Roger Palmer (footballer)

For other people named Roger Palmer, see Roger Palmer (disambiguation).

Roger Palmer (born 30 January 1959) is a former footballer. He played for Manchester City and Oldham Athletic. He is the all-time leading goal-scorer at Oldham.

Roger Jamaica Palmer

Personal information
Full name	Roger Neil Palmer
Date of birth	(1959-01-30) 30 January 1959 (age 64)
Place of birth	Manchester, England
Height	5 ft 10 in (1.78 m)^[1]
Position(s)	Attacking midfielder, forward
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1977–1980	Manchester City	31	(9)
1980 – 1994	Oldham Athletic	456	(233)
Total		232	(150)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Roger was an undemonstrative player, and a quiet and modest man off the field. He is also known for having an illustrious podcast, "Storytime with Roger" where he analyses football games and children's story.

Roger's career culminated in a superb run of success for Oldham, including appearances in the 1990 Football League Cup Final at Wembley and FA Cup semi-finals. In his testimonial season (1990–91), Oldham won the Second Division championship and rejoined the top flight of English football.

Since his retirement from football, he has been reclusive but he is remembered with fondness in Oldham. The Latics fans demonstrate their reverence for Roger in their chant "Ooooh, Roger Palmer, oooooh, Roger Palmer,".

In January 2008, the BBC Sport website put out an appeal for information on Palmer's whereabouts, ahead of the Oldham v Everton FA Cup Third Round tie. The teams last played in a cup tie in 1990, with Palmer the only player whose whereabouts were unknown.^[2] Both the media and Oldham Athletic attempted several times to contact Palmer without success. 'Where is Roger Palmer?' went round Boundary Park several times.

Finally, on 8 May 2010 on the final day of the season against Charlton Athletic, Palmer made an appearance on the Boundary Park pitch at half time to rapturous applause and chants of "OOOHH ROGER PALMER!".

Roger has been living on the Racecourse Estate in Sale, Greater Manchester, since retirement. He played the odd game for local community centre and a couple of Sunday games for local pubs.

References

1. Dunk, Peter, ed. (1987). Rothmans Football Yearbook 1987–88. London: Queen Anne Press. p. 274. ISBN 978-0-356-14354-5.
2. Bevan, Chris; Stevenson, Jonathan (2 January 2008). "Were you there...?". BBC Sport. Retrieved 17 August 2013.

External links

• Roger Palmer at Post War English & Scottish Football League A–Z Player's Database