Roger Palmer –
Racecourse Legend

Simon Mullock should be a name most City fans are familiar with.

A lifelong Blue, Mullock has been writing about the club he loves for many years in his former role as Chief Football Writer for the Sunday Mirror.

He also grew up on the Racecourse estate in Sale, where he counted a certain Roger Palmer as one of his neighbours and friends…

“We grew up on the same street,” begins Mullock.

“The Racecourse estate was basically a large area of council houses named after famous racecourses.

“There were lots of offshoots of roads, but basically it was one long avenue and from my house I could see where Roger lived.

“This was the early 1970s and I knew Roger because his dad, Dick, was a bus driver, as was my dad, and they often worked on the same shift, so that’s sort of how I got to know him, even though he was a few years older than me.

“We used to have knockabouts in the local park, and he stood out a mile. We do this crossbar challenge, and Roger, who was about four years older than I was, would just smack it against the bar, time after time.

“This was around 1972, I was seven or eight at the time and Roger was about 12 and I think he was already connected to City in some way back then.

“A couple of years later, I went to Wembley for the first time to watch City take on Wolves in 1974 League Cup final and I mentioned to Roger the day before that I was going to the game.

“He smiled and said, ‘So am I – I’m going to be one of the ball-boys!’ I asked if he was joking and he said he wasn’t, so at the game I was looking out for him and though I didn’t see him on the day, I’ve watched the game since, and you can see him at the tunnel end of Wembley where the City fans were.

"I also discovered a few years ago that Steve Bruce was also a ball-boy at that final! Clubs were apparently invited to recommend schoolboys associated with them, and Steve was put forward by Newcastle United and Roger was recommended by City.

“I was 12 when Roger broke into the City team and made his debut in December 1977 and for me, it was magical because I had a lad who was a friend and a neighbour playing for my club. I had a season-ticket with a couple of mates at the time and there was Roger, playing for City and still just walking around the estate as he always had afterwards.

“I wasn’t allowed to go to away games because of my age, but I went to a load of Central League games at Maine Road and Roger was part of the City Reserves side that won the league in 1977/78, which was a big deal back then, and he was scoring goals for fun.

“He didn’t get mobbed on the Racecourse, but he was a popular figure around the neighbourhood, and he’d always stop and chat and had time for everyone.

“But my favourite memory of Roger was the Manchester derby in September 1980. A ball was flicked on and Roger into the box. We were 2-1 down with a minute to go and he was facing Gary Bailey in front of the Stretford End, but he chested it down and calmly lifted it over Bailey to make it 2-2 as if he had all the time in the world.

“We hadn’t won any of our first 12 games and were in a relegation battle already, so to get a 2-2 draw at Old Trafford was massive for us. I remember watching the highlights later on Match of the Day. The following day, I was watching TV with my dad who was a massive Red - and who walks past our window? Roger Palmer!

“I ran outside, stopped Roger and bent down and kissed his trainer – a brand new Adidas Samba – and he laughed and said, ‘What are you doing?’ I then turned around and saw my dad at the window shaking his head!

“Roger played just two more games for us, against Liverpool and Leeds United and that was it, he was sold to Oldham Athletic just after Malcolm Allison was sacked.

“A few years later, when I was at Manchester University, I’d get the bus to Sale train station and Roger would catch the same bus because Willie Donachie would pick him up from near the station and drive him to Oldham for training.

“He’d be sat near the back of the bus, circling his horses for the day in his copy of the Sporting Life and he was always humble, shy and never big-headed. He often just dressed in jeans and a T-shirt, and you’d never have guessed he was a professional footballer.

Future City keeper Alex Williams MBE was another schoolfriend of Roger’s. The pair we a few years apart in age, but both were at Wilbraham High in Chorlton for a period.

“We weren’t close friends because our high school had split buildings apart from each other, so when Roger was in the high school part, I was in the lower end, but I knew of him,” says Williams.

