Thursday 18 July 2024
Dudley Roberts (16 October 1945 – 4 July 2024)
Coventry City fans who were around in the 1960s will be saddened to hear of the
death of the former player Dudley Roberts. The son of former City player Ted
Roberts, a prolific scorer in the post-war years, Dudley had a limited
first-team career with the Sky Blues but had a golden period in the autumn of
1965. He flourished after moving to Mansfield Town in 1968, is considered to be
one of the Stags greatest players and scored in a famous FA Cup victory over
West Ham United.
Though Dudley was born in Derby months after the end of the war, he grew up in
Coventry and attended Cheylesmore School before in 1961 signing for City where
his dad was head coach under Billy Frith. Months later Frith and Ted were sacked
to make way for the appointment of Jimmy Hill but although his father was out of
work Dudley continued his career with the Sky Blues. At over six foot his great
strength, like his father, was in the air and he played at centre-half in the
same youth team as Bobby Gould and other future first-teamers John Burckitt and
Pat Morrissey. His form earned a reserve team debut in a 1-0 win at Brentford in
May 1963. Over the next two seasons he played 30-odd games in defence for the
reserves but in March 1965 he was switched to centre-forward and scored two
goals in a 4-0 victory at Notts County. That season City's 'stiffs' won
promotion from Football Combination Division Two watched by some large crowds
including over 12,000 for a crucial game against Queens Park Rangers. In October
1965 after three goals in three games for the reserves Jimmy Hill handed him a
first-team debut in a 0-0 draw at Preston where he played alongside the
legendary George Hudson. A first-half injury to Ernie Machin meant Dudley had to
move to a defensive midfield role but Nemo in the Coventry Telegraph was
impressed: '..it was a highly satisfactory debut. His heading was always cool
and precise and his groundwork constructive, and only a full-stretch save by
Alan Kelly robbed him of what might have proved the winner in the second half.'
His father was unable to see his debut but Nemo wrote that Ted would have been
highly pleased. Four days later he helped City to a 3-2 League Cup win at
Manchester City and had a goal disallowed for offside and he followed up by
scoring two goals on his home debut, a 3-1 win over Charlton Athletic. It
was a fairy story for Dudley on his 20th birthday although afterwards he said he
could remember little about the first goal after he was concussed in a heading
clash with his own captain George Curtis. His first goal was a close range
finish from Ken Hale's cross and the second a header from a 'beautifully timed
leap' from Ronnie Rees' cross. Nemo speculated whether Dudley could solve
'City's long-standing inside-forward problem...for Roberts has performed better
even than Jimmy Hill had dared hope'. A week later he scored in a 2-1 win at
Plymouth and again in a 3-2 home win over Portsmouth that took the Sky Blues to
the top of the Division Two table. He was off-target in a 1-1 League Cup drawn
game with West Brom and after being dropped to the bench against Bolton he
returned for the West Brom replay. The Sky Blues suffered a heavy 6-1 defeat to
the First Division side who would go on to win the trophy. Another headed goal
in a 3-1 home win over Ipswich made it five goals in five league games but he
damaged an ankle minutes after scoring and was out for a month. In a matter of
weeks he seemed to have leapfrogged the golden boy, Bobby Gould, in Jimmy Hill's
plans. He returned to first-team action against Huddersfield in early December
but in a 0-3 home loss he had little luck against uncompromising defenders and
lost his place. Three weeks later Hill signed another striker, Ray Pointer, and
Dudley's first-team future looked in doubt. He was called up as an emergency
right-back against Preston in January and had three more starts up front after
Hudson was controversially sold to Northampton in March and he managed another
headed goal against Middlesbrough in the final home game of the season which saw
City finish third in Division Two, missing out on promotion by one point. The
following campaign, City's promotion season, Dudley was restricted to just one
start, a home League Cup tie defeat to Brighton and was soon back to the
reserves, sometimes playing at centre-half and often playing as a striker. In
five years as a City professional Dudley played 16 first team games, scoring six
goals and 99 games for the reserves with 17 goals . In the last days of Jimmy
Hill's time at Coventry, in October 1967, Dudley played his one and only First
Division game, at centre-forward against Sheffield Wednesday at Hillsborough.
With both Bobby Gould and John Tudor injured Dudley got a late call-up, sadly
the Sky Blues lost 0-4. At Coventry City Dudley met Rose McNulty who worked in
the offices and later became Sky Blue Rose, the voice that kept City fans up to
date with news on a daily recorded telephone message in the days before mobile
phones and text services. After he left City he and Rose got married and had a
daughter Claire. After Noel Cantwell arrived at the club Dudley and several
other youngsters were put on the transfer list and in March 1968 he joined Third
Division Mansfield Town for £6,000, primarily as a defender. In early 1969 he
switched to a striking role and became a prolific scorer for the Stags. That
season Mansfield had their finest ever FA Cup run, reaching the quarter-finals
after a giantkilling victory over West Ham in the fourth round. Dudley scored
the first goal in a 3-0 win over the Hammers who boasted their three World Cup
winners. The following season Mansfield reached the fifth round and faced the
mighty Leeds United at Elland Road. Dudley headed down for Jimmy Goodfellow to
score but the referee ruled it out for a foul by Roberts. Leeds went on to win
2-0. In 1970 against Liverpool at Field Mill Dudley scored with a stunning
header only for that to be ruled out for a foul. In 1970-71 he was joint leading
scorer in Division Three with 22 goals and in total he made 230 appearances for
the Stags scoring 67 goals. Mansfield sources describe him as one of the
greatest ever players for the club. In 1973 he had a loan spell at Doncaster
under his former Coventry teammate Maurice Setters and the following year joined
Scunthorpe United making 76 appearances with 17 goals before before a knee
injury ended his career. He explained: 'My strength was my heading ability and
when my knee went I was unable to put my weight on the knee to get the height in
my leaps. I had a few games with Burton Albion but decided to hang up my boots”.
He continued to live in Mansfield and worked for many years for East Midlands
Electricity Board. In 2002 Dudley was very sanguine about his time at Highfield
Road: “There was so much competition for places at Coventry at that time. I was
grateful for getting an opportunity to play a few games. At the end of the day
though the management obviously didn’t think I had what was needed in Division
1.” Dudley was a member of the Former Players Association and attended several
Legends Day with Rose but hasn't been well enough to attend in recent years. He
was a kind and charming man whose heart always remained with the Sky Blues. My
condolences to his widow Rose and daughter Claire His funeral will take place at
2.30 on Monday 29th July at the Mansfield Crematorium, followed by a gathering
at Mansfield Town FC.
Labels:
Dudley Roberts
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment