Rogers Billy Image 1 Blackburn Rovers 1939

Description

Ulverston, Cumbria born wing half, initially a winger before the Second World War, Billy Rogers began his football career with junior club Swarthmoor in 1936 before joining Preston North End in August 1937, spending 1937-38 on the books at Deepdale without making a first team appearance. In June 1938 he joined Second Division Blackburn Rovers and scored on his Football League debut in a 2-1 win at West Ham United the same August, missing only one game all season, and scoring 18 goals (finishing as the club’s second top scorer), as Blackburn won the Second Division Championship, however the outbreak of the Second World War soon interrupted his career significantly.

He returned to Ewood Park after the Second World War and was a regular in the 1946-47 season but in October 1947 he signed for Barrow after 29 goals in 86 appearances in a 9 year spell. He then had 6 seasons at Barrow, eventually retiring at the end of the 1952-53 season having scored 14 goals in 207 appearances, and he remained at the club, later having two spells as their caretaker manager, firstly between August and October 1959 when he managed the club for 15 matches, and later in November 1970, when he had a 3 match spell in charge.