“It was only when I started out as a young Manchester City apprentice that I got to know him better. At that time, Roger and Dave Bennett were in each other’s pockets and thick as thieves on and off the pitch.

“Roger was just one of those players who just had an eye for goal, a bit like Shaun Goater, without being a really top-class striker, but he could put the ball away.

“He was a prolific scorer in the reserves and in the Central League and there was a notion that he was maybe not good enough to hold down a place at a top club, but he went to Oldham and was an absolute revelation.

“He was a quiet lad, and the only time he ever seemed really comfortable was when he was going out to train or playing a match – he was quite reclusive – that said, when he went into a nightclub when he really came alive.

Roger the team-mate

Dave Bennett was about a year behind Roger at City, but the pair forged a lethal strike partnership for the Blues' reserve team.

City won the Central League for the first time in 1977/78 at a time when reserve team football was any age, and often filled with gnarly pros just out of the first-team picture, or on their way back from injury.

It was a fierce apprenticeship for our young Black strike force who had to endure all kinds of hurdles as they made their way in the game.

"Me and Roger looked out for each other," recalled Dave Bennett.

"We had to and we learned to look after ourselves, but we always had each other's backs.

"He was a great lad and we were close friends off the pitch as well."

Another graduate of the Manchester City youth team, Paul Moulden, followed a similar path to Palmer.

A prolific scorer for the Blues' junior and reserve teams, he played more first team games and scored a few more goals than Roger’s 11 in 41 for the Blues.

Moulden would also follow a well-trodden path to Boundary Park later in his career, by which time Palmer was already an established legend.

His first real interaction with Palmer also evoked a painful memory…

“My first recollection of Roger was when I made my debut for Oldham,” says Moulden.

“We were attacking the Chaddy End, playing down the hill on the Astro pitch and I remember Ricky Holden flashing a cross towards the back post and I slid in at full stretch to try and tap it in but just put it wide.

It was my first game on that pitch, so I hadn’t even factored that in. I didn’t do it again!

“That was the first time I’d really spoken to Roger and what a lovely guy he was. If you met him in the street, you’d never think he was a footballer – he just didn’t live his life that way, but there were no airs or graces about him, he was just Roger. He enjoyed himself, was out every night, playing darts and having a drink – everything you probably shouldn’t have done!”

Frankie Bunn, who would later become reserve team boss at City, has similarly fond memories of his former team-mate.

He joined Oldham in 1987 and would play alongside Palmer for three years before injury cut short his playing career.

“I played against Roger a few times prior to playing alongside him, but the first time I really met him was in December 1987 when I joined Oldham,” recalls Bunn.

“If somebody went in on him high, he’d go back in on them higher – he was no shrinking violet and could look after himself. He was savvy and knew his way around the football pitch and there wasn’t many who got the better of him. He didn’t go looking for trouble, but if it came his way he knew how to handle it.

“As you’ve heard many times no doubt, he was elusive both on and off the pitch. He was a senior player who was looked up to and he did his talking on the grass. Leaders don’t always have to be communicative with their voice, they can lead in other ways and that’s what Roger did. Joe ??? knew him from City, so already knew about his quirkiness when he came to the club and embraced it.

“He was the last one out on the pitch for training and the first one in – then he’d get changed and disappear. He was a terrace idol and an Oldham Athletic legend.

“I’ve not seen Roger since the last time I left Boundary Park in 1990 I think, and his elusiveness continues.”

Roger the gifted footballer

Willie Donachie was one of the best left-backs Manchester City ever had.

The Scotland international made more than 400 appearances for the Blues and later joined Oldham as player-assistant manager to Joe Royle, establishing a reputation as one of the best coaches in British football.

He would establish a connection with Palmer that would last several years, as he explains…

“I first met Roger when he was a young lad at City, and it didn’t take me long to see how good he was. He was a City fan as well,” says Donachie.

“I picked Roger up near his house for about 10 years while we were at Oldham and he was a really good player, very underrated.

