Jason Andre Davis Roberts
MBE Mbe may refer to:
* Mbé, a town in the Republic of the Congo
* Mbe Mountains Community Forest, in Nigeria
* Mbe language, a language of Nigeria
* Mbe' language, language of Cameroon
* ''mbe'', ISO 639 code for the extinct Molala language
Molal ...
(born 25 January 1978) is a former professional
footballer
A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...
who is now Director of Development at
CONCACAF
The Confederation of North, Central America and Caribbean Association Football,, ; french: Confédération de football d'Amérique du Nord, d'Amérique centrale et des Caraïbes, . Dutch uses the English name. abbreviated as CONCACAF ( ; typese ...
.
Born in
Park Royal
Park Royal is an area in North West London, England, partly in the London Borough of Brent and partly the London Borough of Ealing.
It is the site of the largest business park in London,
but despite intensive existing use, the area is, toget ...
, London, Roberts was playing football from an early age, and spent time in the youth academies at several professional clubs, but was not retained. After a spell in non-league football with
Hayes, he joined
Wolverhampton Wanderers
Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club (), commonly known as Wolves, is a professional football club based in Wolverhampton, England, which compete in the . The club has played at Molineux Stadium since moving from Dudley Road in 1889. The club's ...
in 1997. He failed to make a first-team appearance for Wolves, and had loan spells at
Torquay United
Torquay United Football Club is a professional football club based in Torquay, Devon, England. The team currently compete in the , the fifth tier of English football. They have played their home matches at Plainmoor since 1921 and are nicknamed ...
and
Bristol City
Bristol City Football Club is a professional football club based in Bristol, England, which compete in the , the second tier of English football. They have played their home games at Ashton Gate since moving from St John's Lane in 1904. The ...
before signing for
Bristol Rovers
Bristol Rovers Football Club are a professional football club in Bristol, England. They compete in League One, the third tier of the English football league system.
They play home matches at the Memorial Stadium in Horfield, they have been c ...
in 1998. He quickly established himself in the first team, scoring 38 goals in his two seasons at the club.
After the club failed to gain promotion, Roberts handed in a transfer request and was sold to
West Bromwich Albion
West Bromwich Albion Football Club () is an English professional football club based in West Bromwich, West Midlands, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football. The club was formed in 1878 and has pla ...
in July 2000. His goals helped the team reach the
First Division play-offs in his first season at the club, then promotion to the
Premier League
The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...
in the following season. Roberts scored three goals in his first Premier League season as the club were relegated back down to the
First Division. He was loaned out to
Portsmouth
Portsmouth ( ) is a port and city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. The city of Portsmouth has been a unitary authority since 1 April 1997 and is administered by Portsmouth City Council.
Portsmouth is the most dens ...
at the start of the
2003–04 season, and was then sold to
Wigan Athletic
Wigan Athletic Football Club () is an English professional association football club based in Wigan, Greater Manchester, England. The team competes in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system.
Founded in 1932, ...
in January 2004. He scored 21 goals in Wigan's promotion-winning campaign in the
2004–05 season, and won the club's Player of the Year award at the end of the season. His goals in the following season helped the club finish tenth in its inaugural Premier League campaign, as well as taking them to the
2006 Football League Cup Final at the
Millennium Stadium
The Millennium Stadium ( cy, Stadiwm y Mileniwm), known since 2016 as the Principality Stadium ( cy, Stadiwm Principality) for sponsorship reasons, is the national stadium of Wales. Located in Cardiff, it is the home of the Wales national rug ...
– the club's first ever major cup final.
After failing to agree a new contract with Wigan, he was sold to
Blackburn Rovers
Blackburn Rovers Football Club is a professional football club, based in Blackburn, Lancashire, England, which competes in the , the second tier of the English football league system. They have played home matches at Ewood Park since 1890. T ...
in 2006, where he played European football for the first time. He made 156 appearances for Blackburn, scoring 28 goals. In 2007, he established the Jason Roberts Foundation, and was awarded an
MBE Mbe may refer to:
* Mbé, a town in the Republic of the Congo
* Mbe Mountains Community Forest, in Nigeria
* Mbe language, a language of Nigeria
* Mbe' language, language of Cameroon
* ''mbe'', ISO 639 code for the extinct Molala language
Molal ...
for services to sport in
2010 New Year Honours – Grenada. In 2011, he began working as a presenter for
BBC Radio 5 Live
BBC Radio 5 Live is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that broadcasts mainly news, sport, discussion, interviews and phone-ins. It is the principal BBC radio station covering sport in the United Kingdom, broadcast ...
