| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Dennis Rofe | ||
| Date of birth | 1 June 1950 | ||
| Place of birth | Epping, England | ||
| Height | 5 ft 7 in (1.70 m) | ||
| Playing position | Full back | ||
| Youth career | |||
| 1964-1968 | Leyton Orient | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps† | (Gls)† |
| 1968-1972 | Leyton Orient | 172 | (6) |
| 1972-1980 | Leicester City | 290 | (5) |
| 1980-1982 | Chelsea | 59 | (0) |
| 1982-1984 | Southampton | 20 | (0) |
| National team | |||
| 1973 | England U-23 | 1 | (0) |
| Teams managed | |||
| 1991-1992 | Bristol Rovers | ||
| * Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. † Appearances (Goals). |
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Dennis Rofe, born Epping 1 June 1950, is a former professional football player, who spent most of his playing career with Leicester City before spending many years in various coaching capacities at Southampton.
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He attended Whitechapel Secondary School, together with Terry Brisley, who was later to play alongside him at Orient. He also represented East London Schools.
He started his career at Leyton Orient who he joined originally as an associate schoolboy in March 1964, turning professional in February 1968.
He was a fast, tough-tackling left-back who starred in Orient's 1969-70 Third Division title triumph. He was ever-present in 1970-71 and a key figure in Orient's 1971-72 FA Cup run. He netted six goals in 172 League appearances for Orient before following Jimmy Bloomfield to Leicester City for £112,000 in August 1972, which made him the most expensive full-back in British football.
Rofe was signed by Bloomfield to fill the left back position after David Nish had been sold to Derby for a record fee of £250,000. Rofe was an attacking full back with great pace and he made an instant impact in the City team. He remained faithful to City after Bloomfield left the club in 1977, but was surprisingly sold to Second Division Chelsea, in February 1980, shortly before Leicester won promotion back to the First Division.
Rofe made his England U.23 debut as a City player in 1973. In his 8 seasons at Leicester he played 290 league games for the club and scored 6 goals.
Rofe then spent 3 seasons at Chelsea as they drifted in Division 2, including a period as team captain.
In July 1982, Lawrie McMenemy signed him on a free transfer for First Division Southampton, where he played out the last 2 years of his playing career.
In 1984, he joined Southampton’s coaching staff under manager Chris Nicholl, initially as reserve team coach, moving up to first team coach in 1987.
He joined Bristol Rovers as a coach in July 1991. Shortly after joining Rovers, he replaced Martin Dobson, firstly as caretaker manager, taking the position permanently in October 1991. Rovers finished the 1991-92 season in 13th position in Division 2. In November 1992, Rofe resigned.
He then moved briefly to Stoke City as reserve team manager before returning to Southampton as Youth team coach. This position lasted until July 1997 when he moved on to Fulham as a coach, before a brief spell coaching for Kingstonian.
In April 1998, he returned to Southampton as coach of their Academy, but soon moved up to reserve team coach and then in March 2001, to first team coach, under Stuart Gray.
He served as first team coach and assistant manager as Southampton had a rapid turnover of managers. His greatest moment as a Southampton coach was when the Saints reached the 2003 F.A. Cup final under Gordon Strachan, losing 1-0 to Arsenal.
As assistant manager at Southampton, he had a fiery reputation. On 10 January 2002, he had to be separated from Liverpool acting manager Phil Thompson by the fourth official in a touchline bust-up over a bad tackle on Brett Ormerod.[1]
On 8 May 2004, Rofe was ordered from the technical area after protesting over the award of a penalty to Aston Villa.[2]
Most infamous was probably the row with Blackburn Rovers boss Graeme Souness on 25 October 2003 following an unseemly brawl in which Andy Cole was sent off. Souness accused Rofe of trying to influence the officials, although he later had to accept that the sending off was justified.[3]
In December 2005, following the appointment of George Burley as manager, Rofe was dismissed along with most of the coaching staff at St. Mary's. [4][5]
Since leaving The Saints, Rofe has been engaged as a match summariser on BBC Radio 5, and spent the summer of 2006 working in the Bahamas alongside Luther Blissett at the annual Premier League Soccer Camp.[6]
He is also working as the Football League's regional youth development officer.
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