Robert Carroll (born 15 February 1968) is an English retired 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 ...

who played as a

right winger A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

in the

Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in the world. It was the top-level football league in Engla ...

for

Brentford Brentford is a suburban town in West London, England and part of the London Borough of Hounslow. It lies at the confluence of the River Brent and the Thames, west of Charing Cross. Its economy has diverse company headquarters buildings w ...

. He later embarked on a long 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 s ...

, making 140 appearances for Yeovil Town.

Playing career

Early years

A winger, Carroll began his career in the

youth system In sporting terminology, a youth system (or youth academy) is a youth investment program within a particular team or league, which develops and nurtures young talent in farm teams, with the vision of using them in the first team in the future if ...

Southampton Southampton () is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire, S ...

, but failed to make a first team appearance. He dropped into

to sign for Southern League Premier Division club Gosport Borough in 1986.

Brentford

Carroll made a move into League football to return home to

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

and join Third Division club

on non-contract terms in September 1986. He made 26 appearances and scored five goals during the 1986–87 season and signed a permanent contract. Carroll was out of favour during the 1987–88 season, though he managed to score five goals in 16 appearances up front. He rejected a monthly contract and departed at the end of the campaign, having made 42 appearances and scored 10 goals during less than two years at

Griffin Park Griffin Park was a football ground in Brentford in the London Borough of Hounslow, England. It was the home ground of Brentford F.C. from its opening in September 1904 to August 2020. The ground is in a predominantly residential area and was ...

Return to non-League football

After his release from Brentford, Carroll dropped back into non-League football, joining Southern League Premier Division club Fareham Town, for whom he made 50 appearances and scored 12 goals. He made the move up to the

Conference A conference is a meeting of two or more experts to discuss and exchange opinions or new information about a particular topic. Conferences can be used as a form of group decision-making, although discussion, not always decisions, are the main ...

to join Yeovil Town in 1989 and scored 43 goals in 140 appearances during a three-year spell at

Huish Park Huish Park is a football stadium located in Yeovil, Somerset, England. The stadium has been home to Yeovil Town F.C. since its completion in 1990, following their relocation from Huish. Huish Park has a capacity of 9,565 (of which two stands are ...

. He moved to Conference rivals

Woking Woking ( ) is a town and borough status in the United Kingdom, borough in northwest Surrey, England, around from central London. It appears in Domesday Book as ''Wochinges'' and its name probably derives from that of a Anglo-Saxon settlement o ...

in 1992 and failed to make an impression before further spells in the Isthmian and Southern Leagues with

Crawley Town Crawley Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Crawley, West Sussex, England. The club was founded as Crawley Football Club in 1896, changed its name to Crawley Town Football Club in 1958. The team com ...

, Salisbury City, Basingstoke Town,

Worthing Worthing () is a seaside town in West Sussex, England, at the foot of the South Downs, west of Brighton, and east of Chichester. With a population of 111,400 and an area of , the borough is the second largest component of the Brighton and H ...

and Bashley.

Coaching career

As of 2015, Carroll was first team coach at

Wessex League The Wessex Football League is an English association football league formed in 1986, with its premier division currently at the fifth step of the National League System, or the ninth tier of the overall English football league system. The part ...

Premier Division club

Christchurch Christchurch ( ; mi, Ōtautahi) is the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand and the seat of the Canterbury Region. Christchurch lies on the South Island's east coast, just north of Banks Peninsula on Pegasus Bay. The Avon Rive ...

. As of 2018, he was working as Football Development Officer at Fareham Town. In April 2020, Carroll was appointed as manager of the Romsey Town Development Squad.

Career statistics

Honours

Basingstoke Town *

Hampshire Senior Cup The Hampshire Senior Cup is a cup competition open to football teams affiliated with the Hampshire Football Association. The competition was founded in 1887 and has been contested every year since, with the exception of 1914 to 1919 when it wa ...

: 1996–97

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Carroll, Robbie 1968 births English men's footballers Brentford F.C. players English Football League players Men's association football wingers Southampton F.C. players Gosport Borough F.C. players Fareham Town F.C. players Yeovil Town F.C. players Woking F.C. players Crawley Town F.C. players Salisbury City F.C. players Basingstoke Town F.C. players Worthing F.C. players Bashley F.C. players Men's association football forwards People from Greenford Footballers from the London Borough of Ealing National League (English football) players Isthmian League players Southern Football League players Living people