's ''
6-0-6
''606'' (pronounced six-oh-six) is a weekend early evening football phone-in programme, broadcast on BBC Radio 5 Live throughout the British football season. It covers topics relating to the current affairs of football in the United Kingdom.
T ...
'' programme. In January 2012. he signed for
Reading
Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of Letter (alphabet), letters, symbols, etc., especially by Visual perception, sight or Somatosensory system, touch.
For educators and researchers, reading is a multifaceted process invo ...
on an eighteen-month contract and helped them to promotion from the
Football League Championship
The English Football League Championship (often referred to as the Championship for short or the Sky Bet Championship for sponsorship purposes) is the highest division of the English Football League (EFL) and second-highest overall in the En ...
as champions. On 20 March 2014, he announced his immediate retirement from the game due to persistent injuries.
Club career
Early career
Roberts was born in
Central Middlesex Hospital
Central Middlesex Hospital is in the centre of the Park Royal business estate, on the border of two London boroughs, Brent and Ealing. It is managed by the London North West University Healthcare NHS Trust.
History
The hospital was establish ...
, north-west London. He grew up in
Stonebridge, in the
London Borough of Brent
The London Borough of Brent () is a London boroughs, London borough in north-west London. It borders the boroughs of London Borough of Harrow, Harrow to the north-west, London Borough of Barnet, Barnet to the north-east, London Borough of Camden ...
.
Roberts was born into a sporting family: his uncles
Cyrille Regis
Cyrille Regis, MBE (9 February 1958 – 14 January 2018) was a professional footballer who played as a forward. His professional playing career spanned 19 years, where he made 614 league appearances and scored 158 league goals, most prolifical ...
,
Dave Regis
David Regis (born 3 March 1964) is an English retired professional footballer who played as a striker. He scored 53 goals from 237 appearances in the Football League in the 1990s, notably for Stoke City and Notts County.
Playing career
Regi ...
and
Otis Roberts
Otis Roberts (born 17 August 1968) is a retired Grenadan international footballer.
Career
Club career
Roberts played for Barnet during the 1990-91 season.
Roberts played in England for Crystal Palace, although he never made a first-team league ...
all had careers as professional footballers, while another uncle,
John Regis, is a former Olympic sprinter.
He began playing football from the age of six, and was scouted by several professional clubs while playing for Parkfield Youth. He trained at the youth academies of a number of these clubs, including
Tottenham Hotspur
Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as Tottenham () or Spurs, is a professional association football, football club based in Tottenham, London, England. It competes in the Premier League, the top flight of English footba ...
,
Watford
Watford () is a town and borough in Hertfordshire, England, 15 miles northwest of Central London, on the River Colne.
Initially a small market town, the Grand Junction Canal encouraged the construction of paper-making mills, print works, a ...
, and
Chelsea
Chelsea or Chelsey may refer to:
Places Australia
* Chelsea, Victoria
Canada
* Chelsea, Nova Scotia
* Chelsea, Quebec
United Kingdom
* Chelsea, London, an area of London, bounded to the south by the River Thames
** Chelsea (UK Parliament consti ...
,
but failed to earn a contract. He then spent time on trial at
Wycombe Wanderers
Wycombe Wanderers Football Club is an English professional association football club based in the town of High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire. The team compete in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. They play their home ...
, but was not offered a permanent deal at the club.
After being rejected by Wycombe, Roberts spent more than a year away from football.
He began working as an export clerk, and was considering quitting the game altogether. Only when his uncle Cyrille arranged a trial at former club
Hayes in the
Isthmian League Premier Division
The Isthmian League () is a regional men's football league covering Greater London, East and South East England, featuring mostly semi-professional clubs.
Founded in 1905 by amateur clubs in the London area, the league now consists of 82 teams ...
Roberts returned to football. He did enough to impress the club and signed a
part-time
Part-time can refer to:
* Part-time job, a job that has fewer hours a week than a full-time job
* Part-time student, a student, usually in higher education, who takes fewer course credits than a full-time student
* Part Time
Part Time (styliz ...
contract worth £15 per week. He made his debut in November 1995, the season Hayes won promotion to the
Football Conference
The National League (named Vanarama National League for sponsorship reasons) is an association football league in England consisting of three divisions, the National League, National League North, and National League South. It was called the ...
