Marc Roberts (born 26 July 1990) is an English 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 plays as a defender for club

Birmingham City Birmingham City Football Club is a professional football club based in Birmingham, England. Formed in 1875 as Small Heath Alliance, it was renamed Small Heath in 1888, Birmingham in 1905, and Birmingham City in 1943. Since 2011, the first te ...

. Roberts began his career in

non-league football Non-League football describes football leagues played outside the top leagues of a country. Usually, it describes leagues which are not fully professional. The term is primarily used for football in England, where it is specifically used to de ...

, with

Wakefield Wakefield is a cathedral city in West Yorkshire, England located on the River Calder. The city had a population of 99,251 in the 2011 census.https://www.nomisweb.co.uk/census/2011/ks101ew Census 2011 table KS101EW Usual resident population, ...

Worksop Town Worksop Town Football Club is an English football club based in Worksop, Nottinghamshire. As of the 2021–22 season the team plays in the . They are nicknamed ''The Tigers'' and play their home games at Sandy Lane in Worksop. History First clu ...

Buxton Buxton is a spa town in the Borough of High Peak, Derbyshire, England. It is England's highest market town, sited at some above sea level.

and

FC Halifax Town FC Halifax Town is a professional association football club based in Halifax, West Yorkshire, England. They currently compete in and play at the Shay. They replaced Halifax Town A.F.C., which went into administration in the 2007–08 season. ...

, and was capped for

England C The England national football C team (previously known as the England National Game XI and the England Semi-Pro national team) is the football team that represents England at non-league level. Formed in 1979 as the England Non-League team, it fe ...

, the team that represents England at

semi-professional Semi-professional sports are sports in which athletes are not participating on a full-time basis, but still receive some payment. Semi-professionals are not amateur because they receive regular payment from their team, but generally at a consid ...

level. He joined

League One The English Football League One (often referred to as League One for short or Sky Bet League One for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League One from 2004 until 2016) is the second-highest division of the English Football Leag ...

club

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 2015, helped them gain promotion to the Championship, and captained the team. He signed for Birmingham in July 2017.

Life and career

Roberts was born in

South Yorkshire South Yorkshire is a ceremonial and metropolitan county in the Yorkshire and Humber Region of England. The county has four council areas which are the cities of Doncaster and Sheffield as well as the boroughs of Barnsley and Rotherham. In N ...

, and raised in

Penistone Penistone ( ) is a market town and civil parish in the Metropolitan Borough of Barnsley, South Yorkshire, England, which had a population of 22,909 at the 2011 census. Historically in the West Riding of Yorkshire, it is west of Barnsley, n ...

, where he attended

Penistone Grammar School Penistone Grammar School (PGS) is a co-educational secondary school and sixth form located in Penistone, South Yorkshire, England. Founded in 1392, it is the 45th oldest extant school in England with its most notable alumnus being Nicholas ...

. He played football for Barnsley Boys and for

Barnsley College Barnsley College is a further education college just outside the town centre of Barnsley, England. It has several campuses, including the SciTech Digital Innovation Centre and The Electric Theatre. The college provides A Levels, apprenticeshi ...

, and as a 17-year-old was offered a trial with

Barnsley F.C. Barnsley Football Club is a professional football club based in Barnsley, South Yorkshire, England, which compete in . Nicknamed "the Tykes", they were founded in 1887 by Reverend Tiverton Preedy and moved into Oakwell stadium the following yea ...

but a broken ankle prevented his taking part. Roberts began his senior football career with

of the

Northern Premier League The Northern Premier League is an English football league that was founded in 1968. It has four divisions: the Premier Division (which stands at level 7 of the English football league system), Division One East, Division One West and Divisio ...

Division One North in 2008. After 17 first-team appearances, he had a trial with then

Championship In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this system ...

club

Crystal Palace Crystal Palace may refer to: Places Canada * Crystal Palace Complex (Dieppe), a former amusement park now a shopping complex in Dieppe, New Brunswick * Crystal Palace Barracks, London, Ontario * Crystal Palace (Montreal), an exhibition building ...

, on the recommendation of Wakefield manager

Ronnie Glavin Ronald Michael Glavin (born 27 March 1951) is a Scottish former footballer, who played as a midfielder. Glavin played for Partick Thistle, Celtic, Barnsley, Belenenses, Barnsley, Farsley Celtic, Stockport County, Cowdenbeath and St. Louis Ste ...

