Liam Roberts' Middlesbrough 'wow' moment and decision to leave the club

Liam Roberts calls seeing the Riverside Stadium for the first time was a real 'wow' moment after signing for the club.

The Millwall keeper spent just one year at Boro after his move from Northampton Town on a free transfer in the summer of 2022. He spent last season on loan at Barnsley, before completing a move to Millwall this summer as his Boro contract came to an end.

But having spent his earlier years at Walsall, Northampton and various non-league clubs on loan, his move to Boro in 2022 after an excellent season in League Two was a big jump. Roberts noted the little things that immediately made him realise as he made his switch.

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Reflecting on his time at Boro on the Yours Mine Away Podcast, Roberts said: “It was crazy. I was on holiday and didn’t really know where I was going, and then all of a sudden, Middlesbrough are ringing you. It’s just little things like turning up to the training ground and they’ve got security on the gates, the indoor dome… it was just incredible. It was so surreal.

"Me and Scarlett [his partner] went up at the same time and we thought we’d go and see the Riverside. You come over this like little bridge and you just see it. I was like, ‘wow, this is incredible!’. It’s insane, so good. There was like a good community feel among the players. When all the wives and missuses are getting on as well, it makes a big difference. It brings you together on and off the pitch."

Roberts would ultimately play second fiddle to Zack Steffen in his first year at the club. But for a short period in the side in which he made five appearances, he ultimately spent the season watching on from the sidelines.

His chances looked set to diminish even further last summer when Boro signed Tom Glover and Seny Dieng, which, at just 28, saw him move to third in the pecking order. Though not an easy decision with still one year left on his deal, Roberts made the decision to leave the club.

“Unfortunately it just didn’t happen [game time]," he said. "I had a decision to make. I was 28 and I was becoming the third choice. Is it too early to be a number three? That’s when Barnsley came in and it was, ‘right, let’s do it’. It was dropping to League One, but it meant I’d be playing football, and that’s all you ultimately want to do.”

Roberts has since stepped back up to the Championship with Millwall. However, he has played second-fiddle there this season too and has been an unused sub for all 15 of their league games to date, making his two appearances in the Carabao Cup.