Iwan Roberts

For the actor, see Iwan "Iwcs" Roberts.
Iwan Roberts

Roberts celebrating after scoring a goal for Norwich City in 2004
Personal information
Full name Iwan Wyn Roberts[1]
Date of birth (1968-06-26) 26 June 1968[1]
Place of birth Bangor, Wales
Height 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)[1]
Playing position Striker
Youth career
0000–1986 Watford
Senior career*
Years Team Apps† (Gls)†
1986–1990 Watford 63 (9)
1990–1993 Huddersfield Town 142 (50)
1993–1996 Leicester City 100 (41)
1996–1997 Wolverhampton Wanderers 33 (12)
1997–2004 Norwich City 278 (84)
2004–2005 Gillingham 20 (3)
2005 → Cambridge United (loan) 11 (3)
Total 647 (202)
National team
1989–2001 Wales 15 (0)
Teams managed
2004 Gillingham (joint-caretaker)

* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only.

† Appearances (goals)

Iwan Wyn Roberts (born 26 June 1968) is a Welsh former professional footballer who played as a striker from 1986 to 2005. Since retiring, he has worked as a sports commentator.

Roberts notably played in the Premier League for Leicester City and Norwich City, as well as earning 15 caps for Wales. He also played in the Football League for Watford, Huddersfield Town, Wolverhampton Wanderers, Gillingham and Cambridge United. Local Norwich football newspaper The Pink'un described him as "one of the greatest goal scorers ever to pull on a Norwich City shirt" and he was elected to the Norwich City F.C. Hall of Fame.

Since retiring as a player, Roberts, who speaks fluent Welsh, has worked as a commentator for Sky Sports, Radio Cymru and BBC Wales. His book, All I Want for Christmas..., a reference to his gap-toothed appearance, prompted both controversy and praise when it was published in 2004.

Early life

Roberts was born in Bangor, Gwynedd[1] and grew up in Dyffryn Ardudwy, Gwynedd. He played schoolboy football for his school and local side Caernarfon Town. He lost his front teeth following an elbow to the mouth when he was 18.[2]

Roberts began his professional career at Watford, when he joined as a trainee, signing his first professional contract in July 1986, shortly after his eighteenth birthday.[3]

Professional career

Watford

One of his contemporaries at Watford was future Norwich manager, Glenn Roeder. Roberts remembers Roeder as "an absolute gentleman... I can't speak highly enough of him. He helped me a great deal with his experience and any problems that the young lads had they knew he would help them with."[4] He scored nine goals in 63 games for the Hornets before moving to Huddersfield Town prior to the start of the 1990–91 season.[5]

Huddersfield Town

His form for Huddersfield – where he scored 50 goals in 142 games – got him noticed by other clubs and in November 1993 he was signed by Leicester City.[5]

Leicester City

Roberts scored 41 goals in 100 league games for Leicester[5] and was part of the team that won promotion to the Premiership via the play-offs at the end of the 1993–94 and 1995–96 seasons. He is well remembered for his hat-trick against Leicester's arch rivals Derby County at Filbert Street in April 1994, and is still to this day the subject of a popular chant amongst Leicester City fans.

Wolverhampton Wanderers

His goals and performances for Leicester persuaded Wolves to sign him in the summer of 1996. He spent only one season at Molineux and confirmed in his 2004 book that he did not enjoy his time there and does not have any fondness for the club, due largely to the mentality of many Wolves supporters. He did, however, score a hat-trick for the club in a match against their bitter local rivals West Bromwich Albion and, overall, scored 12 goals in 33 games.

Roberts was called up to represent his country against Holland in May 1992.[6]

Norwich City

In July 1997, Norwich City manager Mike Walker paid £850,000 to Wolves to secure the services of Roberts.[7] His time at the club did not begin happily, however. Following his debut in August 1997, he struggled throughout the 1997–98 season and scored just 7 goals; "there were certainly those in the stands who were questioning whether he was worth the near £1,000,000 splashed out on him".[8]

"He played eight games in Division One before finally breaking his league duck... He then played another eight matches before his next goal but, gradually, his fitness levels began to improve."[8] He'd scored just four goals in most of a season. However, "three goals in the final two home games of the season left in good heart for the next campaign".[8]

Roberts himself has ascribed his slow start to his lack of physical conditioning. Walker left the club shortly before the end of the season and was replaced during the summer by Bruce Rioch. During pre-season training, Roberts weighed in at 15 stone 3 pounds, with a body fat ratio of 16-17%, when his "fighting weight" should have been "just under 14 stone with around 13 per cent body fat." The turnaround was, according to Roberts, due to some clever psychology by Rioch:

