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Player #436

From:

To:

Career Status:

1953-54

1957-58

Retired

Appearances:

39

Starts:

39

Goals:

3

Assists:

-

Involvements:

3

Ken O Roberts

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿

Winger

5724_edited.png

PREVIOUS PLAYER

SUBSEQUENT PLAYER

Ken O Roberts

Seasons Quick-View

1954-57 🕒 39 | ⚽ 3 | 🔥 - | #436 |

Season :

1953-54
1954-55
1955-56
1956-57
1957-58

Age :

17
18
19
20
21

Division :

D1
D1
D1
D1
D1

Squad # :

#
#
#
#
#

Appearances :

16
8
4
9
2

Starts :

16
8
4
9
2

Substitute :

0
0
0
0
0

Unused :

0
0
0
0
0

Goals :

2
0
0
1
0

Assists :

-
-
-
-
-

Involvements :

2
0
0
1
0

Games / Goal :

Bookings :

-
-
-
-
-

Sendings Off :

-
-
-
-
-

FAC: FA Cup; FL: Football League; D1: Division 1; D2: Division 2; D3: Division 3; PL: Premier League; CH: Championship

Kenneth Owen Roberts

Birth Date

27 March 1936

Birth Place

Cefn Mawr, Wrexham

Birth Country

Wales

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿

Citizenship

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿

Wales

Villa Youth

n/a

Previous Teams (incl. Youth)

Maelor Youth Club

1951-53 Wrexham
Football League Third Division North
🕒 1 | ⚽ 0 | (League)

Original Transfer

Aged

17

From

Wrexham

For

Free

On

May 1953

Under

George Martin

Returning Transfer 1

Aged

n/a

From

n/a

For

n/a

On

n/a

Under

n/a

Returning Transfer 2

Aged

n/a

From

n/a

For

n/a

On

n/a

Under

n/a

Transfer Notes

Loans Out

None

Transfer Out 1

Aged

To

For

On

Under

22

Retired

Released

May 1958

Eric Houghton 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿

Transfer Out 2

Aged

To

For

On

Under

n/a

n/a

n/a

n/a

n/a

Transfer Out 3

Aged

To

For

On

Under

n/a

n/a

n/a

n/a

n/a

Subsequent Clubs

1958 Retired aged 22

Died

6 February 2021, Aged 84

Ken O Roberts

Villa Career

1954-57 | Free |
Football League First Division
🕒 39 | ⚽ 3 | 🔥 - | #436 |

🕒 Games | Starts (Subs) | ⚽ Goals | 🔥 Assists | 🇺 Unused | Player Number |

Played Under

Eric Houghton 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿

Promoted to First Team Squad

In

23 January 1954

Under

Eric Houghton 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿

First Squad

23 January 1954

Manager

Eric Houghton 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿

Debut

Season

Date

Match

Age

Manager

1953-54

23 January 1954

Blackpool (a), Division One

17

Eric Houghton 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿

5724_edited.png

Final Appearance

Season

Date

Match

Aged

Manager

1957-58

16 November 1957

Tottenham Hotspur (h), Division One

21

Eric Houghton 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿

5724_edited.png

Final Squad

16 November 1957

Manager

Eric Houghton 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿

Honours

Played for the Villa

Height

Foot

International Record

National Team

Not selected

Years | Caps | Starts (Sub) | Goals |

Not selected

Caps with Villa

Ken O Roberts

5724_edited.png

Player #436 for Aston Villa, Kenneth Owen Roberts, known as Ken Roberts, and nicknamed KO, played as a winger for the club in the outside right position.

Ken played for Villa between 1953-54 and 1957-58 making 39 appearances and scoring 4 goals.

Ken was born in Cefn Mawr, Wrexham, Wales, on 27 March 1936 and made his debut appearance for Villa on Saturday, 23 January 1954 aged just 17.

Villa had signed Ken from Wrexham in May 1953 and he made 16 appearances, scoring twice, in his debut season, despite his tender years.

Indeed Ken’s debut came aged 15 years and 158 days old - the same age as the League’s youngest ever player Albert Geldard.

For comparison Villa’s youngest player in all competitions was Jimmy Brown who was aged 15 years and 349 days when he made his debut on 17 September 1969 in a League Division Two game at Bolton Wanderers.

Ken’s early promise however was to prove a cruel false dawn as he wouldn’t again manage double figures in a league season for Villa and a knee injury caused his premature retirement at the age of just 21 after 4 years with the club.

Ken made his final appearance for Villa on Saturday, 16 November 1957 and although during his time with Villa they won the 1957 FA Cup Ken, having not been able to feature in the campaign, did not receive the honour of an FA Cup Winners medal.

Ken had played under Villa manager Eric Houghton. Ken passed away on 6 February 2021 aged 84.

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