On this day in Nice, France, 1967 Eric Roy was born. He joined us from Marseille and spent one season on Wearside, before going back to France with Troyes. During his one season with us he made 34 appearances.
His professional career began with his hometown club, Nice. He spent four years there, notching 88 appearances and gained some valuable experience in the top flight of French football. He then spent one year at Toulon before joining Lyon.
He had over 100 appearances Lyon during his three year stay which saw him come close to glory - runners up in Ligue 1 in 94/95 and losing the French Cup final in the following season. A period of shortcomings for Les Gones. Following this he decided to make the controversial move to rivals Olympiques Marseille.
At Marseille it was another case of close but not close enough. In his three years he once again went trophy less but was the runner up on multiple occasions. Finishing second best in Ligue 1, Ligue 2 and the UEFA Cup (now known as the Europa League). Eric was one of the first signings made under Le Olympiens new ownership. The owner you ask? None other than Robert Louis-Dreyfus, the father of our current majority stakeholder Kyril Louis-Dreyfus.
After a decade in France Eric opted for a new challenge, England. He had spent many years in the top flight of French football, playing against some of the best talents in the world such as Laurent Blanc, Didier Deschamps and most notably Zinedine Zidane, hopefully picking up a trick or two from the experience. We signed him for £200,000 which some thought was a gamble at the time, given he wasn’t a proven Premier League player.
As a midfielder he was as technical as they come, a real virtuoso. However, he seemed to lack the pace to keep up with English football at times, despite that, in his one season with us he did turn in some great performances. The best of them all against Chelsea, where we battered them 4-1. In this game Roy was pivotal, providing an assist within 45 seconds of play and just bossing the midfield. Perhaps under a different manager he would have flourished more, as a few of us came to the realisation he wasn’t a ‘Reidy midfielder’.
After a short but sweet stay on Wearside he had brief spells at Troyes and Rayo Vallecano before making the final stop of his playing career back where it all began, Nice - the side which he made the most appearances for.
Upon retirement he stayed involved in the game, doing a litany of backroom staff jobs at Nice. He worked his way up to Sporting Director and then filled the manager role, but he quickly went back to being a Sporting Director where he enjoyed time at Lens and Watford. He became manager of Ligue 1 side Brest in January 2023 and in his first full season there led them to qualification to the Champions League, the first time the club have qualified for a major European competition.
He chose a good time to come to Wearside, as we were flying under Reidy and everything Kevin Phillips touched ended up in the back of the net. He had a tough task if he was to steal the spotlight and obviously he didn’t, but he did still have his moments, whether it was a clinical through ball or a clumsy mazy run that somehow always worked at least once a game despite looking like he was gonna trip over his own feet. Nevertheless, a decent signing for the Lads.
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