"Bruce was very clever: he didn't issue me with an ultimatum, he didn't rant and rave or threaten me. He just said, "Tom Walley would be proud of you". Tom was my youth team manager at Watford and absolutely hated people being out of shape ... It was a gentle hint, but I realised ... I had to sort it out myself."[9]

Roberts threw himself into weight training and soon reached a target weight of 13 stone 10 pounds.[9] "Walker had left by time the 1998–99 season got under way but his decision to spend big money on Roberts was quickly vindicated as the powerful frontman netted 23 goals in partnership with the flourishing talent of Craig Bellamy who weighed in with 19 to earn Rioch's side a place in the top half of the table."[8]

Roberts worked hard on his fitness and the following season saw him finish as the club's top goalscorer with 23 goals in 51 games. Norwich fans voted him player of the season. In the 1999–00 season he was again top scorer (19 goals in 49 games) and retained the player of the season award. He just missed out on becoming the first player in the club's history to win the award 3 years in a row when Andy Marshall finished narrowly ahead of him in the voting for the 2000–01 season.

During that 1999–2000 campaign there was speculation about Roberts's future as his contract was due to expire in the summer of 2000. Shortly after he signed a contract extension in January of that season, Bruce Rioch left the club and was succeeded by Bryan Hamilton. Roberts helped Hamilton make a good start when he scored both goals in a 2–0 win at Portman Road against City's rivals Ipswich Town F.C. on 19 March 2000.[10] However, Roberts and Hamilton did not have a good relationship during the Ulsterman's short spell in charge and after Hamilton left the club during the 2000–01 season, Roberts intimated that if he had known that Hamilton was going to succeed Rioch then he would not have signed his contract extension.

Under Nigel Worthington, Roberts became club captain, but also finished his Norwich City career

Although Roberts was personally enjoying the most productive spell of his career, his four years so far at Carrow Road had seen the club struggle. They had barely threatened to qualify for the end of season play-offs and in the 2000–01 campaign had struggled against relegation from Division One. The 2001–02 season – with new manager Nigel Worthington in his first full season in charge – saw the team fare better and they reached the Division One play-off final at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff. Roberts missed much of the second half of the season because of injury, but came off the substitute's bench in the final to give Norwich the lead in the first minute of extra-time with a clinically taken headed goal. Norwich lost the match in a penalty shoot-out after Birmingham had equalised. Roberts took – and scored – the first penalty of the shoot-out but misses by Phil Mulryne and Daryl Sutch proved costly as Birmingham were promoted to the Premiership.[11]

During the 2002–03 season, Roberts captained the Norwich City team. That season, in a match against Sheffield Wednesday at Carrow Road, Roberts scored twice to move into third place on the list of Norwich City's all-time leading goalscorers, overtaking Robert Fleck in the process.[12] The season overall, however, was not a happy one for Roberts or Norwich. The Canaries faded after a good start to the season and failed to qualify for the play-offs, while Roberts scored just 7 goals in 47 games leading many supporters to believe that his best days were behind him. The 2003–04 season would be his last at Carrow Road and although he was no longer an automatic selection for the first team he played an important part in one of the club's best-ever seasons. The team won the division one championship in style and were promoted to the premiership. Roberts weighed in with some crucial goals, including the winning goal in a top-of-the-table match against Sheffield United.[13] Roberts revealed in his autobiography that in February of that season he had a cancer scare and had to have a malignant melanoma removed from his arm.[14]

A few days before the club's last home match of that 2003–04 season, Norwich manager Nigel Worthington announced that Roberts would not be offered a new contract when his deal expired that summer. Worthington felt that, following promotion to the Premiership, the club had to look to the future and that Roberts was now surplus to requirements.[15] The Norwich supporters gave him a rapturous reception at his last match for the club at Carrow Road and during the post-match promotion celebrations Roberts wore a T-shirt that bore the legend 'Thanks for 7 great years'. With the championship already won, Worthington restored Roberts to the starting line-up for the last game of the season at Gresty Road against Crewe Alexandra and made him captain for the day. Roberts scored twice as City won 3–1. The first of his goals that day is rated by many Norwich fans as one of the best that he ever scored for the club. Overall, he scored 96 goals in 306 games for Norwich. "Iwan Roberts scored two goals, one of them an absolute corker, to bring the curtain down on a wonderful career in highly appropriate fashion."[16]

