Roger Anthony Joseph (born 24 December 1965) is an English former 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 back, best remembered for his time 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 ...

with Wimbledon and

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 won two caps for

England B England B is a secondary football team run occasionally as support for the England national football team. At times they have played other nations' full teams; they have also played matches against 'B' teams from other football associations. Si ...

at international level.

Club career

Brentford

Joseph began his career alongside his older brother

Francis Francis may refer to: People *Pope Francis, the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State and Bishop of Rome * Francis (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters * Francis (surname) Places *Rural ...

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club

and rejoined the club in October 1984, after having been released as a junior and then playing

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 ...

for

Southall Southall () is a large suburban county of West London, England, part of the London Borough of Ealing and is one of its seven major towns. It is situated west of Charing Cross and had a population of 69,857 as of 2011. It is generally divid ...

. He made his senior debut on the final day of the 1984–85 season in a 1–1 draw with

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 Limehouse, north of Greenwich and Deptford, ea ...

and attempted to establish himself as the club's first choice right back during the 1985–86 and 1986–87 seasons, before excelling in 1987–88 and winning Brentford's Players' Player of the Year award. His performances also saw him voted into the Third Division

PFA Team of the Year The Professional Footballers' Association Team of the Year (often called the PFA Team of the Year, or simply the Team of the Year) is an annual award given to a set of 55 footballers across the top four tiers of men's English football; the Premi ...

and he became the first Brentford player to receive the accolade. He departed

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 ...

for a club record £150,000 fee in August 1988, having made 122 appearances and scored two goals for the Bees.

Wimbledon

Joseph signed for First Division club and reigning

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competit ...

holders Wimbledon in August 1988 for a £150,000 fee. He began his time with the Dons as a regular but drifted out of contention by the 1993–94 season, making just 13 league appearances, before managing just three appearances in the following season (ending the season on loan at First Division club Millwall) and remaining absent for the entirety of 1995–96. Joseph was released in May 1996 after making 199 appearances without scoring.

Later career

Joseph had a spell with

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...

club

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during the early months of the 1996–97 season and made five appearances for the club's

reserve team In sports, a reserve team is a team composed of players under contract to a club but who do not normally play in matches for the first team. Reserve teams often include back-up players from the first team, young players who need playing time to i ...

. He joined Third Division club

Leyton Orient Leyton Orient Football Club is a professional football club based in Leyton, East London, England, who compete in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. They are the second oldest football club in London to play at a profes ...

on a non-contract basis on 22 November 1996 and made 14 appearances before joined First Division club

West Bromwich Albion West Bromwich Albion Football Club () is an English professional Association football, football club based in West Bromwich, West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English foo ...

on non-contract terms on 28 February 1997. He made just two substitute appearances in March 1997, before departing the club at the end of the 1996–97 season. Joseph returned to Leyton Orient on 3 August 1997. He was a regular pick during the 1997–98 and 1998–99 seasons and helped Orient to the 1999 Third Division play-off Final, which was lost 1–0 to

Scunthorpe United Scunthorpe United Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Scunthorpe, Lincolnshire, England. The side currently competes in the National League, the fifth tier of the English football league system. The tea ...

. Joseph made just one appearance during the 1999–00 season and was released at the end of the campaign, after making 77 appearances across his two spells at Brisbane Road.

Non-League football

After his release from Leyton Orient, Joseph dropped into non-League football and played for

King's Lynn King's Lynn, known until 1537 as Bishop's Lynn and colloquially as Lynn, is a port and market town in the borough of King's Lynn and West Norfolk in the county of Norfolk, England. It is located north of London, north-east of Peterborough, ...

Leatherhead Leatherhead is a town in the Mole Valley District of Surrey, England, about south of Central London. The settlement grew up beside a ford on the River Mole, from which its name is thought to derive. During the late Anglo-Saxon period, Lea ...

and had two spells with former club Southall. He had two spells with

AFC Wimbledon AFC Wimbledon is an English professional football club, based in Merton, London, that plays in the EFL League Two, after being relegated from the EFL League One following the 2021–22 season. The club's home stadium is Plough Lane. The cl ...

during the 2003–04 and 2004–05 seasons and though he did not make any competitive appearances, he became one of the first players to play for both Wimbledon and its phoenix club.

International career

Joseph won two

caps during the second half of the 1990–91 season, starting in wins over

Iceland Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its ...

and Switzerland B.

Personal life

Joseph is of Dominican descent. His brother

and nephew Zak are also footballers. Prior to his return to professional football with Brentford in 1984, Joseph worked as a

painter and decorator A house painter and decorator is a tradesman responsible for the painting and decorating of buildings, and is also known as a decorator or house painter.''The Modern Painter and Decorator'' volume 1 1921 Caxton The purpose of painting is to imp ...

Career statistics

Honours

* Third Division PFA Team of the Year: 1987–88 * Brentford Players' Player of the Year: 1987–88

References

External links

*
Roger Joseph
at premierleague.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Joseph, Roger 1965 births Living people English footballers Wimbledon F.C. players Brentford F.C. players Millwall F.C. players Leyton Orient F.C. players West Bromwich Albion F.C. players Premier League players England B international footballers Southall F.C. players English Football League players Association football fullbacks Black British sportspeople King's Lynn F.C. players AFC Wimbledon players Leatherhead F.C. players Isthmian League players Southern Football League players Chelsea F.C. players English people of Dominica descent