Marc Roberts (born 26 July 1990) is an English 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 for club

Barnsley Barnsley () is a market town in South Yorkshire, England. It is the main settlement of the Metropolitan Borough of Barnsley and the fourth largest settlement in South Yorkshire. The town's population was 71,422 in 2021, while the wider boroug ...

. Roberts began his career in

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

Wakefield Wakefield is a cathedral city in West Yorkshire, England located on the River Calder. The city had a population of 109,766 in the 2021 census, up from 99,251 in the 2011 census. The city is the administrative centre of the wider Metropolit ...

Worksop Town Worksop Town Football Club is an English football club based in Worksop, Nottinghamshire. The team play in the . They are nicknamed ''The Tigers'' and play their home games at Sandy Lane in Worksop. History Previous clubs The club claims it w ...

Buxton Buxton is a spa town in the High Peak, Derbyshire, Borough of High Peak, Derbyshire, in the East Midlands region of England. It is England's highest market town, sited at some above sea level.Alston, Cumbria also claims this, but lacks a regu ...

and

FC Halifax Town FC Halifax Town is a professional association football club based in Halifax, West Yorkshire, England. They currently compete in the National League (division), National League, the fifth level of English football league system. They replac ...

, and was capped for England C, the team that represents England at

semi-professional Semi-professional sports are sports in which athletes are not participating on a full-time basis, but still receive some payment. Semi-professionals are not amateur because they receive regular payment from their team, but generally at a cons ...

level. He joined League One club

in 2015, helped them gain promotion to the Championship, and captained the team. He signed for Birmingham in July 2017, and was released seven years later.

Life and career

Roberts was born in

South Yorkshire South Yorkshire is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England. It borders North Yorkshire and West Yorkshire to the north, the East Riding of Yorkshire to the north-east, Lincolnshire ...

, and raised in

Penistone Penistone ( ) is a market town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the Metropolitan Borough of Barnsley, South Yorkshire, England, which had a population of 13,270 at the 2021 census. Historic counties of England, Historically in ...

, where he attended

Penistone Grammar School Penistone Grammar School (PGS) is a large co-educational secondary school with a sixth form located in Penistone, South Yorkshire, England. Founded in 1392, it is amongst the List of the oldest schools in the United Kingdom, oldest extant scho ...

. He played football for Barnsley Boys and for

Barnsley College Barnsley College is a further education college just outside the town centre of Barnsley, England. It has several campuses, including the SciTech Digital Innovation Centre and The Electric Theatre. The college provides A Levels, apprenticeship ...

, and as a 17-year-old was offered a trial with

Barnsley F.C. Barnsley Football Club is a professional football club in Barnsley, South Yorkshire, England. The club competes in League One, the third tier of English football. Nicknamed "the Colliers", they were founded in 1887 by Reverend Tiverton Pree ...

but a broken ankle prevented his taking part. Roberts began his senior football career with

of the

Northern Premier League The Northern Premier League is an English Association football, football league that was founded in 1968. Together with the Isthmian League and the Southern Football League, Southern League it forms levels seven and eight of the English footba ...

Division One North in 2008. After 17 first-team appearances, he had a trial with then

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 ...

club

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 ...

, on the recommendation of Wakefield manager Ronnie Glavin. No deal ensued, and Roberts returned to Wakefield to complete a season in which he won the Directors' Player of the Season award. In 2009–10, he won both Players' and Supporters' Player of the Season awards. In both campaigns, he won more

man-of-the-match In team sport, a player of the match award (also known as man of the match or woman of the match) is often given to the most outstanding player in a particular match. This can be a player from either team, although the player is generally chose ...

awards than any other Wakefield player. In 2011, he moved up a division, signing for

. A few weeks into the season, manager

Martin McIntosh Martin Wyllie McIntosh (born 19 March 1971) is a Scottish football manager and former professional footballer. In a career that began in 1988, the defender made just under 500 appearances in the Scottish Football League, the Scottish Premier L ...

