Who was Glenn Roder

Glenn Roeder was a professional footballer who played for and managed a number of high profile English football clubs, such as Watford, West Ham, Norwich and Newcastle to mention but a few. Glenn was a very private person and his family were always first and foremost in his mind. His wife Faith, daughter Holly and boys Will and Joe were all so very proud of him as they all rode with him on the rollercoaster that is Premiership Football. Away from football, Glenn loved horses. He admired their incredible sporting ability and indeed the whole world of horse racing. He loved to go racing and talk to the trainers and jockeys. He would have loved to be a jockey but at 6’2” that would have been pushing the bounds out a little too far…

He always had a little bet here and a little bet there. At one point he was involved in the ownership of a couple of horses. Racing was his escape from the pressures of Premiership football.

Back in 2004 after one particularly stressful Premiership match when he was manager of West Ham, Glenn collapsed and was rushed to hospital. He was placed in an induced coma as the doctors sought to identify what was wrong. The news was bad. Glenn had a brain tumour. Surgery was the only chance of saving him. But, such was the resilience of the man, that he actually walked himself down to the operating theatre where those gifted surgeons managed to remove the tumour.

Over the following years, Glenn carried on doing what he loved, Football. He endured many treatments to keep the tumour at bay. He fought many battles with treatments and procedures over the following seventeen years. That battle ended on Sunday February 28th 2021 at around lunchtime. The sun was streaming into his bedroom in his Newmarket home. His loving family were all with him as he slipped away as he lived. Quietly and with no fuss.

The League Managers Association (LMA), who had been so fantastic throughout his final months, offering so much support, called Holly asking for permission to announce Glenn’s passing. At 3pm that afternoon Sky Sports announced that Glenn Roeder had passed away having fought the brain tumour for all those years. Chelsea were lined up playing Manchester United in the headline game of the day. But despite such a big game taking place, the response was instant and overwhelming. The phones started to ring. Messages came in from everywhere. The outpouring of disbelief and sadness was palpable. And not just from his Football family but from the Racing community and his wide circle of friends.

Glenn died as he lived. With dignity and calm.