About Jason
| Full name: | Jason Roberts |
| Date of birth: | January 25, 1978 |
| Place of birth: | Park Royal, London, England |
| Height: | 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) |
| Playing position: | Striker |
| Current club: | Blackburn Rovers |
| Number: | 30 |
Jason Roberts comes from a very athletic family, his uncles include former footballers Cyrille Regis, David Regis and Otis Roberts (a former Grenadian international who played in Hong Kong and Belgium). He is also related to Olympic gold medallist John Regis.
Jason, like his uncle Cyrille Regis, began his career in England playing for Hayes at the age of 18 years old. Jason was signed by Terry Brown and soon turned from a winger into a centre forward attracting the attention of many clubs like Arsenal, Southampton and Wolverhampton Wanderers, but Jason plumped for Wolverhampton Wanderers and was immediately loaned out to Torquay United for playing experience, where he scored 6 goals in 13 games. Another loan took him to Bristol City, where he scored one goal in one start and two substitute appearances.
He joined Bristol Rovers for £250,000 in August 1998 and in the 1998–99 season scored 16 goals in 32 league appearances. Jason continued this outstanding form in the following season, scoring 22 goals in 41 appearances. In the summer of 2000 however, following Rovers' failure to gain promotion, he handed in a transfer request to the club.
Jason moved to West Bromwich Albion on 26 July 2000, for a club record £2 million fee. He made his debut in a 1–0 defeat away at Nottingham Forest on 12 August 2000. He scored twice against Swansea City in the League Cup on 6 September 2000, his first goals for the club. Jason scored 15 goals in 34 appearances in 2000–01 forming a successful partnership with Lee Hughes and fired Albion into the 1st Division playoffs. During West Brom's successful promotion campaign of 2001–02 however, Jason’s season was blighted by a persistent foot injury, breaking his fifth metatarsal three times. He managed only 12 league appearances during the season, scoring seven goals.
In West Bromwich Albion's first season in the Premiership, Jason scored three goals in a total of 31 games. He was loaned out for much of the 2003–04 season to Portsmouth, where he scored one goal in four appearances, and after handing in a transfer request half way through the season earned himself a move to Wigan Athletic for a transfer fee of approximately £2 million.
Jason started out well at Wigan and scored on his debut against rivals Preston after just 45 seconds. He then went on to score eight goals in 14 appearances to round of the 2003–04 season. Jason continued to find the net in the 2004–05 campaign, ending the season with 21 goals in the league (second in The Championship, behind teammate Nathan Ellington). Both players were named in the PFA Championship team of the season. Wigan finished second in the table behind Sunderland, earning automatic promotion to the Premiership. It was Jason’s penalty in the second minute of their August 27, 2005 match against Sunderland that served as the first Premier League goal for the Latics and led them to the first top flight victory in Wigan Athletic's history.
With Wigan Athletic's promotion to the top tier of English football in May 2005, Jason was able to establish himself as one of the most feared strikers in the English Premiership. His goals enabled Wigan to finish the season comfortably in the top half and challenge for a European place in their first season in the top division. This success was encapsulated in one moment on Tuesday 24 January 2006 - when Jason himself scored a last minute goal against Arsenal at Highbury in the Carling Cup semi-final to send Wigan to the first major cup final in their history.
On July 3, 2006 he joined Blackburn Rovers for £3m on a four year contract. He scored his first goal for Blackburn in the 2–1 FA Cup semi-final defeat against Chelsea. Jason kept this momentum up towards the end of the 2006–07 season by netting five goals in as many games.
The 2007/08 season at Blackburn saw Jason’s campaign again dogged by injury and this twinned with the arrival of the prolific top scorer Roque Santa Cruz, meant limited first team appearances. Towards the back end of the season, Jason worked his way back to full fitness and began making some very impressive substitute appearances forcing his way back into the first team starting line up forming a consistent partnership with Roque Santa Cruz. Jason finished the 07/08 season with 5 goals.
Although Jason has the potential to be one of the most important players for the Grenada national team, availability issues that come with playing in England have limited his impact with the team. Nevertheless, he was an important force for the team during qualifiers for the 2006 World Cup, in which the Grenada team put up an impressive showing before bowing out to the United States. Roberts made an immediate impact in Grenada's first qualifying match for the 2010 World Cup, scoring the first two goals in a 10-0 match against the U.S. Virgin Islands on 26 March 2008. Since the 26th March Jason has scored 1 goal against Jamaica in a 2-1 victory and 1 goal in a 2-2 draw with Costa Rica.
Grenadian International
During the Summer of 2008 Jason Roberts was involved in international duties by representing Grenada in two World Cup qualification games against Costa Rica. Jason was also playing for Grenada in a friendly match v Jamaica.
In the much awaited friendly match against Jamaica, Jason scored the winning goal in for Grenada to win the match 2 - 1.
In the World Cup qualifiers Jason was instrumental in securing a 2 - 2 draw at home however in the return leg in Costa Rica, Grenada were defeated and failed to qualify for the 2010 World Cup.