572 Garreth Roberts

Biography

Garreth Roberts was City’s most prominent one-club man in the post-1970s era when club loyalty became less common and the peripatetic footballer’s lifestyle became the norm. Born and raised in Hull, he joined his local side as a teenager and made his debut in March 1979, immediately establishing himself in a central midfield role. Within a couple of years Garreth had been named club captain and he was the focus of the Tigers’ midfield play throughout the 1980s as the club climbed from the Fourth Division to the Second Division under Colin Appleton and Brian Horton.

In his heyday Roberts was a useful goalscorer from midfield, bagging 14 goals across all competitions in 1983/84 and regularly contributing half a dozen strikes per season to the cause. During the late 1980s, as injuries began to curtail his previously boundless energy, Garreth moved back into a sweeper role and also played full back. He retired from the professional game in 1991, by which time he had amassed the second highest number of first team appearances for the club – a record unlikely to be bettered. After his retirement Garreth was awarded a lavish testamonial match against Tottenham Hotspur, who featured a 16 year old local boy called Nicky Barmby up front. Young Nicky scored twice that night, drawing immediate attention from the Hull public that would be fully sated a decade or more later.

Following his retirement Garreth fulfilled a number of coaching and sports development roles in the East Yorkshire area, as well as providing an interesting perspective on the current goings-on at the club. The latter came to the fore in the mid-2010s when Roberts was a vociferous opponent of the Allam family’s proposal to change the name of the club to Hull Tigers, an application rejected by the Football Association – thanks to the efforts of fans and, in no small part, the support of local football personalities like Garreth Roberts.

Details

Nationality: England
Date/Place of Birth: 15 November 1960, Hull
Hull City First Game: 10 March 1979, Bury H (Division Three), 18 years, 115 days old
Hull City Final Game: 22 December 1990, Charlton Athletic A (Division Two), 30 years, 37 days old

Clubs

Hull City (1978-1991)

Hull City Record

Career: 487 apps, 59 goals

Garreth Roberts

Season	LGE App	LGE Gls	FAC App	FAC Gls	FLC App	FLC Gls	EUR App	EUR Gls	OTH App	OTH Gls
1978/79	18 (1)	3	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
1979/80	44 (0)	2	2 (0)	1	2 (0)	1	-	-	-	-
1980/81	20 (0)	3	5 (0)	0	2 (0)	0	-	-	2 (0)	0
1981/82	29 (0)	6	6 (0)	0	1 (0)	0	-	-	3 (0)	0
1982/83	44 (0)	6	2 (0)	0	2 (0)	0	-	-	2 (0)	0
1983/84	37 (1)	9	2 (0)	1	2 (0)	0	-	-	4 (1)	4
1984/85	28 (1)	3	-	-	4 (0)	1	-	-	0 (1)	0
1985/86	33 (0)	4	3 (0)	2	4 (0)	0	-	-	3 (0)	0
1986/87	34 (1)	5	1 (0)	0	3 (0)	0	-	-	2 (0)	0
1987/88	43 (1)	3	3 (0)	1	2 (0)	0	-	-	1 (0)	1
1988/89	35 (0)	3	3 (0)	0	2 (0)	0	-	-	1 (0)	0
1989/90	36 (0)	0	1 (0)	0	-	-	-	-	-	-
1990/91	8 (0)	0	-	-	-	-	-	-	1 (0)	0