Roscoe pays tribute to former club Hyde

Former Hyde United captain Brad Roscoe has paid tribute to the club after moving to Northern Premier League champions, Radcliffe.

“I’ve had a fantastic few years, some of my best years in football,” the 27-year-old told the Reporter of his five-year stint at Ewen Fields. “We’ve had a few good FA Cup runs and had a brilliant last two years in the league, so I have some really fond memories.”

Roscoe also praised Tigers boss Nick Spooner for his transformational effect on the team, including reverting him to his preferred centre-half role.

“He’s made a big impact on my football. I came to the club as a right-back from Buxton where I’d been in the Team of the Year but as soon as Nick arrived, he said ‘I don’t know why you’ve been playing out there the last few years. You’re a centre-half and you’ll be a centre-half for me.’

“I think I owe Nick a lot in that respect. He brought me back into the position I know best and let me flourish over the past couple of years. I always knew I’d go back to that position, but it was a matter of finding the right manager who could see my potential there.”

At Radcliffe, he will link up with former Salford City managers, Anthony Johnson and Bernard Morley, who shot to fame for their no-nonsense approach on the Class of ‘92: Out of Their League TV series.

“I asked them about Radcliffe’s ambitions, and they said to me ‘Brad, do you think we’d be here if the club wasn’t ambitious?’”

It isn’t just lofty goals that attracted the Colne native to Radcliffe: “I love doing the dirty side of the game, but there’s a misconception with Jonno and Bernard because they play some amazing, fast-flowing football.”

Away from the game, his experience of being released from both Preston North End and Fleetwood Town as a teenager inspired him to launch his own business helping ex-pros learn a new trade.

“You can be released at any age in football, and it’s mostly one- or two-year contracts. Sometimes you’ve got loads of options, but a lot of the time it’s just not the case, especially for the young lads.

“I’d fallen out of love with football and all the knockbacks can take a toll on you mentally. You have this image, where you’ve just come out of school and everyone sees you as a footballer. You think you’ve made it at 16, and people reckon you’re going to be the next big thing.

“It’s horrible to take on board that you’re not going to be a footballer anymore.”

After his release from Fleetwood in 2016, Roscoe’s dad Neville – himself a former semi-pro who won the FA Vase at Wembley with Colne Dynamoes in 1988 – trained him as a gas fitter. Brad now returns the favour for other players who are looking for a post-football career, with his successor as Hyde captain Jack Redshaw being one of his recent students.

“Jack’s had a great football career, playing for Morecambe and Blackpool, and now turning young full-backs inside out in non-League. But he’s also smashing it now running his own gas engineering business.”

Hyde finished 6th in the NPL for a second consecutive season, with Roscoe missing the last two months thanks to an ankle injury picked up in the 1-1 home draw with Stafford Rangers.