Gillingham and Cambridge United

After being released by Norwich he joined Gillingham, there was much speculation regarding his next career move. He received a number of offers but eventually signed a two-year contract with Gillingham where he would be player/coach.[15] It did not prove a good move for Roberts and he had a number of disagreements with the club, particularly after Stan Ternent had succeeded Andy Hessenthaler as manager.[17] In December 2004 Roberts had himself served as joint caretaker manager, along with Darren Hare and Paul Smith, after the sudden departure of both Hessenthaler and initial caretaker John Gorman.[18] In March 2005 he joined Cambridge United on loan until the end of the season,[19] scoring his 200th league goal on his debut.[2] Cambridge were relegated from League Two.[20] In August 2005, Roberts retired from playing after reaching an agreement with Gillingham to pay the final year of his contract.[21]

Style of play

Iwan Roberts has been known as a powerful header of the ball and has therefore often been used as targetman throughout his career.

Book controversy and praise

In 2004, Roberts published an account of his last season at Norwich, entitled All I want for Christmas.... The title of the book was a reference to Roberts' missing front teeth.[2][note 1]

The book proved controversial, because it included an admission of a deliberate stamp on Wolves defender Kevin Muscat, an incident that had taken place in 2000:

"As I got up I 'lost my balance' and trod on his back. Fourteen stone through eight studs, you do the maths. He was in agony, but the ref didn't see it so I got away with it. Of course, I pulled him up and said 'Sorry mate, sorry mate', but he knew."[22]

Roberts stated in the book that the stamp was a payback for a serious injury that Muscat had inflicted on Craig Bellamy while Bellamy and Roberts were playing together for Norwich,[23] and that Muscat held no grudges over the payback.

Because of the coverage in the book, the Football Association retrospectively investigated the incident and Roberts was banned for three matches for the offence.[24] Roberts commented that this "left "a bitter taste" – especially after England captain David Beckham escaped without a punishment for his deliberate foul in the World Cup qualifier against Wales."[24] The Football Association said there was "insufficient evidence" to charge Beckham with bringing the game into disrepute. This was "despite his admission in The Daily Telegraph and subsequent apology."[25] At the time, Roberts told The Daily Telegraph, "I do not want players to get suspensions and fines, but there must be consistency, regardless of who the player is."[25] However, the book was praised by critics.

Outside football

Roberts has the UEFA A coaching licence and currently works for BBC Wales, but has not ruled out getting into management. He told the Eastern Daily Press, "I've done my qualifications. It's just getting a club to give me a chance and taking it."[4]

When Norwich sacked manager Nigel Worthington, Roberts applied for the manager's job. "I tried to go for it... knowing I wasn't going to get it but I'd never really been for an interview and I thought if I did it would stand me in good stead. But I never got a response from the club and that really disappointed me. A week after Peter Grant got the job I got a letter through the post saying 'We won't be considering you this time'. And I thought 'I've known that for the past seven days'."[4]

He does media work, including Welsh language commentary for Sky Sports and Radio Cymru.[26] He speaks fluent Welsh and also works for BBC Wales.[27] Roberts has three children, two being twins (b. 24 September 1995).[24] His charity work includes work with Norwich anti-drugs cause the Matthew Project, which he and his best friend Ross Kent run together.[28]

Legacy

In 2002, Roberts was made an inaugural member of the Norwich City F.C. Hall of Fame.[29] In 2007, Roberts came third in a vote run by the Norwich Evening News to determine which Norwich legend would be inaugurated into the Professional Footballers' Association Centenary Hall of Fame.[30] Roberts "is hero-worshipped when he walks the streets of the city".[24]

