Gary Roberts (footballer born 1984)

Gary Roberts
Personal information
Full name Gareth Michael Roberts
Date of birth 18 March 1984 (1984-03-18) (age 27)
Place of birth Liverpool, England
Height 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m)
Playing position Winger
Club information
Current club Huddersfield Town
Number 7
Youth career
2000–2001 Liverpool
2001–2002 Denbigh Town
2002–2003 Bala Town
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2003 Rhyl 2 (0)
2003–2004 Bangor City 22 (1)
2004–2005 Welshpool Town 20 (9)
2005–2006 Accrington Stanley 66 (23)
2006 Ipswich Town (loan) 14 (2)
2007–2008 Ipswich Town 40 (2)
2008 Crewe Alexandra (loan) 4 (0)
2008– Huddersfield Town 146 (31)
National team
2005–2006 England C 4 (0)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of January 2, 2012.

† Appearances (Goals).

‡ National team caps and goals correct as of August 6, 2011

Gareth Michael "Gary" Roberts (born 18 March 1984 in Chester) is an English professional footballer playing for Huddersfield Town in Football League One, playing as a winger.

Roberts has played in both the English football league system (playing in the Football League and Conference) as well as playing in the Welsh league, and has played in all three divisions of the Football League. Roberts was capped four times for England C when playing at semi-professional level.

Contents

Club career

Early career

Born in Chester 1984, Roberts begin his career with the Liverpool Academy but was dropped in 2001. He then went on to play for the youth teams at two Welsh clubs Denbigh Town and Bala Town. He then went on to play first team football for three Welsh clubs. Signing for Rhyl in 2003 were he played 3 times before moving on to Welsh Premier League side Bangor City were he played 22 times scoring once between 2003–2004. He then moving to Welshpool Townfor the 2004–2005 season were he played 20 times scoring nine goals.

Accrington Stanley

Roberts signed for Conference National side Accrington Stanley in the second half of the 2004–05 season. He made his Stanley debut in their 2–1 home win over Morecambe on the 19 March 2005. His first goal for them came in their 2–2 home draw with York City on 28 March 2005.

He made his fist start of the 2005–06 season in their 1–0 home victory over Canvey Island on the opening day of the season. Roberts scored his first goal of the 2005–06 season in Stanley's 4–2 win over Crawley Town on the 17 September 2005. Roberts was part of the Accrington Stanley side that won the 2005–06 Conference National Championship after playing 42 league games scoring 13 goals.

Roberts played his first game of the 2006/07 season for Stanley in on the opening day of the season in Stanley's 2–0 away defeat to Chester City. His first goal of the season came in their 1–1 home draw with Rochdale on the 26 August 2006. Roberts was then loaned out to Football League Championship side Ipswich Town, after making 14 league appearances and scoring 8 times for Stanley in the 2006/07 season. The loan move was made permeant in the January transfer window of the seam season.

Ipswich Town

He moved to Ipswich Town on loan from Accrington Stanley in October 2006. He made his debut in 3–2 loss at home to Preston North End on 17 October 2006. He scored his first goal for Ipswich against Derby County in November 2006, He played 14 times scoring two goals during his leon spell their, impressing enough to earn a permanent four-year deal with the club in January 2007.

He started the 2007–08 season with a goal in the 4–1 win over Sheffield Wednesday but seen lost his place in the side having to settle for coming on as a substitute of being left on the bench.

On 12 February 2008, Roberts joined League One side Crewe Alexandra on a one-month loan, joining another Gary Roberts at the club. He made his fist appearances for the club in their 1–0 win over Leyton Orient on the 12 February 2008. Roberts made four appearances for Crewe before returning to Ipswich in March. Roberts played an extra three matches for Ipswich before the end of the season, bringing his season total to 21 for the 2007–08 season with only 10 being start and 11 coming off the bench.

