Wembley debut at the age of 40 for Tony Roberts
Maybe nice guys don’t always finish last.
Tony Roberts, at the grand old age of 40, will make his first career appearance at Wembley on Sunday for Dagenham & Redbridge against Rotherham, in the League Two playoff final, and you will be hard pressed to find a professional who deserves a moment of glory more than Roberts does.
The experienced keeper is highly thought of in the football world, a bad word is hard to find when his name is mentioned. Starting his career with QPR, Roberts was an understudy to David Seaman for the first eight years of his Rangers career before he finally got his break when Seaman moved onto Arsenal.
Unfortunately for the Welshman, he suffered a rare dislocation of his finger when QPR’s number one, where his finger popped off the knuckle, which triggered surgeons to break the news that Roberts could never play football again, or risk having his finger amputated.
Devastated, he accepted his professional career was over and took an insurance payout. So he began a career in coaching and playing on a casual, non-League basis. But ten years on, following a trip to the USA, he found a surgeon who found a groundbreaking way to secure the joint in his finger; with the risk to his finger gone, Roberts could return to the game. After going through a legal battle with the insurance company, Roberts was allowed to turn pro, for the second time in his career.
Six months later Roberts found himself playing for Dagenham, and he hasn’t looked back since.
“I remember the first game back, we were playing Stockport away,” Roberts told the Daily Mail.
“I had tears in my eyes because I was thinking of that time when I was crying different tears 10 years earlier driving away from the Wellington Hand Unit towards Paddington when the surgeon said it was over. I was crying my eyes out then. I was 28 and football was all I knew.”
Roberts has since cemented himself in the Daggers folklore, and has become appreciated around the lower leagues for his passionate and happy-go-lucky approach to the game. He has also for the past three years been Arsenal's youth team goalkeeping coach, working with the first team on occasions.
Asked how long he can go on playing for, Roberts was bullish in his response.
“I can't see an end in sight to playing. The thing that keeps pushing me is I've had it taken away from me once. I've always had the desire to be a footballer. I've been dreaming to play at Wembley since I was 10. I can't wait.”
There will no doubt be a few tears shed if the Daggers can achieve an incredible promotion on Sunday, and it wouldn’t be a huge surprise to see Roberts grab the plaudits.
Prediction – Dagenham & Redbridge 2 Rotherham 2 (Dagenham to win on penalties – Roberts the hero)
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