The Welsh international striker arrived at Filbert Street from Huddersfield Town in November 1993 for a fee of £300,000, having started his career at Watford.
Two of his three seasons at Leicester included Play-Off Final glory, beating Derby County 2-1 to reach the Premier League for the first time in 1993/94 and then gaining promotion back to the top flight at the first attempt, at the end of the 1995/96 campaign.
In the company of presenter Dan Bates, Roberts reveals the best player he played with, as well as how he came to sign for City and the influence of his three managers - Brian Little, Mark McGhee and Martin O’Neill in LCFC Radio’s Inside The Dressing Room podcast.
On signing for the Club
Roberts said: “I went to Filbert Street, met Brian Little and I don’t know what it was but I soon as I walked into his office, as soon as I met the man, I just thought ‘I want to play for Leicester, I want to play for Brian Little’. He just had such a good, kind nature about him, he made me and my family feel welcome, he was softly spoken, he was just great from the very first second I met him. And from the moment I saw that new stand being built, you could just see how impressive that stadium was. I just wanted to play there and had no hesitation. That was the Thursday and I made my debut on the Saturday at home to Wolves.”
On a dream debut
Roberts said: “It should have been a better debut and it still haunts me to this day, the chance that I missed, the easiest of the lot! Playing Wolves who are a good side, it was one of those, as it was coming across, I was three yards out and I’ve made the cardinal sin as a centre forward of thinking ‘I’ve scored’ before I’ve made contact and put the ball in the back of the net and that’s fatal. I had to slide in a little bit but you’ve got to score that! I ballooned it into the Kop and I just could not believe it. The start of my debut didn’t go great, we’re 2-0 down at half-time, we’re booed off the Filbert Street pitch and I’m thinking ‘what have I signed for here, these lot are a shambles’. But we came back in that second half and the first goal was probably the best header I’d ever scored. It was a great cross from Gary Mills on the right hand side, I’ve just made great contact and then to get the equaliser I’ve smashed it into the roof of the net. I’d never scored on my debut so to get two to get us back into the game, I was chuffed to bits.”
Dressing room jokers
Roberts said: “When I first signed, I got really close to David Speedie, a centre forward and a fellow Celt being a Scotsman. He was just a really lively character, a pocket rocket. He always had plenty to say and the dressing room is a place where anything goes, you can say anything about anyone. It can be a ruthless place and you’ve got to be a strong character to be able to deal with all that. It’s not done maliciously, it’s a bit of fun, a laugh and a joke and there was no one worse than Speedo. I got on really well with David, we were strike partners, but he was one of the most ruthless people I’ve ever heard in the dressing room, he would slaughter people. Speedo was really lively.”
Gaining promotion to the Premier League
Roberts said: “The success the Club had, three consecutive Play-Off Finals, the one we won against Derby after the two lost in the previous seasons against Blackburn and Swindon, for the Club to do that at third time of asking, to win promotion having suffered defeat twice in a Play-Off Final actually showed those players, that manager and the coaching staff have got a lot of character.”
The best player he played with at City?
Roberts said: “Mark Draper. [He had] so much ability, another great lad, a great signing for the Club, who paid a lot of money for him. But he had great passing range, could score a goal, had a good strike on him and was a confident boy. I played against Mark when he was at Notts County and I always thought he had really good ability, but you don’t realise how good someone is until you train with him on a daily basis, until you’re in the same team as him and you can see what he brings, his vision. Drapes was a top, top player and sadly we couldn’t keep hold of him. Once we’d got relegated, we knew he was going to carry on playing in the Premier League for many, many years, which he did with Aston Villa. He’d had a great season for Leicester, I think he was our Player of the Year, that tells you everything from a team who were eventually relegated. It was a privilege to have that one season with him because he was a fantastic midfielder.”
On being fondly remembered by the Blue Army
Roberts said: “As a former player, it’s great. It shows you did something right in your time at the Club. I was only there for two-and-a-half years so it’s not as if I was there for a long period of my career but it was a time that I throughly enjoyed, I really did. I scored goals, enjoyed my time, had a successful couple of years winning promotion to the Premier League through the Play-Offs and finished top scorer in the time I was there. From minute one of my first game, I hit it off with the fans straight away. They like a hard worker who puts themselves about, might not be the most skilful of players, but always leaves everything out on the pitch. That was the type of player that I was, what I lacked in ability, I made up with hard work and honest endeavour. And I think fans take to those types of players. I had a great relationship with Leicester fans and still do to this day.”