Kenneth Owen Roberts (27 March 1936 – 6 February 2021) was a Welsh 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 played as a winger with

Wrexham Wrexham ( ; cy, Wrecsam; ) is a city and the administrative centre of Wrexham County Borough in Wales. It is located between the Welsh mountains and the lower Dee Valley, near the border with Cheshire in England. Historically in the count ...

and

Aston Villa Aston Villa Football Club is a professional football club based in Aston, Birmingham, England. The club competes in the , the top tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1874, they have played at their home ground, Villa Park ...

.Football League Stats - Aston Villa players
/ref> He later achieved managerial success with

Chester Chester is a cathedral city and the county town of Cheshire, England. It is located on the River Dee, close to the English–Welsh border. With a population of 79,645 in 2011,"2011 Census results: People and Population Profile: Chester Loca ...

Playing career

Roberts made his

Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in the world. It was the top-level football league in Engla ...

debut for Wrexham in 1951, when aged just 15 years and 158 days old, equalling the 1929 record of

Bradford Park Avenue Bradford (Park Avenue) Association Football Club is an association football club based in Bradford, West Yorkshire, England. The team compete in , at the sixth tier of the English football league system. The name derived from their former hom ...

's Albert Geldard for the youngest League player. This record stood until beaten by

Reuben Noble-Lazarus Reuben Courtney Noble-Lazarus (born 16 August 1993) is an English-born Grenadian professional footballer. On 30 September 2008, he became the youngest player to debut in the English Football League, at 15 years and 45 days old, breaking the recor ...

Barnsley Barnsley () is a market town in South Yorkshire, England. As the main settlement of the Metropolitan Borough of Barnsley and the fourth largest settlement in South Yorkshire. In Barnsley, the population was 96,888 while the wider Borough has ...

in 2008. He later joined Aston Villa and added 38 league outings and three goals to his tally.

Managerial career

Roberts became manager of

in March 1968, and remained in charge until September 1976 when he became general manager.Roberts' Football League managerial career at Soccerbase
/ref> The highlight of this reign came in 1974–75, when Chester reached the

Football League Cup The EFL Cup (referred to historically, and colloquially, as the League Cup), currently known as the Carabao Cup for sponsorship reasons, is an annual knockout competition and major trophy in men's domestic football in England. Organised by the ...

semi-finals and won promotion from

Division Four The Football League Fourth Division was the fourth-highest division in the English football league system from the 1958–59 season until the creation of the Premier League prior to the 1992–93 season. Whilst the division disappeared in name ...

. He later returned to the dugout as manager of Oswestry Town in 1983, spending a year in the role.Oswestry Town managers
/ref> He also coached at Wrexham and Roberts would later rejoin Chester as chief scout. Roberts died on 6 February 2021 aged 84.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Roberts, Ken (Footballer) 1936 births 2021 deaths Welsh men's footballers Men's association football wingers Footballers from Wrexham English Football League players Wrexham A.F.C. players Aston Villa F.C. players Welsh football managers Chester City F.C. managers Oswestry Town F.C. managers Association football coaches Association football scouts