Roderick James Arnold (born 3 June 1952) is an English former

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

goalkeeper In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or intercepting o ...

who spent the majority of his career at

Mansfield Town Mansfield Town Football Club is a professional association football, football club based in the town of Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, England. The team competes in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. Nicknamed 'The Stags', they ...

, having started his career at

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 ...

. With 513 first-team appearances for Mansfield (440 in the

league League or The League may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Leagues'' (band), an American rock band * ''The League'', an American sitcom broadcast on FX and FXX about fantasy football Sports * Sports league * Rugby league, full contact footba ...

), he is the holder of the club's all-time appearance record.

Career

Arnold began his career at his hometown club

, where he signed his first professional contract in June 1970, and was the club's reserve goalkeeper behind Phil Parkes, but never played any competitive first-team games for Wolves. In February 1971, he joined Mansfield Town on loan, keeping a clean sheet in his debut against

Fulham Fulham () is an area of the London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham in West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It lies on the north bank of the River Thames, bordering Hammersmith, Kensington and Chelsea. The area faces Wandsworth ...

on 6 February 1971. He played 17 league games for the Stags in his first spell at the club, and subsequently returned to Wolverhampton. In 1973, Arnold rejoined Mansfield on a permanent basis, and remained the team's first-choice goalkeeper for the next decade. He was a member of the Mansfield teams that won the

Fourth Division Fourth or the fourth may refer to: * the ordinal form of the number 4 * ''Fourth'' (album), by Soft Machine, 1971 * Fourth (angle), an ancient astronomical subdivision * Fourth (music), a musical interval * ''The Fourth'' (1972 film), a Sovie ...

title in

1975 It was also declared the ''International Women's Year'' by the United Nations and the European Architectural Heritage Year by the Council of Europe. Events January * January 1 - Watergate scandal (United States): John N. Mitchell, H. R. ...

and the Third Division championship in

1977 Events January * January 8 – Three bombs explode in Moscow within 37 minutes, killing seven. The bombings are attributed to an Armenian separatist group. * January 10 – Mount Nyiragongo erupts in eastern Zaire (now the Democratic R ...

. Arnold left Mansfield, and retired from the game in 1984. He has since worked as a goalkeeping coach for

Hull City Hull City Association Football Club is a professional Association football, football club based in Kingston upon Hull, Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire, England, that compete in the . They have played home games at the MKM Stadium since moving ...

. In recent years he has worked as an MC in one of Hull City's hospitality suites during home games.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Arnold, Rod 1952 births Living people English footballers Wolverhampton Wanderers F.C. players Mansfield Town F.C. players Footballers from Wolverhampton Association football goalkeepers English Football League players Hull City A.F.C. non-playing staff