. After scoring five goals early in the 1997–98 season, he was sold to
Wolverhampton Wanderers
Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club (), commonly known as Wolves, is a professional football club based in Wolverhampton, England, which compete in the . The club has played at Molineux Stadium since moving from Dudley Road in 1889. The club's ...
for £250,000, before moving to
Torquay United
Torquay United Football Club is a professional football club based in Torquay, Devon, England. The team currently compete in the , the fifth tier of English football. They have played their home matches at Plainmoor since 1921 and are nicknamed ...
on loan, where he scored six goals in 13 games. These goals came as Torquay struggled and won a relegation battle. Another loan took him to
Bristol City
Bristol City Football Club is a professional football club based in Bristol, England, which compete in the , the second tier of English football. They have played their home games at Ashton Gate since moving from St John's Lane in 1904. The ...
, where he scored one goal against Oldham in three appearances.
He joined
Bristol Rovers
Bristol Rovers Football Club are a professional football club in Bristol, England. They compete in League One, the third tier of the English football league system.
They play home matches at the Memorial Stadium in Horfield, they have been c ...
for £250,000 in August 1998.
In the
1998–99 season, Roberts scored 16 goals in 37 league appearances, and was one of the top goal scorers in the
FA Cup
The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...
with a total of seven goals. He continued his plunder in the next season, scoring 22 goals in 41 appearances. In the summer of 2000 however, following Rovers' failure to gain promotion, he handed in a transfer request to the club.
West Bromwich Albion
Roberts moved to
West Bromwich Albion
West Bromwich Albion Football Club () is an English professional football club based in West Bromwich, West Midlands, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football. The club was formed in 1878 and has pla ...
on 26 July 2000, for a club record £2 million fee. He made his debut in a 1–0 defeat away at
Nottingham Forest
Nottingham Forest Football Club is an association football club based in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England. Nottingham Forest was founded in 1865 and have been playing their home games at the City Ground, on the banks of the River Tren ...
on 12 August, the opening day of the
2000–01 season. He scored twice against Swansea City in the League Cup on 6 September, his first goals for the club. Roberts scored 17 goals in 50 appearances in 2000–01; he formed a successful partnership with
Lee Hughes
Lee Hughes (born 22 May 1976) is an English professional footballer who plays as a striker for club Stourport Swifts.
A strong striker with excellent finishing abilities, Hughes represented the England semi-professional team once in 1996. ...
and took Albion to the First Division playoffs. During the successful promotion campaign of
2001–02 however, his season was blighted by a persistent foot injury, breaking his fifth metatarsal three times. He managed 14 league appearances during the season, scoring seven goals.
Despite being fully fit for
2002–03, Albion's first season in the
Premier League
The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...
, Roberts managed only three goals in 32 games. He was loaned out for much of the
2003–04 season to
Portsmouth
Portsmouth ( ) is a port and city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. The city of Portsmouth has been a unitary authority since 1 April 1997 and is administered by Portsmouth City Council.
Portsmouth is the most dens ...
, where he scored once against Everton, with three further goals in the League Cup against
Northampton Town
Northampton Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Northampton, England. The team plays in , the fourth tier of the English football league system.
Founded in 1897, the club competed in the Midland ...
(2) and Nottingham Forest. A transfer request during mid-season saw him move to
Wigan Athletic
Wigan Athletic Football Club () is an English professional association football club based in Wigan, Greater Manchester, England. The team competes in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system.
Founded in 1932, ...
for a fee of £1.4 million, potentially rising to £2 million.
Wigan Athletic
Roberts made his debut for Wigan on 17 January 2004 in a 4–2 win against
Preston North End
Preston North End Football Club, commonly referred to as Preston, North End or PNE, is a professional football club in Preston, Lancashire, England, who currently play in the EFL Championship, the second tier of the English football league syste ...
, scoring his first goal for the club inside the first 35 seconds of the match. He made a good start to his career at the club, scoring eight goals in 14 appearances to round out the 2003–04 season. Roberts continued to find the net in the 2004–05 campaign, ending the season with 21 goals in league play—second in
The Championship
The English Football League Championship (often referred to as the Championship for short or the Sky Bet Championship for sponsorship purposes) is the highest division of the English Football League (EFL) and second-highest overall in the En ...
, behind teammate
Nathan Ellington
Nathan Levi Fontaine Ellington (born 2 July 1981) is an English retired professional footballer who played as a striker.
Ellington started his playing career with non-League side Tooting & Mitcham United. Having played once for the club, he sw ...
