Wolves’ Tony Roberts: ‘The WhatsApp group we have comes alive at 1am’

It promises to be an exciting couple of months for Tony Roberts, a key part of the Wolves and Wales staff, as his club chase a European place and his country a spot at a first World Cup since 1958.

The goalkeeping coach can often be seen orchestrating from the edge of the technical area and Roberts, a colourful character who also counts set pieces as his responsibility, is held in high regard by players and staff. “I’ve always been lively,” Roberts says from Wolves’ training base. “I’m not one to sit still. If I go on holiday I can’t stand the sun, I’d rather go on the bike, so it’s Center Parcs for me instead shooting off wherever.”

Roberts is a bubbly personality with a ton of tales from more than three decades in the game. He played until the age of 42, combining turning out for Dagenham & Redbridge, for whom he made more than 450 appearances, with coaching Arsenal’s youth goalkeepers after taking a call from the then academy director Liam Brady while at Queens Park Rangers. He worked with a 17-year-old Wojciech Szczesny as well as with Lukasz Fabianski, with whom he was later reunited at Swansea, and Emiliano Martínez, before being appointed assistant first-team goalkeeping coach, which meant working with Jens Lehmann and under Arsène Wenger. “The most intelligent man in the world,” he says.

Roberts’s energy is infectious. Last year a prank which centred on Adama Traoré, when he accused the winger of lacking physicality in a team meeting, went viral. Roberts is the only non-Portuguese member of Bruno Lage’s coaching staff but the pair previously worked together at Swansea, where Lage was assistant to Carlos Carvalhal. Reuniting last summer was a no-brainer. “I had just met up with the Wales squad for the Euros and he