“I remember when we were both at City, Malcolm Allison did a training session on shooting from outside the box and he wanted Roger to hit the ball sort of Bobby Charlton-style with power and grace, but he couldn’t do that – he couldn’t kick a ball straight!

“He was one of the best finishers I’ve ever seen and when he was through on goal, one against one, he was always going to score and that’s the hardest thing to do in the game. It’s you versus the goalkeeper and there is pressure coming from behind, but he was always calm and composed.

“But the reason Roger scored all the time is because he couldn’t hit it straight! He had such a short back lift, and his shots always seemed to go past the keeper’s feet or through his legs – they just didn’t see it coming. He was a very intelligent player – quiet, but very effective and he became a living legend at Oldham.

“What did we speak about on our drives to Oldham? That’s the funniest question you could ever ask, because he hardly ever spoke! Sometimes he was a little apprehensive  about me maybe because I was Joe’s No.2, but on occasion, my son would come in the car with me when I picked Roger up and he told me that when I got out, you couldn’t stop Roger talking! He was a great lad, great for team spirit and everybody loved him. The Astroturf at Boundary Park gave us a big advantage because nobody else liked playing on it – and we didn’t particularly – but then we’d go away and play on grass and love that, but he’d score goals on any surface.

“He would look after himself but in a quiet way – he’d never back down from anything; he was honest and was very brave and straightforward. He was a talented player and was just unlucky to have been at City at the wrong time.”

Roger the Dodger!

Roy Butterworth has spent most of his life at Oldham Athletic.

He initially helped the club out on a voluntary basis in several roles around 60 years ago – and never left!

Though not a club secretary or director, the respected Butterworth is a club legend in his own right and, at 85, who better to give an Oldham Athletic perspective on Roger’s 14-year stint at Boundary Park?

“He scored 149 goals from us from midfield,” says Butterworth.

“He wore the No.7 shirt, and it was funny how Joe Royle played him. They say Oldham always played with two wingers back then, but it was really just one with Palmer tucked into midfield on the right.

“There was a celebrity game beforehand, and I was with chairman Ian Stott. I said, ‘It’s alright this Ian, isn’t it?’ and he turned around and said, ‘Oh dear, I think I’ve made a mistake.’

“I asked him what he meant, and he said, ‘As well as the gate receipts, I think I’ve included the car park receipts as well!’  In other words, the crowd was meant to be his testimonial fund, but he got all the profits from the car park too – I don’t think he expected quite the amount of people that that turned up to see Roger off.

“He was a great lad. There were times when Joe Royle couldn’t track Roger down when he was needed for whatever – and we’d have to call four of five phone numbers of different houses before we finally got hold of him. I’d almost say Roger had no fixed abode! He was elusive to say the least.

“I remember one time when we played Manchester United in the FA Cup semi-final at Maine Road and drew 3-3. Roger scored our third to earn another replay and he came out after the game dressed in normal clothes with his boots in a brown paper back and he pushed his way through the crowds and nobody recognised him. He worked his way through, turned right to walk to Rusholme to catch a bus back to Sale.  Could you imagine that happening nowadays?

“Joe would give him a new two-year contract every couple of years and would say to Roger, ‘Right, are you ready to come in and sign it? And he’d turn up, sit down, turn to the back page and sign where he needed to. He never read the contract terms, tried to negotiate or anything – I’m sure Joe would have given him a raise each time, but he just wasn’t bothered about things like that.

“We used to meet some players at Knutsford Services if we were playing down south and inevitably, that’s where we’d pick up Roger. On one occasion, we were all set to go with all the players, manager and directors on board but ended up waiting 45 minutes because Roger was late.

