Mahlon Beresford Baker Romeo (born 19 September 1995) is an Antiguan professional

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 plays as a defender. He has played for the Antigua and Barbuda national team.

Career

Gillingham

Born in the

London Borough of Westminster The City of Westminster is a London borough with city status in Greater London, England. It is the site of the United Kingdom's Houses of Parliament and much of the British government. It contains a large part of central London, including most ...

, Romeo joined Gillingham in the summer of 2012 on a two-year scholarship, having previously played in the

academies An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of tertiary education. The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy, founded approximately 386 BC at Akademia, a sanctuary of Athena, the go ...

of clubs

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 ...

and

Wycombe Wanderers Wycombe Wanderers Football Club () is a professional association football club based in the town of High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, England. The team competes in League One, the third level of the English football league system. Founded in 188 ...

. In January 2013, Romeo joined

Conference South The National League South, officially Vanarama National League South, is a professional Association football league in England. National League South is the second division of the National Leagues and step 2 of the NLS and sixth-highest ti ...

side

Dover Athletic Dover Athletic Football Club is a semi-professional association football club based in the town of Dover, Kent, England. The club currently competes in the , the sixth tier of the English football league system. The club was formed in 1983 afte ...

on a youth loan. He made his debut in a 5–2 away defeat to Farnborough. He made his professional debut for Gillingham on the final day of the

2012–13 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to sp ...

season as the Gills were crowned champions of

Football League Two The English Football League Two, simply known as League Two and for sponsorship purposes as Sky Bet League Two, is a professional association football league in England. EFL League Two is the fourth division of the English Football League (EFL ...

, a 3–2 away defeat at

Burton Albion Burton Albion Football Club is a professional association football club in the town of Burton upon Trent, Staffordshire, England. The team competes in League One, the third level of the English football league system. The club moved its home g ...

Millwall

In the summer of 2015, Romeo signed for

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 ...

and featured regularly in the first team by the second half of his first season with the Lions. He scored on his debut for Millwall, in a 3–0 League One win in February 2016 against

Walsall Walsall (, or ; locally ) is a market town and administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough of Walsall, in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. Historic counties of England, Historically part of Staffordshire, it is located ...

. In May 2017, Romeo played the full 90 minutes as the Lions beat

Bradford City Bradford City Association Football Club is an English professional football club in Bradford, West Yorkshire. The club competes in , the third tier of English football, and is managed by Graham Alexander. The club was founded in 1903 and ...

1–0 in the 2016-17 Football League One Playoff final at

Wembley Stadium Wembley Stadium, currently branded as Wembley Stadium connected by EE Limited, EE for sponsorship reasons, is an association football stadium in Wembley, London. It opened in 2007 on the site of the Wembley Stadium (1923), original Wembley Sta ...

to gain promotion to the

Championship In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this sys ...

. Romeo then scored his first goal of the club's 2017–18 season in a 3–1 win over

Sheffield United Sheffield United Football Club is a professional football club based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. The club competes in the Championship, the second tier of English football. They are nicknamed "the Blades" due to Sheffield's history ...

. On 31 August 2021, Romeo joined

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port city status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Hampshire, England. Most of Portsmouth is located on Portsea Island, off the south coast of England in the Solent, making Portsmouth the only city in En ...

on loan for the 2021–22 season.

Cardiff City

On 15 June 2022, Romeo joined Championship club

Cardiff City Cardiff City Football Club () is a professional association football club based in Cardiff, Wales. It currently competes in , the third tier of the English football league system in the 2025–26 season following relegation. Founded in 1899 a ...

for an undisclosed fee on a three-year deal. Romeo had previously played with new manager

Steve Morison Steven William Morison (born 29 August 1983) is a Association football, football manager and former professional association football, footballer who played as a Forward (association football), striker. He is the manager of National League (divi ...

at Millwall. On 30 July 2024, his contract with Cardiff City was terminated.

Personal life

Romeo is the son of fitness expert

Efua Baker Efua Baker ( ; born c. 1967 in Ghana) is a British celebrity fitness expert and trainer who also had a music career in the 1990s. Career In 1993, Baker, then known as just Efua, released three singles: "Down Is the Drop", "Strawberry Boy", and ...

and music producer and musician

Jazzie B Trevor Beresford Romeo OBE (born 26 January 1963), better known as Jazzie B, is a British DJ and music producer. He is the founder of music collective Soul II Soul. Life and career Jazzie was born in London UK to parents of Antiguan descent ...

; best known as the frontman of the R&B group

Soul II Soul Soul II Soul are a British musical collective formed in London in 1988. They are best known for their two major hits; 1989's UK number five and US number eleven " Keep On Movin'", and its follow-up, the UK number one and US number four " Back to ...

, while his sister is actress

Jessye Romeo Jessye is both a given name and a surname. Notable people with the name include: *Eva Jessye (1895–1992), American conductor *Jessye Norman (1945–2019), American opera singer *Jessye Lapenn, aka Jessica Lapenn, American diplomat See also *Jes ...

. He is of Antiguan descent through his father, and Ghanaian through his mother. In June 2024, ''WalesOnline'' revealed that Romeo had been convicted of homophobic abuse of a police officer earlier that year. Romeo entered a guilty plea to using "threatening, abusive, or insulting" language or actions and was ordered to pay the victim £100 and was fined £3,317. Romeo was fined £4,423 at a previous hearing in March for operating a vehicle while affected by alcohol. ''WalesOnline'' reported Romeo had used homophobic slurs while being held in a Cardiff police station after he had been arrested for drink-driving. The day after the publication of ''WalesOnlines article, Romeo issued a statement on the incident, saying: "I would like to sincerely apologise to the club and its supporters for my actions on February 8, 2024, which have caused hurt and distress. Those who know me closely know that I do not hold any prejudice against anyone based on their sexual orientation or sexuality. In the past I have worked hard to fight against discrimination and prejudice and so my actions that evening are of great personal disappointment."

Career statistics

Club

International

Honours

Millwall *

EFL League One play-offs The EFL League One play-offs are a series of play-off matches contested by the association football teams finishing from third to sixth in the EFL League One table and are part of the English Football League play-offs. , the play-offs comprise tw ...

2017 2017 was designated as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development by the United Nations General Assembly. Events January * January 1 – Istanbul nightclub shooting: A gunman dressed as Santa Claus opens fire at the ...

References

External links

Mahlon Romeo
on Twitter * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Romeo, Mahlon 1995 births Living people Footballers from the City of Westminster People from Westminster Antigua and Barbuda men's footballers Antigua and Barbuda men's international footballers English men's footballers Men's association football defenders Gillingham F.C. players Dover Athletic F.C. players Millwall F.C. players Portsmouth F.C. players Cardiff City F.C. players English Football League players National League (English football) players English people of Antigua and Barbuda descent Sportspeople of Antigua and Barbuda descent Black British sportsmen 21st-century Black British people English people of Ghanaian descent Antigua and Barbuda people of Ghanaian descent Sportspeople of Ghanaian descent 21st-century English sportsmen