Debut:
18/02/1899 v Loughborough Town (A) 1-0 (League Division Two)
Farewell:
Transferred to ?, 05/1901, £
Passed Away:
PA
Biography
During his stay at Bank Street, his appellation of 'Bogie' was so established that W.F. Roberts' initials were never clarified, neither in proper documentation nor in print. And this was a man who spent just over four years with Newton Heath having signed his professional forms in April 1897.
Roberts played for the 'Stripes' against the 'Whites' in Heath's preseason practice match on August 19th, filling the outside-right position (rather than his favoured spot on the extreme left), but little did he know it would take a year and a half to make his official debut. Instead he would spend years as one of the mainstays of the second string, for whom he was regularly on the scoresheet.
Bogie's problem was that he was too light and at times inpatient in his play. However, he made up for that with plenty of speed, trickery, and unstinting effort. His first-team debut was in the Lancashire Cup on December 19th, 1898, and, when he made the third goal in a 5-0 dismantling of Darwen, he was loudly cheered by the Bank Street crowd. His league bow was versus Loughborough on February 18th, followed by a better experience the week after against Small Heath: Bogie scored in the first minute.
When Heath's star player, Joe Cassidy, took over the left wing berth in the Spring of 1899, Roberts' first team outings became very scarce. He added one more goal (versus Arsenal) in 1899-00 but, after one last game against Chesterfield in December 1899, he dropped back to the reserve side whom he would go on to grace until the end of the 1900-01 campaign. No picture available. Thanks to Charbel Boujaoude for his tireless researching effort & the correct information on W. F. (Bogie) Roberts. Biography kindly provided by Charbel Boujaoude.