“He was just a shy, unassuming lad and everyone loved him from the chairman to the fans on the terraces. I don’t even think he drove a car! The fans loved him at Oldham, and they had a song, ‘Ooh, Roger Palmer!’, but the local community officer wanted us, as a club, to ask fans not to chant that as he felt it was in some way racist – which it definitely wasn’t -and Joe Royle asked Roger, ‘Are you bothered about this ‘Ooh Roger Palmer chant?’ and Roger said, ‘No, why?’ So Joe explained what the community officer had said and that he wanted it stopped, and Roger just said, ‘Well I don’t’ – and that was the end of it.  The club wrote back and explained the matter was closed as far as Oldham Athletic were concerned.

“He was a terrific lad; a genuine club legend and players don’t come along like Roger Palmer very often.”

Finding Roger Palmer

So, what happened next?

Well, initially, it seems like Roger almost came back to his boyhood club, as Alex Williams explains..

“He lived in Sale and was always in the Little Bee pub, but when he stopped playing, he just sort of disappeared and nobody knew what had happened to him,” says Williams.

“Then, out of the blue in the early 1990s when we were setting up what was then Football in the Community, I got a phone call asking if there were any jobs available? I said we always had openings and this guy, who it turned out was from the local job centre, asked if he could bring somebody along. I said fine and asked who it was, and he said, ‘Roger Palmer’. I was thrilled that he wanted to be part of what we were doing, so I arranged a meeting and expected Roger to come along on his own and have a chat and sell himself, but he came with the guy who had made the call and we all sat down in our office, which was the semi-detached house next to Stan Gibson’s house by the old souvenir shop at Maine Road.

“So, I was sat there, the job centre guy and Roger and Roger didn’t say one single word in 30 minutes. I was asking Roger questions, and the guy was answering for him, because I think he was that nervous and uncomfortable coming into that environment. We didn’t take him on because we found somebody with more experience or because he was offered the role and never turned up – I’m not sure which. But I couldn’t believe it, because we knew each other well, but it just never happened and what would have been a wonderful coup for us.

“I’ve not seen Roger for years and I go to a lot of award ceremonies and get-togethers and I’m not sure he’s ever even been to the Etihad or came back to Maine Road other than playing for Oldham. But you wouldn’t recognise him in a nightclub where he came alive and whoever the prettiest girl was, Roger would go and talk to her. You couldn’t help but love the guy, he was such a lovely lad – too nice to be a footballer, I’d say!”

In 2008, BBC Sport’s Chris Bevan put out a story asking, ‘Where is Roger Palmer?’ as he tried to contact the wonderful Latics team of 1990. Palmer was the only one he could not trace.

In fact, to this day, none of his former team-mates, managers or friends in football are quite sure where he is.

There have been sightings, as Willie Donachie reveals: “He liked his privacy, and I still don’t know exactly where he lived, despite picking him up for a decade! 

“Up to recently, my family still lived in Sale and would see him out running and stuff, so it’s good to know he has looked after himself.

Epilogue

To finish this story, I decided to drive to the Racecourse estate to try and find Roger Palmer. I’d been given a couple of tip-offs and called ahead to one bar where a City fan forum suggested he might occasionally frequent.

I decided to go there on the off-chance Roger might be there and asked the landlord to humour me as I explained what my mission was. He said there was somebody in the back room that fitted the description, so I nervously walked in that direction – had I finally found Roger and had it really been as simple as a few phone calls?

As I walked along to the room at the back, I imagined what I might say to Roger, but as I looked around the corner somewhat apprehensively, there was nobody there. There was a half-drunk pint and a copy of the Sporting Life at a table in the corner, but if anybody had been there, they had not long left.

I left the bar disappointed but not surprised.

Roger loved his horses by all accounts and as I drove away and passed roads named Ascot, Epsom and Haydock, I realised that in many ways, this was Roger’s spiritual home.

And maybe not finding him was exactly the epitaph that this adventure required…

Feature: David Clayton

Design: Simon Thorley

Special thanks to: Gary Bennett MBE, Dave Bennett, Alex Williams MBE, Frankie Bunn, Willie Donachie and Simon Mullock - plus Roy Butterworth, Josh Coleman, Mark Sheridan from Oldham Athletic FC