William Robert Roffey (6 February 1954) is an English former

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...

, who played as a defender.

League career

Roffey was born

Stepney Stepney is an area in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets in the East End of London. Stepney is no longer officially defined, and is usually used to refer to a relatively small area. However, for much of its history the place name was applied to ...

, Greater London. He began his youth career at

Crystal Palace Crystal Palace may refer to: Places Canada * Crystal Palace Complex (Dieppe), a former amusement park now a shopping complex in Dieppe, New Brunswick * Crystal Palace Barracks, London, Ontario * Crystal Palace (Montreal), an exhibition buildin ...

signing professionally in May 1971. In October 1973, he moved on to

Leyton Orient Leyton Orient Football Club, commonly referred to as Orient, is a professional association football club based in Leyton, Waltham Forest, London, England. The team compete in EFL League One, the third level of the English football league system. ...

, for whom he made 328 appearances in eleven years. Whilst at Orient, Roffey was part of the side that reached the FA Cup semi final in 1978, where the team lost 3–0 to

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

Stamford Bridge Stamford Bridge may refer to: * Stamford Bridge, East Riding of Yorkshire, a village in England ** Battle of Stamford Bridge, 25 September 1066 * Stamford Bridge (bridge), a bridge in the village of Stamford Bridge * Stamford Bridge (stadium), in ...

. After a loan period at

Brentford Brentford is a suburban town in West (London sub region), West London, England and part of the London Borough of Hounslow. It lies at the confluence of the River Brent and the River Thames, Thames, west of Charing Cross. Its economy has dive ...

in 1984, (13 games, one goal), he finished his

Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional association football, football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, it is the oldest football league in Association football around the world, the w ...

career at

Millwall Millwall is a district on the western and southern side of the Isle of Dogs, in east London, England, in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It lies to the immediate south of Canary Wharf and Poplar, north of Greenwich and Deptford, east of ...

, for whom he made 37 appearances over the next two seasons scoring twice. Roffey made a total of 401 league appearances between 1972 and 1986.

Later career

Roffey then had a spell away from football before moving into

non-league football Non-League football describes association football, football leagues played outside the top leagues of a country. Usually, it describes leagues which are not fully professional. The term is primarily used for football in England, where it is ...

with

Barnet Barnet may refer to: People *Barnet (surname) *Barnet (given name) Places United Kingdom *Chipping Barnet or High Barnet, commonly known as Barnet, one of three focal towns of the borough below. *East Barnet, a district of the borough below; anc ...

in 1988, (two appearances). He then spent three seasons with

Leixões The Port of Leixões (, ) is one of Portugal's major seaports, located 4 km north of the mouth of the Douro River, in Matosinhos municipality, near the city of Porto. Leixões Sport Club, commonly known simply as ''Leixões'', is Matosinh ...

of Portugal before retiring at the end of the 1990–91 season. However, in 1991, Roffey joined former

playing colleague,

Tommy Taylor Thomas Taylor (29 January 1932 – 6 February 1958) was an English association football, footballer, who played as a Forward (association football), centre-forward and was known for his aerial ability. He was one of the eight Manchester United ...

, then

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of organizations, whether businesses, nonprofit organizations, or a government bodies through business administration, nonprofit management, or the political science sub-field of public administra ...

Margate Margate is a seaside resort, seaside town in the Thanet District of Kent, England. It is located on the north coast of Kent and covers an area of long, north-east of Canterbury and includes Cliftonville, Garlinge, Palm Bay, UK, Palm Bay and W ...

, and went on to make 38 appearances in season 1991–92, scoring three times. For 1992–93, Roffey joined Canterbury City where he stayed until 1994 including a brief stint as

player-manager A player–coach (also playing coach, captain–coach, or player–manager) is a member of a sports team who simultaneously holds both playing and coaching duties. Player–coaches may be head coaches or assistant coaches, and they may make chang ...

. He then returned to Margate as

but despite having retired after leaving Canterbury City, continued as a player, making 35 appearances in season 1994–95, without scoring. In 1995 Roffey moved to

Tonbridge Angels Tonbridge Angels Football Club is a professional association football club based in Tonbridge, Kent, England. The team competes in the National League South, at the sixth tier of the English football league system. The club was founded as Tonb ...

where he initially worked as assistant-manager alongside Phil Emblem. However, during the season, Roffey replaced Emblem as manager and also made playing appearances, mainly as a substitute. Roffey continued to serve Tonbridge as manager until October 1997 when he resigned and ended his involvement with football.

References

External links

* * Living people 1954 births English men's footballers Footballers from the London Borough of Tower Hamlets People from Stepney Men's association football defenders English Football League players Crystal Palace F.C. players Leyton Orient F.C. players Brentford F.C. players Millwall F.C. players Barnet F.C. players Leixões S.C. players Margate F.C. players Canterbury City F.C. players Tonbridge Angels F.C. players English football managers Canterbury City F.C. managers Margate F.C. managers Tonbridge Angels F.C. managers {{England-footy-defender-1950s-stub