Roy Cross (born 4 December 1947) is an English former

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 played as a

central defender In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categories: centre-backs, full-backs, sweepers ...

. He played 161 games in a nine-year career in the

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 ...

and 182 games in four seasons of play in the Southern League. He made 54 appearances in two Alliance Premier League campaigns. He began his career at

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 ...

, debuting in the 1966–67 season. However, he featured just 13 times in four seasons before he moved on to Port Vale in July 1970. He was an ever-present in the 1971–72 season and made 134 consecutive appearances from his debut until he twisted his knee in March 1973. Another knee injury seven months later then caused him to be sidelined for 17 months. He took a free transfer to Nuneaton Borough at the end of the 1974–75 season. He made 236 league and cup appearances over the next six seasons at Nuneaton, lifting the

Birmingham Senior Cup The Birmingham Senior Cup is a regional Association football, football competition for Birmingham County FA club teams, organised by the Birmingham County Football Association. It began in 1876 and is the oldest County Football Association, count ...

in 1980 before he retired due to other work commitments the following year.

Career

Walsall

Cross entered the world of

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 ...

at 19, having stuck to further education before then. He began his career at

, who finished 12th in the Third Division in 1966–67 under the stewardship of Ray Shaw. New boss Ron Lewin then took the "Saddlers" to a seventh-place finish in 1967–68. After a 13th-place finish in 1968–69, Bill Moore returned to lead Walsall to 12th place in 1969–70. Cross played just 12 league games in his four years at Fellows Park as he was unable to dislodge club favourite Stan Jones.

Port Vale

He joined Gordon Lee's Port Vale in July 1970; he was signed to replace retiring number five Roy Sproson, who had been with the club for over 20 years. He made his debut on 5 September, in a 1–0 win over Preston North End at

Vale Park Vale Park is a football stadium in the area of Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England, and it has been the home ground of Port Vale Football Club since its opening in 1950. It has a current capacity of 15,695, and was renovated durin ...

. He played 42 Third Division games in the 1970–71 season, and scored his first and only goal in the

on 2 January, in a 2–1 win over

Doncaster Rovers Doncaster Rovers Football Club is a professional association football club based in Doncaster, South Yorkshire, England. The team currently competes in EFL League One, the third level of the English football league system after winning the 202 ...

at Belle Vue. He was an ever-present in the 1971–72 season, playing all 46 league and five cup games. He made 40 appearances in the 1972–73 season and ended a series of 134 consecutive appearances from his debut in March 1973 when he wrenched his left

knee In humans and other primates, the knee joins the thigh with the leg and consists of two joints: one between the femur and tibia (tibiofemoral joint), and one between the femur and patella (patellofemoral joint). It is the largest joint in the hu ...

. He recovered from this injury to play just two games in the 1973–74 campaign, but then he injured his knee

ligament A ligament is a type of fibrous connective tissue in the body that connects bones to other bones. It also connects flight feathers to bones, in dinosaurs and birds. All 30,000 species of amniotes (land animals with internal bones) have liga ...

s in October 1973 and was out of action for 17 months. He managed to play just two games in the 1974–75 season and was handed a free transfer in May 1975 by Roy Sproson, who was the club's new

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of organizations, whether businesses, nonprofit organizations, or a government bodies through business administration, nonprofit management, or the political science sub-field of public administra ...

Nuneaton Borough

He went on to join Nuneaton Borough, who had just finished as runners-up in the Southern League Premier Division; he was signed alongside Walsall's Stan Bennett, and the pair would go on to reform their Walsall centre-back partnership at Nuneaton. He made a total of 50 appearances in the 1975–76 season, but was released at the end of the campaign. However, Stan Bennett was appointed

player-manager A player–coach (also playing coach, captain–coach, or player–manager) is a member of a sports team who simultaneously holds both playing and coaching duties. Player–coaches may be head coaches or assistant coaches, and they may make chang ...

and approached Cross about re-signing, which he agreed to do. He scored his second – and final – career goal on 26 March 1979, the fourth goal of a 4–0 win over Wealdstone at Manor Park. At the end of the 1978–79 season, Nuneaton were invited to join the newly created Alliance Premier League. He played in the

final victory over Lye Town on 12 April 1980. He featured 25 times in the 1980–81 season, which saw the club

relegated Promotion and relegation is used by sports leagues as a process where teams can move up and down among divisions in a league system, based on their performance over a season. Leagues that use promotion and relegation systems are sometimes call ...

into the Southern League Midland Division. He left the club in the summer after finding that work commitments hampered his training, whilst the signing of Richard Dixey from

Scarborough Scarborough or Scarboro may refer to: People * Scarborough (surname) * Earl of Scarbrough Places Australia * Scarborough, Western Australia, suburb of Perth * Scarborough, New South Wales, suburb of Wollongong * Scarborough, Queensland, sub ...

meant the club could afford to let him go.

Personal and later life

He got married in 1970. Upon his retirement as a player, he became a School of Excellence coach at Stoke City. He later went on to become a teacher for 25 years.

Career statistics

Source:

Honours

Nuneaton Borough *

: 1980

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cross, Roy 1947 births Living people Footballers from Wednesbury English men's footballers Men's association football central defenders Walsall F.C. players Port Vale F.C. players Nuneaton Town F.C. players English Football League players Southern Football League players National League (English football) players English football coaches Stoke City F.C. non-playing staff Schoolteachers from Staffordshire