Jason Roberts (footballer)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

For other persons named Jason Roberts, see Jason Roberts (disambiguation).
Jason Roberts
Personal information
Full name Jason Andre Davis Roberts[1]
Date of birth January 25, 1978 (1978-01-25) (age 30)
Place of birth    Park Royal, London, England
Height 1.86 m (6 ft 1 in)
Playing position Striker
Club information
Current club Blackburn Rovers
Number 30
Senior clubs1
Years Club App (Gls)*
1996–1997
1997–1998
1997–1998
1998
1998–2000
2000–2004
2003–2004
2004–2006
2006–		 Hayes
Wolverhampton Wanderers
→ Torquay United (loan)
→ Bristol City (loan)
Bristol Rovers
West Bromwich Albion
→ Portsmouth (loan)
Wigan Athletic
Blackburn Rovers		 03 0(5)
04 0(1)
14 0(6)
03 0(1)
78 (38)
89 (24)
10 0(1)
93 (37)
44 0(7)   
National team
Grenada 22 (12)

1 Senior club appearances and goals
counted for the domestic league only and
correct as of 17:44, 15 May 2008 (UTC).
* Appearances (Goals)

Jason Andre Davis Roberts (born January 25, 1978 in Park Royal, London) is a Grenadian international football player currently playing for Blackburn Rovers in the FA Premier League.

Contents

[edit] Club career

Jason played for Bishopthorpe White Rose FC scoring a total of 115 goals in around 200 appearances.

[edit] Early career

Roberts, like his uncle Cyrille Regis, began his career in England playing for Hayes but soon moved to Torquay United on loan, where he scored six goals in 13 games. Another loan took him to Bristol City, where he scored one goal in three appearances.

He joined Bristol Rovers for £250,000 in August 1998.[2] In the 1998–99 season Roberts scored 16 goals in 32 league appearances, and continued his plunder in the next season, scoring 22 goals in 41 appearances. In the summer of 2000 however, following Rovers' failure to gain promotion, he handed in a transfer request to the club.[2]

[edit] West Bromwich Albion

Roberts moved to West Bromwich Albion on 26 July 2000, for a club record £2 million fee.[3] He made his debut in a 1–0 defeat away at Nottingham Forest on 12 August 2000, the opening day of the 2000–01 season. He scored twice against Swansea City in the League Cup on 6 September 2000, his first goals for the club. Roberts scored 15 goals in 34 appearances in 2000–01; he formed a successful partnership with Lee Hughes and fired Albion into the 1st Division playoffs. During West Brom's successful promotion campaign of 2001–02 however, Roberts' season was blighted by a persistent foot injury, breaking his fifth metatarsal three times.[4] He managed only 12 league appearances during the season, scoring seven goals.

Despite being fully fit for 2002–03, Albion's first season in the Premiership, Roberts managed only three goals in 31 games. He was loaned out for much of the 2003–04 season to Portsmouth, where he scored one goal in four appearances, but a transfer request during the mid-season saw him move to Wigan Athletic for an approximately £2 million transfer fee.[5]

[edit] Wigan Athletic

Roberts started out well at Wigan, scoring eight goals in 14 appearances to round out the 2003–04 season. Roberts continued to find the net in the 2004–05 campaign, ending the season with 21 goals in league play (second in The Championship, behind teammate Nathan Ellington). Both players were named in the PFA Championship team of the season.[6] Wigan finished second in the table behind Sunderland, earning automatic promotion to the Premiership. It was his penalty kick goal in the second minute of their August 27, 2005 match against Sunderland that served as the first Premier League goal for the Latics and led them to the first top-flight victory in Wigan Athletic's history.

With Wigan Athletic's promotion to the top flight of English football in May 2005, Jason Roberts was able to establish himself as one of the most feared strikers in The English Premiership. His goals enabled Wigan to finish the season comfortably in the top half and challenge for a European place in only their first season in the top division of English football. This success was encapsulated in one moment on Tuesday 24 January 2006 - when Roberts himself scored a last minute goal against Arsenal at Highbury in the Carling Cup semi-final to send Wigan to the first major cup final in their history.

[edit] Blackburn Rovers

On July 3, 2006 he joined Blackburn Rovers for £3m on a four year deal.[7] He scored his first goal for Blackburn in the 2–1 FA Cup semi-final defeat against Chelsea. Roberts kept this momentum towards the end of the 2006–07 season by netting five goals in as many games shaking off criticism of many fans.

[edit] Personal Life

In Spring 2007 he founded the Jason Roberts Foundation, which aims "to provide a range of sporting opportunities for children and young people in the UK and Grenada".[8] Roberts comes from a very athletic family, his uncles include former footballers Cyrille Regis, David Regis, and Otis Roberts (a former Grenada international who played in Hong Kong and Belgium). He is also related to Olympic gold medallist John Regis. [9]

[edit] International career

Although Roberts has the potential to be one of the most important players for the Grenada national team, availability issues that come with playing in England have limited his impact with the team. Nevertheless, he was an important force for the team during qualifiers for the 2006 World Cup, in which the Grenada team put up an impressive showing before bowing out to the United States.

Roberts made an immediate impact in Grenada's first qualifying match for the 2010 World Cup, scoring the first two goals in a 10-0 route of the U.S. Virgin Islands on 26 March 2008.[10]

[edit] References

  1. ^ Matthews, Tony (2005). The Who's Who of West Bromwich Albion. Breedon Books, p. 197. ISBN 1-85983-474-4. 
  2. ^ a b "Rovers rocked by Roberts' request", BBC Sport, 2000-07-13. Retrieved on 2008-02-22. 
  3. ^ "Albion win Roberts race", BBC Sport, 2000-07-26. Retrieved on 2007-04-25. 
  4. ^ "Jason Roberts column", BBC Sport, 2006-05-04. Retrieved on 2007-05-01. 
  5. ^ "Wigan land Roberts", BBC Sport, 2004-01-13. Retrieved on 2007-05-01. 
  6. ^ "Sunderland/Wigan dominate line-up", BBC Sport, 2005-04-24. Retrieved on 2007-04-26. 
  7. ^ "Blackburn sign Roberts from Wigan", BBC Sport, 2006-07-03. Retrieved on 2007-04-25. 
  8. ^ Jason Roberts foundation – Charity Fundraising Gala Dinner (pdf). Jason Roberts foundation. Retrieved on 2008-02-22.
  9. ^ Jason Roberts gives foundation to new view of football (html). Daily Mail. Retrieved on 2008-05-29.
  10. ^ Grenada 10:0 US Virgin Islands. FIFA.com. Retrieved on 2008-05-31.

[edit] External links

v • d • e
Blackburn Rovers F.C. – current squad

1 Friedel • 2 Ooijer • 3 Warnock • 4 Samba • 5 Tugay • 6 Nelsen • 7 Emerton • 8 Vogel • 9 Santa Cruz • 10 McCarthy • 11 Bentley • 12 Gamst • 13 Khizanishvili • 14 Reid • 15 Mokoena • 17 Rigters • 19 Dunn • 20 Berner • 21 Peter • 22 Treacy • 26 Nolan • 27 Derbyshire • 28 Kane • 29 Olsson • 30 Roberts • 32 Brown • 34 Nielsen • 44 De Vita • Manager: Vacant-->