Robert Michael Rosario (born 4 March 1966) is an English

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

coach and former professional player. He has represented England at youth level internationally. As a player, he was a forward who notably played in the top flight of English football for Norwich City, Coventry City and

Nottingham Forest Nottingham Forest Football Club is a professional association football club based in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league system, English football. Founde ...

, with appearances in the

Premier League The Premier League is a professional association football league in England and the highest level of the English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Football Lea ...

for both the Sky Blues and The Reds. He also played for

Wolverhampton Wanderers Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club ( ), commonly referred to as Wolves, is a professional association football, football club based in Wolverhampton, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league s ...

and later finished his career in the United States with Greensboro Dynamo,

Carolina Dynamo Salem City FC is an American amateur soccer club based in Bermuda Run, North Carolina that fields a men's team in USL League Two, and a women's team as the North Carolina Fusion in the USL W League. The teams plays their home games at the Truis ...

and

Charleston Battery The Charleston Battery are an American professional association football, soccer club based in Charleston, South Carolina, and member of the USL Championship. Founded in 1993, the Battery are the oldest continuously operating professional socc ...

. Rosario was the first

British Asian British Asians (also referred to as Asian Britons) are British people of Asian people, Asian descent. They constitute a significant and growing minority of the people living in the United Kingdom, with a population of 5.76 million people or 8.6 ...

to play in the

Playing career

Rosario started his career in non-league football, joining Hillingdon Borough from Harrow Borough in August 1983 at the age of 17. Five goals in nine Southern League starts alerted scouts and in December 1983, he joined Norwich City. He made 161 appearances in six seasons and scored just 29 goals. Rosario signed for Coventry City for £600,000 by Terry Butcher in April 1991 he was seen to be the successor to Cyrille Regis. It was in his second season after the arrival of a new manager,

Bobby Gould Robert Alfred Gould (born 12 June 1946) is an English former footballer and manager. Early life Robert Alfred Gould was born in Wyken, Coventry, Warwickshire on Wednesday, 12 June 1946. He is the son of Henry Gould and Helen McKellar Gould ...

and a new striker, Micky Quinn, that Rosario began to feature more, providing many chances for Quinn who notched 17 goals in 26 games in the 1992–93 season. In March 1993, with City's financial situation worsening he was sold to

for £450,000. His last appearance for Forest came in April 1994, as injuries took hold, and although he was fully fit for the 1995–96 season, he was no longer part of Clark's plans at the City Ground and left at the end of the season, signalling the end of his playing career by the age of 30. After his move to Forest he struggled to win a regular place and suffered a serious knee injury which eventually forced his retirement from the professional game in England. In February 1997, he joined the Carolina Dynamos of the USA's Second Division, the A-League, for whom he made 29 appearances, scoring four goals. In April 1998, he joined another A League side, the Charleston Battery from South Carolina.

International career

Rosario has represented the England U21 team in 1987.

Coaching career

Rosario had a spell in charge of

in 2001.

Personal life

Born in England, Rosario is of Anglo-Indian descent from his father's side and German descent from his mother's side. Rosario's father was born in Calcutta and was a cyclist and bodybuilder. He became the first

to play in the

when he started for Coventry City against

Middlesbrough Middlesbrough ( ), colloquially known as Boro, is a port town in the Borough of Middlesbrough, North Yorkshire, England. Lying to the south of the River Tees, Middlesbrough forms part of the Teesside Built up area, built-up area and the Tees Va ...

on 15 August 1992 (this was previously attributed to

Jimmy Carter James Earl Carter Jr. (October 1, 1924December 29, 2024) was an American politician and humanitarian who served as the 39th president of the United States from 1977 to 1981. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party ...

who played later in the opening weekend of the new competition). Rosario resides in

North Carolina North Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, South Carolina to the south, Georgia (U.S. stat ...

, where he has coached at the North Meck Soccer club. His son Gabriel is a former

Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of symbols, often specifically those of a written language, by means of Visual perception, sight or Somatosensory system, touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifacete ...

and

Huddersfield Town Huddersfield Town Association Football Club is a professional association football club based in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, England. They compete in , the third tier of English football league system, English football. Huddersfield Town we ...

youth team goalkeeper.

References

External links

Link to article in Norwich sports paper re Rosario's career

Sources

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Rosario, Robert 1966 births Living people English men's footballers Harrow Borough F.C. players Norwich City F.C. players Wolverhampton Wanderers F.C. players Coventry City F.C. players Nottingham Forest F.C. players Charleston Battery players North Carolina Fusion U23 players England men's under-21 international footballers English people of Indian descent Sportspeople of Indian descent British people of Anglo-Indian descent British Asian footballers English people of German descent Men's association football forwards Premier League players Footballers from London English expatriate sportspeople in the United States Expatriate men's soccer players in the United States English expatriate men's footballers