William Thomas Roberts (29 November 1898 – 13 October 1965) was 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 lea ...

who played for Soho Villa,

Leicester Fosse Leicester City Football Club is a professional association football, football club based in the city of Leicester, East Midlands, England. The club compete in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football league system, English f ...

Preston North End Preston North End Football Club, commonly referred to as Preston, North End or PNE, is a professional association football club in Preston, Lancashire, England. They currently play in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English footbal ...

Burnley Burnley () is a town and the administrative centre of the wider Borough of Burnley in Lancashire, England, with a 2021 population of 78,266. It is north of Manchester and east of Preston, at the confluence of the River Calder and River B ...

Tottenham Hotspur Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as simply Tottenham (, , , ) or Spurs, is a professional Association football, football club based in Tottenham, North London, England. The club itself has stated that it should always ...

, Dick, Kerr's,

Chorley Chorley is a town and the administrative centre of the wider Borough of Chorley in Lancashire, England, north of Wigan, south west of Blackburn, north west of Bolton, south of Preston and north west of Manchester. The town's wealth ca ...

and

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

at international level.

Football career

Roberts began his career at non League Soho Villa and later Leicester Fosse. After

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

he joined Preston North End and made his debut against Blackburn Rovers in 1919.Roberts' fact file
Retrieved 14 July 2009 The high scoring

centre forward In the sport of association football, a forward (attacker or striker) is an outfield position which primarily plays further up the pitch than midfielders and defenders. As with any attacking player, the role of the forward relies heavily on be ...

was top scorer in his first season with 29 goals. Roberts featured in 199 matches and scored 118 goals between 1919 and 1924. In 1924 he signed for Burnley where he scored a further 28 goals in 49 matches. He returned to

Deepdale Deepdale is a football stadium in the Deepdale area of Preston, England that is the home ground of Preston North End. Built in 1875 and in use since 1878, Deepdale is recognised as being one of the oldest continuously used football stadium ...

for his second spell at the club in 1926 and once again top scored with 30 goals in 55 matches. Roberts broke an arm in a motor vehicle accident in 1927 and suffered injury problems before joining Tottenham Hotspur in 1928. He scored twice on his ''Lilywhites'' debut in a 4–1 victory over

Oldham Athletic Oldham Athletic Association Football Club is a professional association football club in Oldham, Greater Manchester, England. As of the 2025–26 EFL League Two, 2025–26 season, the team competes in EFL League Two, the fourth level of the Eng ...

White Hart Lane White Hart Lane was a Association football, football stadium in Tottenham, North London and the home of Tottenham Hotspur F.C., Tottenham Hotspur Football Club from 1899 to 2017. Its capacity varied over the years; when changed to all-seater i ...

in August 1928 in the old Second Division. He made three more appearances, but never found the net again for the ''Spurs''. After leaving London Roberts played for the Dick Kerr's XI and finally ended his playing career at Chorley.

International career

Roberts played twice for England. His first match was against

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

in November 1923 and played in the following game against

Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...

. He scored in both matches but was never capped again.

After football

Roberts worked as a

publican The (Latin ; Greek τελώνης ''telōnēs'') were public contractors in the Roman Republic and Empire. In their official capacity, they often supplied the Roman legions and military, managed the collection of port duties, and oversaw pub ...

for 30 years in the Preston area.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Roberts, Tommy 1898 births 1965 deaths Footballers from Birmingham, West Midlands English men's footballers England men's international footballers Men's association football forwards Leicester City F.C. players Preston North End F.C. players Burnley F.C. players Tottenham Hotspur F.C. players Dick, Kerr's F.C. players Chorley F.C. players English Football League players English Football League representative players Footballers from Handsworth, West Midlands 20th-century English sportsmen