Paddy Roberts’ nomadic career as a permanent loanee, while officially a Manchester City player, came to an end when the former Celtic winger joined Sunderland’s push for League 1 promotion in January.
It’s taken Roberts a while to build up his fitness under new boss Alex Neil, however, he’s now in a position to influence games at long last, and speaking to the Sunderland Echo, Roberts feels the experience of playing in front of 60,000 at Celtic Park has prepared him for the expectancy and pressure he’ll now have to cope with at the Stadium of Light.
“It’s just something you have to get your head around and get used to, it’s not a bad thing. You want the fans there and want them on your side.
“My best football came when I was playing in front of 60,000 fans in Scotland. I come here and there are 30,000 at the Stadium of Light and it’s the same kind of feeling, just obviously a different league.
“There is the same motivation, same ambition, same expectation from the whole club down to us players and we want to get the job done. The support has been amazing and we hope that continues, and we’ll do our best on the pitch as usual.”
The best form of Patrick Roberts career, after his move to Manchester City from Fulham, undoubtedly came whilst on loan with Celtic. And after a series of questionable loan moves to the likes of Troyes, Girona, Middlesbrough, Derby and Norwich, Roberts is now hoping to hit the levels of form he showed with the Hoops at Sunderland; indeed he believes he’s now surpassing that form.
“I’d say I’m probably even better. Obviously I’m older now, when I was younger I was maybe a bit sharper. With the run I’ve had in the team at the moment I’m just getting to my best football and I can only get better. Hopefully I’ll have time to show this club and these fans what I can do and help them reach the goal which is obviously promotion.”
For many Celtic fans Paddy Roberts was just the sort of entertainer we love to have in the team. A goalscoring threat as well as a superb dribbler, Roberts was a player who got bums off green plastic seats at Celtic Park.
It’s been a shame how things have worked out so far for Roberts’ career, after it appeared the sky was the limit for his undoubted talents. Hopefully now at a big club with high expectations Roberts can set about proving himself as good a performer for Sunderland as he was for Celtic and realising at long last the potential he has always had.
Niall J
