Robert Rosario

Robert Michael Rosario (born March 4, 1966 in Hammersmith) is a retired English footballer who played professionally for Norwich City, Wolverhampton Wanderers, Coventry City and Nottingham Forest before playing and coaching in the United States.

Norwich City FC

As a teenager, Rosario had unsuccessful trials with Tottenham Hotspur, Brentford FC and Watford FC. He played non-league football for Harrow Borough and Hillingdon Borough. Norwich City saw potential in the tall striker and he signed for the Canaries shortly before Christmas in 1983. He made his league debut on 7 April 1984 against Watford at Carrow Road, a match that Norwich won 6-1. His first goal for the club came on 21 April 1984 in a 2-2 draw against Stoke City. However, he struggled to command a regular first team place and in the 1985-86 season had a loan spell at Wolves where he scored 1 goal in his 2 appearances.

Although Rosario was far from being a prolific goalscorer for the Canaries - he would score just 29 goals in 161 appearances for the club - he was selected for the England under-21s in April 1987 and played in a match against Turkey. Rosario would win 3 further under-21 caps but effectively ended his chances of further caps when he and his Norwich team-mate Dale Gordon broke curfew on an under-21 trip and went to a nightclub.

The highlight of Rosario's time at Carrow Road came on 9 September 1989 when the first of his two goals in a 4-4 draw against Southampton would later be voted 'Goal of the Season' by ITV. But his lack of goals meant that he was not a favourite with the Carrow Road crowd and when Coventry City manager Terry Butcher paid Norwich £600,000 for his services in March 1991 it was seen as good business by the majority of City fans.

Coventry and Nottingham Forest

Rosario struggled to make an impact with Coventry and scored just 8 goals in 59 games. He did not see eye to eye with Butcher's successor as manager - Bobby Gould - who for a while played Rosario in midfield. Towards the end of the 1992/93 season, the legendary Brian Clough - to a great deal of astonishment - signed Rosario in a desperate attempt to save Forest from relegation. It did not work, and Rosario would prove to be Clough's last signing. The night before Rosario was unveiled as a Forest player, the club announced that they had 'signed a well known first division player' to address their goalscoring problems. Rosario, unfortunately, was not the player that Forest supporters had in mind to meet what was required.

Coaching career

While at Forest, Rosario scored 3 goals in 26 games before sustaining the knee injury that eventually forced him to retire from professional football in England. He attempted to resurrect his career in the United States and played for Carolina Dynamo (scoring 4 goals in 29 games) and Charleston Battery (23 games 0 goals) before returning to Carolina Dynamos as player-coach, scoring 3 goals in 21 games.. Rosario has remained in the United States to pursue his coaching career, having obtained his A class coaching licence with the US Soccer Federation.

Rosario had many of the physical attributes needed to be a successful striker - he was tall, powerful and well-built - but was never a regular goalscorer wherever he played and is not remembered with a great deal of fondness by supporters at the clubs where he played. Others argue that his passing and first touch were not unreasonable and may have been better deployed in midfield.

External links

* [http://www.pinkun.com/Content/ncfc/Wherearetheynow/030215Rosario.asp Link to article in Norwich sports paper re Rosario's career]
* [http://www.ex-canaries.co.uk/players/rosario.htm Career information at ex-canaries.co.uk]

ources

*"Canary Citizens" by Mike Davage, John Eastwood, Kevin Platt, published by Jarrold Publishing, (2001), ISBN 0-7117-2020-7