LEADING BY EXAMPLE
Ex-Stevenage skipper Mark Roberts on his new challenge
MARK Roberts was a leader for Stevenage in his playing days – and aims to be just the same off it in business.
Boro won the FA Trophy in 2009 and then notched back-toback promotions before reaching the League One play-offs in their first season in the third tier.
It was an incredible period in their history and captain Roberts was at the forefront of those glory days.
“I guess the secret was keeping a core of the team together, the recruitment of players along the way was important, but mainly it was down to sheer belief and hard work – and thinking anything was possible if you put your mind to it,” said the centre-back.
“(Manager) Graham Westley often used a phrase, ‘The chain is as strong as its weakest link’. So, although he was pushing us on a daily basis – on the training ground and off it as well because we did a lot of work in the classroom – a lot of it was self-governed. We were pushing each other. If one of us fails, we all fail. If one person succeeds, we all succeed together.
Honour
“There was a real team ethic and togetherness. He empowered me as a leader of that group and it was an honour to captain a team where you looked at each other in the dressing room and you knew they’d run through a brick wall for you. “That was the most special thing about that time and something I will take with me for the rest of my life and inspire me to influence people in the best possible way.” As a 20-year-old, Roberts had broken into Crewe Alexandra’s team in the Championship before, just a few games in, he suffered an ACL injury. He never played at that level again but it gave him an understanding of the importance of planning for his next career.
Roberts, who has been part of the PFA’s management committee, earned a degree in sports journalism while at Boro, has his coaching badges and is now at Salford University pursuing his Masters for CEOs in Sport.
“It’s taken me out of my comfort zone,” says the 35-year-old, who now plays part-time for Warrington Town. “I’m really passionate about players getting into the business side of the industry. Professional players, semi-professional players, if you’re an athlete you’re a competitor first and foremost and I think you’ve got so much to add to the business side.
“You’ve got a different perspective and experiences people can only wish they had themselves.
“I think that makes us as athletes unique and, ultimately, yes, the ambition is to either run a football club or be at the very top influencing an organisation in that way.
“The end of a football career, I don’t see as the end of a life. I’m hugely ambitious, I’m very driven and I want to see how far I can get.”
Ambitious
And Roberts is hoping other players follow his example.
“There’s so many opportunities out there now,” added Roberts, who also played for Accrington, Fleetwood, Cambridge and Forest Green. “Although education would have been a safer option for me when I left school, I wanted to pursue my dream of becoming a professional footballer. I’m very grateful and very privileged to live that life. Now I get to create another dream for myself.
“Partly out of necessity, partly out of intrigue, there are players out there who are educating themselves and feel they have a voice or a platform to make positive change.
“I got to see that with the management committee at the PFA. There are some really intelligent people working at different levels of football and those people will find roles where they’re influencing the game of tomorrow.”