Gary’s twilight
Josh Cook on why Reds supporters are so pleased with signing of a 36-year-old hero
WHERE it all began – Gary Roberts words on returning home mean more than he’ll ever know.
In the midst of lockdown chaos that has enveloped us once more this week in England, many mainstream football fans would be forgiven to have missed some big news coming out of East Lancashire on Monday afternoon via the social media channels of Accrington Stanley.
Despite the Reds missing their last three matches due to both Covid-19 and the bitter winter elements: there was cause for celebration in the fan base as the club welcomed Gary Roberts back to the Crown Ground, 16 years since he burst onto the scene as an eager 21-year-old starting his impressive career.
There was mass enthusiasm in every corner of Instagram and Twitter from those of a certain age, with newcomers and younger members of the faithful posing the question: “why is signing a 36-year-old in the twilight of his career such welcome news?” The answer to that question can be told with a short trip down memory lane, and sparks excitement and nostalgia within my age group of fans.
Roberts journey is one that we’ve come to know well in the lower leagues, released by Liverpool as a youth player he gained his footballing apprenticeship in the Welsh League for teams like Rhyl and Bangor City. He went on to join Welshpool Town for the 2004-05 campaign, where he caught the eye of a certain John Coleman, scoring 9 times in 20 appearances at the start of that season for the Welsh outfit, it was enough to convince the Stanley boss he had what it took to do well in England.
It would prove to be an all too familiar stroke of genius by Coleman, Roberts went on to score 23 goals in 64 appearances for Stanley and was an integral part of the side that romped to the Conference title ending the long road back to the promised land of the Football League. It was his flair and ability on the ball that showed very early on in his time in Accrington that he was something special and most definitely too good to be playing at our level, earning a couple of washers a week in front of 1,500 supporters (if he was lucky).
I had just turned 10 years old when Roberts first signed for us, like many around this time, I was taken to Stanley to enjoy cheap live football and mostly to get me out of the house and to stop annoying my Mum. I’ll cherish those days, and it’s around this time where I fell in love with the club, and, I know from speaking to others that it’s true for them also. There was a real buzz around Stanley at the time, it seemed everyone went to watch them, fans of the more successful clubs came to watch us when not at their games and everyone was united in wanting the team to do well.
Whether you fall into the minority of lads who fell under the spell and watch Stanley religiously, or watch them with sporadic and passing interest, we all remember Gary Roberts. It’s no surprise why, like when kids watch Messi or Ronaldo on the TV, when you’re young everyone wants to be that attacker who’s better than everyone else.
As Jamie Carragher so rightly said once: “No one wants to grow up and be Gary Neville.” His pace, flair, dead ball ability, shockingly good crosses: you’d be hard up to find a young fan in those
Accrington crowds who didn’t want to be the Gary Roberts of their team when they grew up.
He was excitement personified, truly exhilarating when he was switched on, and he was always on.
What came after was nothing more than he deserved, he’s received plaudits from every single fan base he’s served, and Stanley fans have always kept a proud eye on our first prodigal son of the modern era in hope that one day he may venture back to us.
Even if he just represented that, it would be enough to justify the fanfare. Alas, there’s more away from the romance of just on the field exertion and creating passion in the hearts of a new generation of Stanley fan. Gary Roberts is much more than just a great season of incredible performances on the pitch, he is the first example of everything that we have come to expect from a product of the club in the last 15 years.
However short his time initially was with Stanley, his tenure showcased two things: to all of us looking on with an interest in the team, and the wider footballing world. The first of these was what we could offer as a club to a young player who had been downtrodden by clubs with greater pockets. He had something to prove, both to himself and men making decisions, that he was capable of being an exceptional professional. Roberts has gone on to prove himself as just that, a player who has delivered at every side he has been at, scoring regularly and when it counts the most.
This showed the fanbase that John Coleman and Jimmy Bell had an eye for a player and was the original blueprint that paved the way for future players like Kayden Jackson, Matt Crooks, Josh Windass, Jimmy Ryan, Phil Edwards and on and on and on.
Our relationship with our best players has always been one of a mutual understanding, use us as a platform and springboard your career, put yourself in the shop window whilst helping us in the League and then earn us a few bob when you’re sold (we won’t mention Windass and Crooks on that front). Roberts did that too, selling for £250,000 in 2007, a club record at the time.
The club and fanbase owe Gary Roberts a lot more than we may realise. Without his success who knows what may or may not have happened to that side. We might never have gone up, kept Coley and Jimmy and continued the journey that now finds us fighting for a place in the Championship next season.
More importantly, for people of my age, if it wasn’t for watching his arrogance and quality strutting around the field, we may have attended those games as kids and not thought about watching Stanley ever again. Never caught that bug, never fell in love.
My cousin hasn’t been to watch a Stanley game for over 10 years, this week he rang me up to ask: “When will we be allowed in to watch Gary?” That’s what Gary Roberts means to a generation of football loving Accringtonians, even the ones who didn’t come back. This week he expressed that Stanley was “Where it all began” for him. He probably doesn’t realise it, but for many fans, those words refer specifically to him.