Roberts was born in Liverpool.[1] As a 16-year-old he spent a season with Everton, and then played for Harrowby. He joined Chesterfield in September 1939, just before the Football League was suspended for the duration of the Second World War.[2] During the war, Roberts served with No. 2 Commando. He was wounded in the legs and captured during Operation Chariot, the raid on the French port of Saint-Nazaire in 1942, and owed the possibility of a football career to the repair work carried out by a German surgeon.[2][5] Roberts spent 3+1⁄2 years in a prisoner-of-war camp in Bremen. On his return, he lodged with Chesterfield coach and former England internationalJoe Spence, whose individual work with Roberts played a major role in his recovery.[2]
He scored on his first-team debut, in the 1945–46 FA Cup at home to York City, and made his Football League debut on 31 August 1946, in the Second Division in a 1–1 draw at home to Bradford Park Avenue.[6] Described as "an outside-left of great distinction,... skilful, intelligent and, above all, fast, with an excellent pin-point cross",[2] Roberts made 92 league appearances for the club in 2+1⁄2 years. In November 1948 he moved on to Birmingham City, recently promoted to the First Division, for a fee of £10,600, at the time a record fee received by the Chesterfield club.[2] During his time at Birmingham he suffered a number of injuries which restricted his appearances to 38 in a 2+1⁄2-year stay. At the end of the 1950–51 season, Roberts joined Shrewsbury Town of the Third Division South,[1] where he played regularly for two seasons[4] before finishing his league career with infrequent outings for Scunthorpe United over a further two seasons.[7]
Roberts then played non-league football for Matlock Town, Gresley Rovers, for whom he scored 6 goals from 38 games,[8] and Burton Albion, and helped with the coaching of Matlock Town's reserve team as they won the Central Alliance Division Two title and League Cup in the 1959–60 season.[3][9] During the 1960s Roberts spent eight years as a youth worker at Staveley Chantry youth club, where he established a football team. He then returned to Chesterfield F.C., initially as an assistant youth coach, and remained at the club until 1983, when he was one of several staff dismissed by a new board of directors. He later acted as a scout for Sheffield United and Rotherham United.[2][10]
Roberts was married to Dorothy and had two sons,[10] one of whom, Peter, also played league football for Chesterfield.[2][11] Harold Roberts died in hospital in Chesterfield in 2007 at the age of 87.[10]
References
1 2 3 Matthews, Tony (1995). Birmingham City: A Complete Record. Derby: Breedon Books. p.120. ISBN978-1-85983-010-9.