. Both players were named in the PFA Championship team of the season. Wigan finished second in the table behind
Sunderland
Sunderland () is a port city in Tyne and Wear, England. It is the City of Sunderland's administrative centre and in the Historic counties of England, historic county of County of Durham, Durham. The city is from Newcastle-upon-Tyne and is on t ...
, earning automatic promotion to the Premier League. It was his penalty kick goal in the second minute of their 27 August 2005 match against Sunderland that served as the first Premier League goal for the Latics and led them to the first top-flight victory in Wigan Athletic's history.
With Wigan Athletic's promotion to the top flight of English football in May 2005, Jason Roberts was able to establish himself in the Premier League. His goals enabled Wigan to finish the season comfortably in the top half and challenge for a European place in only their first season in the top division of English football. This success was encapsulated in one moment on 24 January 2006—when Roberts himself scored a last minute goal against
Arsenal
An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...
at
Highbury
Highbury is a district in North London and part of the London Borough of Islington
in Greater London that was owned by Ranulf brother of Ilger and included all the areas north and east of Canonbury and Holloway Roads.
The manor house was situ ...
in the
League Cup
In several sports, most prominently association football, a league cup or secondary cup generally signifies a cup competition for which entry is restricted only to teams in a particular league. The first national association football tournament t ...
semi-final to send Wigan to the first major cup final in their history. He would go on to start for Wigan in the
final
Final, Finals or The Final may refer to:
*Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which decides a winner for an event
** Another term for playoffs, describing a sequence of cont ...
against
Manchester United
Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of City of Salford, Salford to ...
.
Blackburn Rovers
On 3 July 2006, he joined
Blackburn Rovers
Blackburn Rovers Football Club is a professional football club, based in Blackburn, Lancashire, England, which competes in the , the second tier of the English football league system. They have played home matches at Ewood Park since 1890. T ...
on a four-year contract for an undisclosed fee. He scored his first goal for Blackburn in the 2–1
FA Cup
The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...
semi-final defeat against
Chelsea
Chelsea or Chelsey may refer to:
Places Australia
* Chelsea, Victoria
Canada
* Chelsea, Nova Scotia
* Chelsea, Quebec
United Kingdom
* Chelsea, London, an area of London, bounded to the south by the River Thames
** Chelsea (UK Parliament consti ...
, he missed three months of the season with a broken foot. Roberts kept this momentum towards the end of the 2006–07 season by netting five goals in as many games.
The following season, he struggled to maintain a place in the Blackburn starting line up due to the signing of
Bayern Munich
Fußball-Club Bayern München e. V. (FCB, ), also known as FC Bayern (), Bayern Munich, or simply Bayern, is a German professional sports club based in Munich, Bavaria. It is best known for its professional men's football team, which pla ...
striker
Roque Santa Cruz
Roque Luis Santa Cruz Cantero (; born 16 August 1981) is a Paraguayan professional footballer who plays as a striker for Paraguayan club Club Libertad. He is the record goal scorer and has earned over 100 caps for the Paraguay national team, ...
. However, after a solo goal at rivals
Bolton Wanderers
Bolton Wanderers Football Club () is a professional football club based in Horwich, Bolton, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in . The club played at Burnden Park for 102 years from 1895 after moving from their original home at Pike's ...
, he claimed back his place and took part in many games towards the end of the season netting some goals and forging a good partnership with Santa Cruz.
Roberts scored seven league goals in the 2008–09 season, as Blackburn struggled in the league finishing 15th. He signed a new deal in November 2008 which kept him at
Ewood Park
Ewood Park () is a football stadium in Blackburn, Lancashire, England, and the home of Blackburn Rovers F.C., founding members of the Football League and Premier League, who have played there since 1890. It is an all seater multi-sports facili ...
until the summer of 2011. By the end of the 2009–10 season, Roberts had scored five goals in 31 appearances, helping Blackburn finish 10th in the league.
Reading
On 26 January 2012, Roberts signed for
Reading
Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of Letter (alphabet), letters, symbols, etc., especially by Visual perception, sight or Somatosensory system, touch.
For educators and researchers, reading is a multifaceted process invo ...
on an eighteen-month contract. Roberts scored on his debut against Bristol City on 26 January 2012; when
David James saved his penalty and Roberts bundled the ball over the line from the rebound. His second goal came on 11 February against
Coventry City
Coventry City Football Club is a professional association football club based in Coventry, West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. The team currently compete in the EFL Championship, Championship, the second tier of the English footbal ...
