Clubs: Millwall, Crystal Palace, Wimbledon, Norwich City (L), Millwall

Palace paid a club record £2m when Andy Roberts joined from Millwall in the summer of 1995. Blessed with a fine physique and immensely powerful, Andy was deployed in a sweeper system with him at the heart of the backline.

Dave Bassett further refined Andy's role to a position upfield in an attempt to exert more sustained pressure upon opponents. The ploy proved so highly effective that Palace claimed third place in the table and reached the Wembley play-off final. Andy himself received the Player of the Year award and scored his first goal for the club at Wembley, although the Eagles went on to lose 2-1 to Leicester City after extra-time.

The 1996/97 season saw Palace win promotion to the Premiership and Andy was in excellent form throughout; he continually impressed, missed one match in the entire campaign and was considered by some pundits to be heading towards full international honours having already captained the England Under 21 side.

The following term was a strange one for Andy as he was a Premier League regular but, as hints mounted of an imminent boardroom takeover, he chose to join Wimbledon in another major transfer deal in order to ensure himself of continuing top-flight football.

Statistics

Player of the Year: 1996

	Games	Goals
1995/1996	47	1
1996/1997	52	2
1997/1998	31	0
Total	130	3

Source: The Men Who Made Crystal Palace, Rev. Nigel Sands (Tempus 2004)