’ input was not instant. We did beat Halifax, but he was described as standing on the right wing ‘trying to keep warm’ as we laboured to a 2-1 victory. We were second when he signed, but defeats against Maidstone (2-0), Exeter (3-0) and Gillingham (3-1) followed, as well as draws with Grimsby (1-1), Hereford (2-2) and Stockport (0-0) which saw us drop to eighth. In the Hereford game, Neil Custis berated the Imps’ tactics, suggesting we’d spent £60,000 on a top player, but continued to hoof it down the middle.
Next up, an FA Cup tie against Billingham Synthonia, remembered for being a tight affair, which we won courtesy of a Shane Nicholson own goal. However, it should be remembered for being the beginning of the end for Roberts. We were on the ropes against Billingham until they had a man sent off for punching Darren Davis. Sadly, we lost Bobby Cumming to injury, his final Imps game, before Roberts also went off at half time. It was the start of his injury issues, and the beginning of the end of his career.
He returned a few weeks later for the FA Cup second round game against Rochdale, but was replaced as he struggled. The whole team struggled – we were soundly beaten 3-0.
He missed the next game, a 1-0 defeat against the same opponent in the league, but returned for the Boxing Day thriller against Cambridge, which we won 4-3. Sadly, our record signing was not among the goals or assists, nor was he as we slumped to a 3-1 defeat against Carlisle just before the turn of the year. He was awarded the Man of the Match by the Echo, an honour that doubtless meant little.
City lost again on New Year’s Day, and finally, Roberts gets a mention in the write-up. He has a rasping drive late on as we went down 2-0 to Scarborough, but that was it, too little, too late.
That wasn’t quite all she wrote. Roberts remained at the club, battling his knee injury behind the scenes. There were no senior appearances, just a long road between him and fitness. We changed managers at the end of the season. Murphy went after criticism of the long-ball game, and in came Allan Clarke. He would absolutely have been a Roberts’ advocate, as Clarke loved the ball on the floor.
While he wasn’t returning to fitness, Roberts returned to action. In September 1990, a year after he signed, he made an appearance for the reserves in the same game that saw Graham Bressington also return to action. City beat Birmingham 2-1, and both injured players started. However, while Bressington was close to a return, Roberts was playing through the pain barrier, and just a couple of weeks later, it was revealed his career was in the balance.
The news from the specialists was not good – at 25, Roberts was forced to retire. He appeared just a handful of times for City, never truly getting a chance to settle or show what he could do. Our record signing weighed in with no goals and no assists, and saw the club drop from second to eighth in the division, as well as exit the FA Cup.
Of course, that wasn’t his fault, and while Imps fans lamented the loss in form, few could lay it at the feet of the promising winger. A man who once scored inside the first few seconds at Maine Road, who had close to 20 goals to his name across a spell with Darlington, never got going. Here was a player with experience in the Second Division, plenty of games in the Third Division, not given enough time by fate to get the Imps out of the Fourth Division.
He was granted a testimonial match, Dave Bassett bringing a full-strength Sheffield United to the Bank to help raise funds for the then-26-year-old. Rather ironically, it was Bressington, returned from his injury at the same time as Roberts’ attempt failed, who stood next to him as captain during the pre-match photos. In another twist of fate, City had by now signed Paul Ward, and Roberts lined up with his former boss for a third time, this time in City colours.
His story is a sad one, not only for him and his career, but also for us and what might have been. That season, we really did have a good chance of promotion, with players like Gordon Hobson and Paul Smith. Losing Roberts and Cumming was a blow, Bressington for the season as well, but we covered with loans such as John Cornforth, Paul Williams and Paul Groves. We also signed David Puttnam and Tony Lormor on permanent deals, and Roberts would have been great alongside those.
Sadly, Lady Luck didn’t shine on us for a season, and she robbed us of a player that could well have gone on to be remembered as fondly as Puttnam or Lormor.
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