BIG INTERVIEW EXCLUSIVE
And his laugh is still infectious to this day.
Ask anyone who has shared a dressing-room with him in the last 24 years and they’ll just grin. Then they’ll say it was a better place for having Roberts in it.
As a kid, he was a verbal sparring partner for banter veterans Ally McCoist and Ian Durrant at Kilmarnock.
At Partick Thistle he was the ring-leader – and part-time bookie – within a raucous Firhill squad.
And even now, with Junior outfit Hurlford United, he’s still cracking the gags aged 41. It’s what Roberts lives for. But as the striker looks around the Scottish football scene now he can’t help but frown.
According to Roberts, the joy has gone from the game. There’s no fun any more.
He doesn’t see anyone enjoying the sport as much as he did. And that’s probably why he still does it.
He told MailSport: “Players don’t play with a smile on their face any more.
“When do you ever see anyone on the telly during a game having a laugh? “It just doesn’t happen now. “Young boys these days play three games, pull their socks up above their knees, cover themselves in tattoos, get their hair gelled up – and want £900 a week on a pro contract. “Aye, nae bother.” As for the antics he used to get up to, particularly at Thistle, Roberts accepts that it wouldn’t be allowed to happen nowadays.
The SFA’s gambling rules, for a start, have stopped players betting on the sport.
He was Ayr United manager in 2014 when Michael Moffat was cited by the Hampden beaks for backing his own team to win.
But Roberts said: “That Thistle dressing-room was bonkers.
“Those boys were up to no good every day.
“Myself and Jimmy Gibson were horrible, probably the two worst of the lot.
“I was the bookie on away trips. I’d take all the boys’ bets on the bus, for the horses or the football. I’d take all their money off them.
“I’d probably get the jail if I did that now!
“It’s a different game, you just can’t do that. And it’s wrong.
“I don’t see the fun side of football any more. I don’t see anyone having a laugh or enjoying it the way we did.
“I know every guy who gets to my age will say their era was the best. I’m not saying that because the 70s and 80s must have been unbelievable.
“But I couldn’t have envisaged 10 years ago, Scottish players not being able to put a bet on an Australian second division game.
“It’s just crap. When I see what’s happened to Joey Barton down south, it just disgusts me. I don’t