Dale Roberts

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Dale Roberts (Born: 8 October 1956, Newcastle-Upon-Tyne, Died: 5 February 2003, Ipswich Hospital, Ipswich)

Dale was as a tough, uncompromising centre-half who started his playing career at Ipswich Town F.C. He was unlucky to be at the Club at a time when they were spoilt for choice at centre-half with Kevin Beattie, Allan Hunter, Russell Osman and Terry Butcher all around at the same time and he eventually moved on to Hull City A.F.C.

In 1995, he returned to Ipswich as George Burley's assistant and he was intensely loyal to George and Ipswich Town. His two great loves were his family and this football club. He was utterly devoted to both. It would be fair to say that Dale was "blue and white from head to toe".

Many Ipswich supporters share the memory of Dale and George dancing on the Wembley pitch just after Martijn Reuser had scored the fourth goal in the Play-Off Final. He was very modest in the way that he accepted praise after leading the Reserves to the Championship in his last season as a coach at a time when he was fighting cancer.

But perhaps the most overriding memory of Dale was the way he fought so bravely against this killer disease.

Ipswich chairman, David Sheepshanks said, "I went to visit him in hospital at Christmas and last Friday and it was clear that he was very ill but I was left awe struck by the tremendous sense of inner courage that he displayed. It is a terrible sadness to lose one of our staff, one of the Ipswich Town family, cut short in his prime."

Paraphrased from an interview with David Sheepshanks