Tony Roberts has a footballing résumé that reads like a work fiction. It is certainly worthy material for a feature-length film and, if it were to be brought to the big screen, it’s not implausible that Roberts himself might roll back the years to play the lead role.
The Welsh goalkeeper made his First Division debut as a teenager with QPR, spending over a decade with the West London club. Initially an understudy to David Seaman and then Jan Stejskal, it was assumed he would eventually graduate to become first choice. However, just 122 appearances across eleven seasons tell the story of a player who persistently found himself as first reserve.
At international level with Wales, he suffered a similar fate, his playing opportunities curtailed by the brilliance and longevity of Neville Southall.
At the age of 29, with his early promise unfulfilled, a freak finger injury appeared to spell the end of Roberts’ professional playing career. He took a £150,000 insurance payout and took up a coaching role with QPR.
Embed from Getty ImagesA splint inserted inside his glove allowed Roberts to resume playing on a part-time basis, coaching at QPR in the week and turning out for St Alban’s City at the weekend. When Roberts joined fifth-tier Dagenham and Redbridge in 2000, at age 31, he could not have imagined that he would go on to spend 11 triumphant years with the Daggers.
He won promotion to the Football League and repaid part of his insurance windfall to allow him to play professionally once again. He scored an FA Cup goal and won a play-off final at Wembley, which almost restored him to the level he was at when he had been forced to retire. He even holds the dubious record of becoming the first and only goalkeeper ever to be sent off in the opposition’s penalty area.
An effervescent character with an detectable North Walian lilt, Roberts even had a dabble in the film industry. He played a series of extra roles in the 2001 film Mike Bassett England Manager. Most notably as the Slovenia goalkeeper who faced a penalty at Wembley (England’s Rufus “Smallsy” Smalls skied it to throw England’s World Cup qualification into doubt).
Embed from Getty ImagesThroughout his time with Dagenham, Roberts was combining playing with his coaching career; with QPR until 2007 before taking up a role with Arsenal. In 2011, with 500 Dagenham appearances under his belt and more than a decade after ‘retiring’, he stepped back from playing to concentrate on his role as part of Arsene Wenger’s coaching team.
Embed from Getty ImagesAs recently as 2012, Roberts encountered the prospect of a return to the playing field. A goalkeeping crisis in Arsenal’s Under-21 team led Roberts to register as a player. He sat on the bench for a fixture with Everton…and added future World Cup winner Emiliano Martinez to the illustrious list of goalkeepers he has played understudy to.
Working with the likes of Jens Lehmann, Wojciech Szczesny and Lukasz Fabianski, Roberts forged a reputation as one of the best goalkeeping coaches in the country. His next move took him to Swansea – a role that he combined with the Wales national team – and then on to China with his compatriot Chris Coleman. He returned to the UK in 2020 first with Birmingham City (under Aitor Karanka) and then with Wolves.
He was headhunted by new Wolves boss Bruno Lage, who had been assistant to Carlos Carvalhal at Swansea. Such was the esteem in which Roberts was held by Lage, he became the only British member of an otherwise all-Portuguese coaching team. Roberts was brought in specifically to develop the game of José Sá, working on his passing range, high-tempo distribution and aggression in coming off his line.
Roberts’ duties extended beyond those of the humble goalkeeping coach. As well as being an animated and vocal figure on the touchline he became their set piece mastermind. Roberts’ forensic analysis was credited with tightening up Wolves’ sloppy record in defending set pieces when he first arrived in 2021.
Roberts’ theatrical skills and effusive personality once again came to the fore in a candid camera prank where he accused Adama Traore of lacking physicality.
Embed from Getty ImagesIn the summer of 2023, AC Milan made an offer that Roberts could not refuse. Gazzetta dello Sport reported that Roberts was identified using the Moneyball method; the use of data and statistical models to inform recruitment strategy. Soon after Roberts arrived in Milan, videos were circulating online of “Sergeant” Roberts barking instructions at Milan’s goalkeepers.
But has Roberts’ arrival made a difference to Maignan and Milan? Comparing Mike Maignan’s performances in the first half of the 23/24 with those from the previous season, some subtle differences are beginning to emerge.
Whilst there has been a slight decline in both goals conceded and ‘goals prevented’, there has been a discernible shift in his patterns of distribution. He is now taking more touches per game (52.3 versus 40.7) and making more accurate passes per game (31.7 versus 25.3), whilst maintaining an overall pass accuracy above 80%.
Furthermore, there is evidence of Maignan expanding his passing range, a greater proportion of those accurate passes are finding their way into the opponent’s half. A visual inspection of Maignan’s heat map also shows him taking up more advanced positions this season compared to last.
Naturally, care must be taken not to over-interpret small differences in performance data, but it will be fascinating to see whether and to what extent Maignan’s game continues to develop under the nurturing hand of Dagenham’s all-time record appearance-maker.
| Mike Maignan (AC Milan) | 2022/23 | 2023/24 |
| Goals conceded per game | 1.0 | 1.2 |
| Goals prevented* | -0.57 | -1.62 |
| Touches per game | 40.7 | 52.3 |
| Accurate passes per game | 25.3 (81%) | 31.7 (81%) |
| Accurate passes – own half | 23.0 | 28.2 |
| Accurate passes – opposition half | 2.5 | 3.5 |
| Accurte long balls per game | 5.0 | 7.1 |
*Goals prevented is the number of goals a ‘keeper is expected to concede (xGOT) minus the number of goals actually conceded
Calcio England 