Glenn Roeder – An Obituary
It was announced on Monday that Glenn Roeder had passed away after suffering from a brain tumour He was just 65 years old.
Roeder played as a defender for Leyton Orient, QPR, Notts County, Newcastle United, Watford and Gillingham.
His debut for Leyton Orient came in 1972 when Orient were playing in the Second Division. They reached the 1978 FA Cup semi final where they lost 3-0 to Arsenal and Roeder was part of that cup run.
Later that year, QPR came in for him and paid £250,000 for his services. He captained the side to their first ever FA Cup Final in 1982, where they lost in a replay to fellow Londoners Tottenham Hotspur. Roeder missed the replay through suspension.
A year after the FA Cup Final defeat, QPR won the Second Division title. Roeder started the season at Loftus Road before moving to Newcastle in the December. He took the captain’s armband and helped to guide the club to the Second Division title later that season.
Roeder stayed at St James’s Park until 1989 when he moved back down south to join Watford on a free transfer. He spent three years at Watford before returning to his first club, Leyton Orient.
After playing only eight games back at Orient, Roeder was offered the opportunity of becoming player-manager at Gillingham. He took up the offer and guided the club to safety after relegation from the Football League looked a real possibility.
A return to Watford soon followed and Roeder spent two years at Vicarage Road before being shown the door as the club struggled to find form in the First Division. He then spent a season as Chris Waddle’s assistant at Burnley before a spell as a coach in the England set up.
Roeder moved to West Ham in 1999 to take up a coaching role. In 2001, he took the chance to become first team manager after Harry Redknapp left the club.
Towards the end of the 2002/03 season, Roeder became unwell and three games before the end of the season he was diagnosed as having a brain tumour. The club were relegated and despite returning to the dugout, Roeder was soon dismissed after a poor start to the 2003/04 season in the Championship.
Nearly two years later, the opportunity came up to return to Newcastle United, the club that Roeder had served for six years as club captain. He won the Intertoto Cup in the summer after his first season at the club, a competition that they qualified for after finishing 7th in the Premier League.
Roeder left Newcastle at the end of the following season after an indifferent campaign. He went on and joined Norwich City in the October of that year and he stayed at the club until January 2009, when he was sacked following a poor run of results.
Norwich City would prove to be the last club that Roeder would take charge of. He acted as a managerial advisor at Sheffield Wednesday in 2015 and Stevenage a year later.
Roeder passed away on Sunday, 18 months after being diagnosed with a brain tumour.
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