Roger Anthony Joseph (born 24 December 1965) is an English 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 ...
who played as a
right back
In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring.
Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...
, best remembered for his time in the
Football League with
Wimbledon and
Brentford. He won two caps for
England B at international level.
Club career
Brentford
Joseph began his career alongside his older brother
Francis at
Third Division club
Brentford and rejoined the club in October 1984, after having been released as a junior and then playing
non-League football for
Southall
Southall () is a large suburban county of West London, England, part of the London Borough of Ealing and is one of its seven major towns. It is situated west of Charing Cross and had a population of 69,857 as of 2011. It is generally divided ...
.
He made his senior debut on the final day of the
1984–85 season in a 1–1 draw with
Millwall
Millwall is a district on the western and southern side of the Isle of Dogs, in east London, England, in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It lies to the immediate south of Canary Wharf and Limehouse, north of Greenwich and Deptford, eas ...
and attempted to establish himself as the club's first choice right back during the
1985–86 and
1986–87 seasons,
before excelling in
1987–88 and winning Brentford's Players' Player of the Year award.
His performances also saw him voted into the Third Division
PFA Team of the Year and he became the first Brentford player to receive the accolade.
He departed
Griffin Park for a club record £150,000 fee in August 1988, having made 122 appearances and scored two goals for the Bees.
Wimbledon
Joseph signed for
First Division club and reigning
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 ...
holders
Wimbledon in August 1988 for a £150,000 fee.
He began his time with the Dons as a regular but drifted out of contention by the
1993–94 season, making just 13 league appearances, before managing just three appearances in the
following season (ending the season on loan at First Division club Millwall) and remaining absent for the entirety of
1995–96.
Joseph was released in May 1996 after making 199 appearances without scoring.
Later career
Joseph had a spell with
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 Fo ...
club
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 ...
during the early months of the
1996–97 season and made five appearances for the club's
reserve team
In sports, a reserve team is a team composed of players under contract to a club but who do not normally play in matches for the first team. Reserve teams often include back-up players from the first team, young players who need playing time to i ...
. He joined Third Division club
Leyton Orient
Leyton Orient Football Club is a professional football club based in Leyton, East London, England, who compete in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. They are the second oldest football club in London to play at a profession ...
on a non-contract basis on 22 November 1996 and made 14 appearances before joined First Division club
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 pl ...
on non-contract terms on 28 February 1997.
He made just two substitute appearances in March 1997, before departing the club at the end of the
1996–97 season.
Joseph returned to Leyton Orient on 3 August 1997.
He was a regular pick during the
1997–98 and
1998–99 seasons and helped Orient to the
1999 Third Division play-off Final, which was lost 1–0 to
Scunthorpe United.
Joseph made just one appearance during the
1999–00 season and was released at the end of the campaign,
after making 77 appearances across his two spells at Brisbane Road.
Non-League football
After his release from Leyton Orient, Joseph dropped into non-League football and played for
King's Lynn,
Leatherhead
Leatherhead is a town in the Mole Valley District of Surrey, England, about south of Central London. The settlement grew up beside a ford on the River Mole, from which its name is thought to derive. During the late Anglo-Saxon period, Leathe ...
and had two spells with former club Southall.
He had two spells with
AFC Wimbledon during the
2003–04 and
2004–05 seasons and though he did not make any competitive appearances, he became one of the first players to play for both Wimbledon and its
phoenix club.
International career
Joseph won two
England B caps during the second half of the
1990–91
Year 199 ( CXCIX) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was sometimes known as year 952 '' Ab urbe condita''. The denomination 199 for this year has been used since t ...
season, starting in wins over
Iceland
Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its s ...
and
Switzerland B.
Personal life
Joseph is of
Dominican descent. His brother
Francis and nephew Zak are also footballers.
Prior to his return to professional football with Brentford in 1984, Joseph worked as a
painter and decorator
A house painter and decorator is a tradesman responsible for the painting and decorating of buildings, and is also known as a decorator or house painter.''The Modern Painter and Decorator'' volume 1 1921 Caxton The purpose of painting is to imp ...
.
Career statistics
Honours
*
Third Division PFA Team of the Year:
1987–88
*
Brentford Players' Player of the Year: 1987–88
References
External links
*
Roger Josephat premierleague.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Joseph, Roger
1965 births
Living people
English footballers
Wimbledon F.C. players
Brentford F.C. players
Millwall F.C. players
Leyton Orient F.C. players
West Bromwich Albion F.C. players
Premier League players
England B international footballers
Southall F.C. players
English Football League players
Association football fullbacks
Black British sportspeople
King's Lynn F.C. players
AFC Wimbledon players
Leatherhead F.C. players
Isthmian League players
Southern Football League players
Chelsea F.C. players
English people of Dominica descent