. No deal ensued, and Roberts returned to Wakefield to complete a season in which he won the Directors' Player of the Season award. In 2009–10, he won both Players' and Supporters' Player of the Season awards. In both campaigns, he won more

man-of-the-match In team sport, a player of the match or man of the match or woman of the match award is often given to the most outstanding player in a particular match. This can be a player from either team, although the player is generally chosen from the winn ...

awards than any other Wakefield player. In 2011, he moved up a division, signing for

. A few weeks into the season, manager Martin McIntosh was sacked; he took over at another Premier Division club,

Buxton Buxton is a spa town in the Borough of High Peak, Derbyshire, England. It is England's highest market town, sited at some above sea level.

, in February 2012, and promptly took Roberts on loan. Roberts played his part in Buxton avoiding relegation, and returned to Worksop where he appeared on the winning side in the

Sheffield Senior Cup The Sheffield & Hallamshire Senior Cup is a county cup competition involving teams within the Sheffield and Hallamshire County Football Association. Originally named the Sheffield Challenge Cup, it is the 5th oldest surviving cup competition i ...

final. For 2012–13, Worksop's manager felt he had better defensive lineups without Roberts, who was keen to play regularly, so he was allowed to rejoin Buxton on loan for the season. He took his statistics to 5 goals from 65 appearances in all competitions, and was named Buxton's Player of the Year and Players' Player of the Year, as well as gaining selection for the Northern Premier League Premier Division Team of the Year. Roberts signed a permanent contract with Buxton in June 2013; although his Worksop contract had expired, a development fee was payable because of his age. A month later, Roberts moved to

, newly promoted to the

Conference Premier The National League, known as the Vanarama National League for sponsorship reasons, is the highest level of the National League System and fifth-highest of the overall English football league system. It is the highest league that is semi-profess ...

. Roberts spent two seasons with the Shaymen before signing for

club

in May 2015. He 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 on 8 August 2015 in a 3–1 defeat against

Chesterfield Chesterfield may refer to: Places Canada * Rural Municipality of Chesterfield No. 261, Saskatchewan * Chesterfield Inlet, Nunavut United Kingdom * Chesterfield, Derbyshire, a market town in England ** Chesterfield (UK Parliament constitue ...

. Roberts became Barnsley

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

on 28 January 2017, after

Conor Hourihane Conor Geraroid Hourihane () (born 2 February 1991) is an Irish professional footballer who plays as a central midfielder for Derby County and the Republic of Ireland national team. His previous clubs include Aston Villa, Barnsley, Plymout ...

's transfer to

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 ...

. Roberts signed a five-year contract with

club

on 1 July 2017; the fee was undisclosed. He went straight into the starting eleven for the opening fixture of the 2017–18 season, which Birmingham lost 1–0 away to

Ipswich Town Ipswich Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Ipswich, Suffolk, England. They play in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. The club was founded in 1878 but did not turn profession ...

, and was a regular in the side until February 2018. When

Garry Monk Garry Alan Monk (born 6 March 1979) is an English football manager and former professional player who played as a centre back, and was most recently the manager of Championship club Sheffield Wednesday. His managerial career includes spells at ...

took over as manager, he "had just one day to pick the back pairing" and chose Michael Morrison and Harlee Dean. Monk said later that Roberts had been unfortunate, but that the consistency of the Morrison–Dean partnership meant they kept their places. With Dean suspended for two of the last three matches of the season, Roberts came into the side to face

Sheffield United Sheffield United Football Club is a professional football club in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, which compete in the . They are nicknamed "the Blades" due to Sheffield's history of cutlery production. The team have played home games at ...

and scored a first-half equaliser in a win that made a major contribution to their avoiding relegation. Morrison and Dean remained the pairing of choice, but when Morrison injured a hamstring in December 2018, Roberts was unable to take his chance. Nine minutes into his first league start of the season, he suffered a calf injury that left him unfit for selection until after the March 2019 international break. He came back into the side for the last two matches of the season with the team secure from relegation, partnering Wes Harding at centre-back after Dean had surgery on a groin problem and Morrison picked up an ankle injury.

Career statistics

Honours

Barnsley *

Football League Trophy The English Football League Trophy, known for sponsorship purposes as the Papa Johns Trophy after restaurant chain Papa John's Pizza, is an annual English association football knockout competition open to all clubs in EFL League One and EFL Leag ...

: 2015–16 *

Football League One play-offs The EFL League One play-offs are a series of play-off matches contested by the association football teams finishing from third to sixth in the EFL League One table and are part of the English Football League play-offs. , the play-offs comprise ...

2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses during the 2016 Nagorno-Karabakh ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Roberts, Marc 1990 births Living people Footballers from Barnsley English footballers England men's semi-pro international footballers Men's association football defenders Wakefield F.C. players Worksop Town F.C. players Buxton F.C. players FC Halifax Town players Barnsley F.C. players Birmingham City F.C. players Northern Premier League players National League (English football) players English Football League players People educated at Penistone Grammar School People educated at Barnsley College