Career statistics

Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
Club Season League FA Cup League Cup Other Total
DivisionAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoals
Watford 1985–86[31] First Division 400000—40
1986–87[32] First Division 3100100041
1987–88[33] First Division 25210411[lower-alpha 1]0313
1988–89[34] Second Division 22650104[lower-alpha 2]0326
1989–90[35] Second Division 90102200122
Total 6397083508312
Huddersfield Town 1990–91[36] Third Division 441321202[lower-alpha 3]05014
1991–92[37] Third Division 462433537[lower-alpha 4]46134
1992–93[38] Second Division 37950425[lower-alpha 3]45115
1993–94[39] Second Division 15420311[lower-alpha 3]0215
Total 1425012414615818368
Leicester City 1993–94[40] First Division 2613——1[lower-alpha 5]02713
1994–95[41] Premier League 3793220—4211
1995–96[42] First Division 37192031004220
Total 1004152511011144
Wolverhampton Wanderers 1996–97[43] First Division 331210202[lower-alpha 5]03812
Norwich City 1997–98[44] First Division 3150022—337
1998–99[45] First Division 45191153—5123
1999–2000[46] First Division 44171042—4919
2000–01[47] First Division 44151153—5019
2001–02[48] First Division 301300103[lower-alpha 5]13414
2002–03[49] First Division 4373010—477
2003–04[50] First Division 4181000—428
Total 278847218103130697
Gillingham 2004–05[51] Championship 2031010—223
Cambridge United (loan) 2004–05[51] League Two 113———113
Career total 6472023384820269754239
  1. ↑ Appearance(s) in Full Members Cup
  2. ↑ Two appearances in Full Members Cup, two in Second Division play-offs
  3. 1 2 3 Appearances in Associate Members Cup
  4. ↑ Five appearances and four goals in Associate Members Cup, two in Third Division play-offs
  5. 1 2 3 Appearance(s) in First Division play-offs
Appearances and goals by national team and year
National teamYearAppsGoals
Wales[52] 198910
199230
199430
200050
200130
Total150