, where he deflected in a
Matthew Connolly header. He scored his third goal in four starts in a 1–0 win against
Burnley
Burnley () is a town and the administrative centre of the wider Borough of Burnley in Lancashire, England, with a 2001 population of 73,021. It is north of Manchester and east of Preston, at the confluence of the River Calder and River Bru ...
, after looping a
Jobi McAnuff
Joel Joshua Frederick Melvin "Jobi" McAnuff (born 9 November 1981) is a former Association football, footballer. He was predominantly a Midfielder#Winger, winger but he has also played as an occasional Midfielder#Central midfielder, central midf ...
cross over keeper
Lee Grant
Lee Grant (born Lyova Haskell Rosenthal; October 31, during the mid-1920s) is an American actress, documentarian, and director. She made her film debut in 1951 as a young shoplifter in William Wyler's ''Detective Story'', co-starring Kirk Dougl ...
. On 10 March, Roberts got on the scoresheet again with a goal from close in to the bottom left corner of the goal, against
Leicester City
Leicester ( ) is a city, unitary authority and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest settlement in the East Midlands.
The city lies on the River Soar and close to the eastern end of the National ...
, in a 3–1 win. Reading's matchday edition of the Royals, revealed that Roberts had officially made the best ever start to a Reading career by helping them achieve an eight-game winning run, while also scoring four times and providing five assists. He scored his sixth goal for Reading in an important top of the table clash against
Southampton
Southampton () is a port city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire built-up area, which also covers Po ...
, connecting with
Jimmy Kébé's pinpoint cross.
On 21 February 2014, having not played for more than a year due to a persistent hip injury, Roberts told the matchday announcer he was unlikely to play again and on 20 March 2014 he announced his retirement from football.
International career
With
Grenada national team, Roberts scored in
qualifiers for the 2006 World Cup against the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
.
Roberts scored the first two goals of a 10–0 rout of the
US Virgin Islands
The United States Virgin Islands,. Also called the ''American Virgin Islands'' and the ''U.S. Virgin Islands''. officially the Virgin Islands of the United States, are a group of Caribbean islands and an unincorporated and organized territory ...
on 26 March 2008, in the first game of
2010 FIFA World Cup qualification
Qualifying for the 2010 FIFA World Cup was a series of tournaments organised by the six FIFA confederations. Each confederation — the AFC (Asia), CAF (Africa), CONCACAF (North, Central America and Caribbean), CONMEBOL (South America), OFC (O ...
.
Roberts qualified to play for Grenada through his father, who was born there. His mother was born in
French Guiana
French Guiana ( or ; french: link=no, Guyane ; gcr, label=French Guianese Creole, Lagwiyann ) is an overseas departments and regions of France, overseas department/region and single territorial collectivity of France on the northern Atlantic ...
.
Media career
In Wigan's first season in the Premier League, Roberts wrote a weekly blog for the BBC Sport's website. In August 2011 he was announced as a new presenter on ''
6-0-6
''606'' (pronounced six-oh-six) is a weekend early evening football phone-in programme, broadcast on BBC Radio 5 Live throughout the British football season. It covers topics relating to the current affairs of football in the United Kingdom.
T ...
'' and made his first appearance on ''
Match of the Day 2
''Match of the Day 2'' is a Premier League association football, football highlights programme. It is a companion show to Match of the Day, usually broadcast on BBC One on Sunday evenings, thus facilitating coverage of the respective week's PL m ...
'' in November 2011. He appeared on ''Match of the Day 2'' for the second time on 15 January 2012, the third time on 1 April and a fourth on 11 November. He worked as a co-commentator at the 2014 FIFA World Cup for
5 Live and joined the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
full-time at the start of the 2014–2015 season to work as a pundit and co-commentator.
Director of Development in November 2017. He is a member of the
.
and supported them growing up.
In Spring 2007, he founded the Jason Roberts Foundation, which aims "to provide a range of sporting opportunities for children and young people in the UK and Grenada".
Roberts comes from a prominent sporting family: his uncles include former footballers
(a former Grenada international who played in Hong Kong and Belgium). He is also related to Olympic medallist
list, for his services to sport in Grenada and in London, England.
Upon receiving the award he stated in one of Blackburn's match-day programme notes that he was humbled to get it and thanks everyone who has supported his charity work.
:''Scores and results list Grenada's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Roberts goal.''