Roberts then left Ipswich in August 2008 to join League one side Huddersfield Town after making 44 appearances scoring four times in the league between 2006 to 2008.

Huddersfield Town

At the end of the 2007–08 season, Roberts was transfer listed and joined Huddersfield Town on 29 July 2008 for a fee of around £250,000.

2008–09 season

He along with five other players made his Huddersfield Town debut in the 1–1 draw against Stockport County at the Galpharm Stadium on 9 August 2008. On 12 August, he scored his first two goals in the 4–0 win against local rivals Bradford City in the first round of the League Cup to send Huddersfield through to the second round. His first league goal for Huddersfield was a consolation goal in their 3–1 defeat by Milton Keynes Dons on 23 August 2008.

On 25 April 2009, he won three awards at the club's Player of the Year Awards. He won the Best Goal for his goal against Hereford United in December, the Fan's Players of the Season and the Player's Player of the Season awards. As well as being top goal scorer with 11 goals in all competitions.

Roberts signed a new three-year deal with Huddersfield Town on 2 July 2009.[1]

2009–10 season

Roberts made his first start of the 2009–10 season in Huddersfield's 2–2 opening day draw away at Southend United, he scored his first goal of the 2009–10 season for the Terriers in their 7–1 home win over Brighton & Hove Albion.

Town won by a four or more goal margin on five occasion when Roberts scored in the 2009–10 season including a 7–1 win over Brighton & Hove Albion in August, a 4–0 win over Leyton Orient in October, two goals in Towns 6–1 FA Cup win over Dagenham & Redbridge in November, one week later in their 6–0 thumping of Wycombe Wanderers as well as in their 6–0 away win at Stockport County in April 2010.

Roberts was given a retrospective red card after Town's game with Bristol Rovers forcing him to miss the Terriers' next three games. He also scored a 85 minute equalizing goal over Huddersfield Town's local rivals Leeds United. He also retained his Fan's Player of the Season award as well as picking up the Blue & White Foundation Player of the Season award. Roberts finished the season with 45 games in all competitions for Town and scoring nine goals making him joint third with Anthony Pilkington in Huddersfield's top scores table for 2009–10 with seven of his goals coming in the league.

2011–12 season

At the start of the 2011-12 season, Roberts rejected a new contract at the club, however he made his first appearance of the season on the opening day scoring in the 1-1 draw at home to Bury on 6th August 2011, with his second coming in the first round of the League Cup just 3 days later on 9th August 2011 in a 4-2 away win over Port Vale.

International career

Roberts has represented England international as he was capped four times by the England C often known as the England National Game XI, the team which represents England at semi-professional level during his time at Accrington Stanley between 2005–2006. Until he moved into the Football League making him ineligible to appear the England National Game XI.

Club Statistics

Club performance League Cup League Cup Continental Total
Season Club League Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
Wales League Cup League Cup Continental Total
2003–04 Welshpool Town League of Wales 12 0 - 12 0
2004–05 8 9 - 8 9
England League FA Cup League Cup Europe Total
2004–05 Accrington Stanley Conference National 8 2 - 45 16
2005–06 42 13 3 3 - 45 16
2006–07 League Two 14 8 0 0 2 0 - 0 0
2006–07 Ipswich Town Championship 14 2 0 0 0 0 - 14 2
2006–07 Ipswich Town 19 1 4 0 0 0 - 23 1
2007–08 21 1 0 0 1 0 - 22 1
2007–08 Crewe Alexandra League One 4 2 - 4 2
2008–09 Huddersfield Town 43 9 1 0 2 2 - 47 11
2009–10 45 7 3 2 1 0 - 50 9
2010–11 40 9 4 3 2 0 - 50 12
2011-12 14 5 0 0 2 1 - 18 6
Total Wales 0 0 0 0 0 0 - 0 0
England 0 0 0 0 0 0 - 0 0
Career total 0 0 0 0 0 0 - 0 0

Honours

References

External links