Notes

  1. ↑ See All I Want For Christmas Is My Two Front Teeth

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Hugman, Barry J., ed. (2005). The PFA Footballers' Who's Who 2005/2006. Harpenden: Queen Anne Press. p. 348. ISBN 9-781852-916626.
  2. 1 2 3 "Diary of a footballing nomad". The Independent. 10 May 2005. Retrieved 24 April 2013.
  3. ↑ Hugman, Barry J., ed. (2005). The PFA Premier & Football League Players' Records 1946–2005. Harpenden: Queen Anne Press. p. 525. ISBN 9-781852-916657.
  4. 1 2 3 "Iwan backs new boss to inspire Hucks". Eastern Daily Press. 2 November 2007. Retrieved 12 November 2007.
  5. 1 2 3 "Iwan Roberts career statistics". Soccerbase. Retrieved 8 November 2007.
  6. ↑ "Football: Roberts not ready to quit Wales yet". South Wales Argus. 25 March 2002. Retrieved 8 November 2007.
  7. ↑ "Norwich release Roberts". BBC Sport. 29 April 2004. Retrieved 12 November 2007.
  8. 1 2 3 4 "The goal kings". Eastern Daily Press. Archived from the original on 21 October 2007. Retrieved 12 November 2007.
  9. 1 2 All I Want For Christmas..." by Iwan Roberts and Karen Buchanan page 14 Vision Sports Publishing 2005 ISBN 0-9546428-4-8
  10. ↑ "Football League Championship – Ipswich 0–2 Norwich at Portman Road 19-03-2000". Soccerbase. Retrieved 13 November 2007.
  11. ↑ "Birmingham reach Premiership". BBC Sport. 12 May 2002. Retrieved 13 November 2007.
  12. ↑ "Canary Stats – All-time leading goalscorers". Eastern Daily Press. Archived from the original on 21 October 2007. Retrieved 13 November 2007.
  13. ↑ "Football League Championship – Norwich 1–0 Sheff Utd – 31-01-2004". Soccerbase. Retrieved 13 November 2007.
  14. ↑ "Roberts had cancer scare". BBC Sport. 26 June 2004. Retrieved 13 November 2007.
  15. 1 2 "Iwan Roberts signs to Gillingham". BBC Norfolk. 28 June 2004. Retrieved 12 November 2007.
  16. ↑ Chris Wise (9 May 2004). "Crewe Alexandra 1, Norwich City 3". The Pink 'Un. Retrieved 12 November 2007.
  17. ↑ "Roberts makes 'bitter' Gills exit". BBC Sport. 25 August 2005. Retrieved 12 November 2007.
  18. ↑ Roberts, Iwan (10 May 2005). "Diary of a footballing nomad". The Independent. Retrieved 23 December 2008.
  19. ↑ "Iwan Roberts – In Focus". Cambridge United F.C. 23 April 2005. Retrieved 12 November 2007.
  20. ↑ "Cambridge United Potted History". Cambridge United F.C. 15 July 2007. Retrieved 12 November 2007.
  21. ↑ "Iwan Roberts". Flown from the Nest. Retrieved 12 November 2007.
  22. ↑ All I Want For Christmas... pp.23-24
  23. ↑ All I Want for Christmas... page 24
  24. 1 2 3 4 "Norfolk still Iwan's ideal". The Pink'un. 27 November 2004. Retrieved 13 November 2007.
  25. 1 2 Mark Hodgkinson (22 October 2004). "Roberts slams FA". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 13 November 2007.
  26. ↑ "BBC Cymru Wales" (PDF). BBC. Archived from the original (PDF) on 28 February 2008. Retrieved 12 November 2007.
  27. ↑ "Iwan hoping for Town party too!". icHuddersfield. 4 March 2006. Retrieved 13 November 2007.
  28. ↑ "City drugs project helps thousands". Good news for Norwich. Retrieved 12 November 2007.
  29. ↑ "Canary Stats – Norwich City Hall of Fame". Eastern Daily Press. Archived from the original on 27 September 2007. Retrieved 12 November 2007.
  30. ↑ "Keelan tops legends' poll". The Pink'un. 24 July 2007. Retrieved 15 November 2007.
  31. ↑ Dunk, Peter, ed. (1986). Rothmans Football Yearbook 1986–87. London: Queen Anne Press. pp. 374–375. ISBN 978-0-356123-34-9.
  32. ↑ Dunk, Peter, ed. (1987). Rothmans Football Yearbook 1987–88. London: Queen Anne Press. pp. 378–379, 452. ISBN 978-0-356143-54-5.
  33. ↑ Rollin, Jack, ed. (1988). Rothmans Football Yearbook 1988–89. London: Queen Anne Press. pp. 378–379, 449–454, 458, 486. ISBN 978-0-356158-80-8.
  34. ↑ Rollin, Jack, ed. (1989). Rothmans Football Yearbook 1989–90. London: Queen Anne Press. pp. 546–547, 592, 624, 631–632, 651–653. ISBN 978-0-356179-10-0.
  35. ↑ Rollin, Jack, ed. (1990). Rothmans Football Yearbook 1990–91. London: Queen Anne Press. pp. 566–567, 643–646, 676. ISBN 978-0-356179-11-7.
  36. ↑ Rollin, Jack, ed. (1991). Rothmans Football Yearbook 1991–92. London: Queen Anne Press. pp. 258–259, 616–617, 631–632, 645–647. ISBN 978-0-356191-98-0.
  37. ↑ Rollin, Jack, ed. (1992). Rothmans Football Yearbook 1992–93. London: Headline Publishing. pp. 264–265, 592–593, 624–632, 641–645, 660–664. ISBN 978-0-747279-05-1.
  38. ↑ Rollin, Jack, ed. (1993). Rothmans Football Yearbook 1993–94. London: Headline Publishing. pp. 286–287, 617–622, 637–641, 657–663. ISBN 978-0-747278-95-5.
  39. ↑ Rollin, Jack, ed. (1994). Rothmans Football Yearbook 1994–95. London: Headline Publishing. pp. 256–257, 616–622, 636, 656–657. ISBN 978-0-747278-57-3.
  40. ↑ Rollin (ed.). Rothmans Football Yearbook 1994–95. pp. 280–281, 587.
  41. ↑ Rollin, Jack, ed. (1995). Rothmans Football Yearbook 1995–96. London: Headline Publishing. pp. 200–201, 583–586, 613–617. ISBN 978-0-747278-23-8.
  42. ↑ Rollin, Glenda, ed. (1996). Rothmans Football Yearbook 1996–97. London: Headline Publishing. pp. 200–201, 577–581, 602–603. ISBN 978-0-747277-81-1.
  43. ↑ "Games played by Iwan Roberts in 1996/1997". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 21 August 2015.
  44. ↑ "Games played by Iwan Roberts in 1997/1998". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 21 August 2015.
  45. ↑ "Games played by Iwan Roberts in 1998/1999". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 21 August 2015.
  46. ↑ "Games played by Iwan Roberts in 1999/2000". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 21 August 2015.
  47. ↑ "Games played by Iwan Roberts in 2000/2001". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 21 August 2015.
  48. ↑ "Games played by Iwan Roberts in 2001/2002". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 21 August 2015.
  49. ↑ "Games played by Iwan Roberts in 2002/2003". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 21 August 2015.
  50. ↑ "Games played by Iwan Roberts in 2003/2004". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 21 August 2015.
  51. 1 2 "Games played by Iwan Roberts in 2004/2005". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 21 August 2015.
  52. ↑ "Roberts, Iwan". National Football Teams. Retrieved 22 August 2015.

External links

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Sporting positions
Preceded by
Malky Mackay		 Norwich City captain
2002–2003 		Succeeded by
Adam Drury
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