was sacked; he took over at another Premier Division club,

, in February 2012, and promptly took Roberts on loan. Roberts played his part in Buxton avoiding relegation, and returned to Worksop where he appeared on the winning side in the Sheffield Senior Cup final. For 2012–13, Worksop's manager felt he had better defensive lineups without Roberts, who was keen to play regularly, so he was allowed to rejoin Buxton on loan for the season. He took his statistics to 5 goals from 65 appearances in all competitions, and was named Buxton's Player of the Year and Players' Player of the Year, as well as gaining selection for the Northern Premier League Premier Division Team of the Year. Roberts signed a permanent contract with Buxton in June 2013; although his Worksop contract had expired, a development fee was payable because of his age. A month later, Roberts moved to

, newly promoted to the

Conference Premier The National League, officially known as Vanarama National League for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in England. The National League is the first division of the National Leagues and step 1 of the National Le ...

. Roberts spent two seasons with the Shaymen before signing for League One club

in May 2015. He made 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 ...

debut on 8 August 2015 in a 3–1 defeat against Chesterfield. Roberts became Barnsley

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader or highest rank officer of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police depa ...

on 28 January 2017, after

Conor Hourihane Conor Geraroid Hourihane () (born 2 February 1991) is an Irish Football coach (association football), football coach and former Football player, player who played as a central midfielder, midfielder. He is currently the head coach of club Barns ...

's transfer to

Aston Villa Aston Villa Football Club (commonly referred to as simply Villa) is a professional football club based in Aston, Birmingham, England. The club, founded in 1874, compete in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The team have p ...

Birmingham City

Roberts signed a five-year contract with

club

Birmingham City Birmingham City Football Club is a professional football club based in Birmingham, England. Formed in 1875 as Small Heath Alliance, it was renamed Small Heath in 1888, Birmingham in 1905, and Birmingham City in 1943. The team compete in the ...

on 1 July 2017; the fee was undisclosed. He went straight into the starting eleven for the opening fixture of the 2017–18 season, which Birmingham lost 1–0 away to

Ipswich Town Ipswich Town Football Club is a professional football club based in Ipswich, Suffolk, England. The club currently competes in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football. Ipswich Town were founded in 1878 but did not turn ...

, and was a regular in the side until February 2018. When

Garry Monk Garry Alan Monk (born 6 March 1979) is an English football manager and former professional player who was most recently the head coach of club Cambridge United. Monk, a centre back, began his playing career with Torquay United before joining ...

took over as manager, he "had just one day to pick the back pairing" and chose Michael Morrison and Harlee Dean. Monk said later that Roberts had been unfortunate, but that the consistency of the Morrison–Dean partnership meant they kept their places. With Dean suspended for two of the last three matches of the season, Roberts came into the side to face

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 ...

and scored a first-half equaliser in a win that made a major contribution to their avoiding relegation. Morrison and Dean remained the pairing of choice, but when Morrison injured a hamstring in December 2018, Roberts was unable to take his chance. Nine minutes into his first league start of the season, he suffered a calf injury that left him unfit for selection until after the March 2019 international break. He came back into the side for the last two matches of the season with the team secure from relegation, partnering Wes Harding at centre-back after Dean had surgery on a groin problem and Morrison picked up an ankle injury. He left the club when his contract expired at the end of the 2023–24 season.

Return to Barnsley

On 3 July 2024, Roberts returned his home-town club,

of League One, on a two-year deal. He was appointed vice-captain, with Luca Connell as club captain. In his second match of the season, away to Lincoln City, he assisted Sam Cosgrove's opening goal and scored Barnsley's second in a 2–1 win.

Career statistics

Honours

Barnsley *

Football 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 ...

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

Football League Trophy The English Football League Trophy, officially known as the Vertu Trophy for sponsorship reasons, is an annual English football knockout competition open to all clubs in EFL League One and EFL League Two and U-21 teams from the Premier Le ...

: 2015–16 Individual *

Player of the Year: 2016–17

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Roberts, Marc 1990 births Living people Footballers from Barnsley English men's footballers England men's semi-pro international footballers Men's association football defenders Wakefield F.C. players Worksop Town F.C. players Buxton F.C. players FC Halifax Town players Barnsley F.C. players Birmingham City F.C. players Northern Premier League players National League (English football) players English Football League players People educated at Penistone Grammar School People educated at Barnsley College 21st-century English sportsmen Sportspeople from Penistone