“If I’d scored more goals, I’d probably be playing in the Premiership by now,” said Brentford and Trinidad and Tobago footballer Anthony Rougier. “I can score goals. That is a fact. But I’ve never had that hunger, that knack, to go into games wanting to score goals.

“I probably gained more pleasure from creating and stopping goals as compared to Dwight (Yorke) or Stern (John) who love to score.”

It was a poignant but, most of all, extremely honest statement by Rougier as he sat down with the Express Sports to reflect on his sporting career.

At 32, the versatile utility player has played professionally for nine years in the United Kingdom, which is an accomplishment in itself.

He shares a nice home in Reading and fairly comfortable lifestyle with his wife and childhood sweetheart, Trisha, and two daughters, Alisha-Kae and Maya-Kia.

But there are times when he believes that he could have had more.

Surely Saturday afternoon was one of those days. His day at the office began with an award from his employers at the Brentford Football Club who named him their Player of the Month for August—although he only joined the club in the middle of last month.

But it all went downhill from there as the “Bees” were whipped and outplayed 3-1 by visitors Plymouth Argyle to remain one place off the bottom of the English Second Division table.

It was not where Rougier had expected to be when he left ambitious Division One team, Reading, in the summer or after his first professional deal with Raith Rovers in 1994.

Rougier admitted as much to the Express Sports at the weekend.

At present, he is paid by Brentford on a match-to-match basis that he said he requested from the club so he would be free to move when a bigger team showed interest.

“There was interest from other clubs but for whatever reason it didn’t happen in the summer,” said Rougier. “I am just waiting for a club to come in and say they want me. I thought I wasn’t playing enough games (at Reading) and I didn’t feel I was given a fair chance although the manager didn’t think so.

“At the moment, it doesn’t seem like the right thing because I’m in the Second Division and Reading in the top two in Division One and I may have been playing regularly by now.”

It is usually unfair to compare players but there was a huge difference between the utility player and the summer’s big transfer deal.

David Beckham uprooted his wife and two children and headed for Real Madrid to face colossal expectations as well as a different language and lifestyle.

Granted, Real Madrid offers an extraordinary pull to any player.

Beckham said that he and his family would make the sacrifice for his experience as a player.

Rougier is not nearly as selfish, though.

His wife, Trisha, is studying for an accounting degree at the Thames Valley University in London and Rougier is unwilling to move his family in any case.

“It would be nice to have a club in London but the clubs who are interested, at least the major ones, are not in London,” he explained. “I love my family and I believe it is always important to have close relationships with your family.”
Rougier does not have a selfish bone in his body.

It is a great attribute for a person to have but a tragic flaw when discovered in a professional athlete.

He has nearly everything else.

Dundee manager Jim Duffy still heaped praise on his former charge at Hibernian when Express Sports met him two weeks ago in Scotland.

Brighton manager Steve Coppell declared that “he’s a little bit of ‘something else’ “when he brought him on loan last season while Reading manager Alan Pardew was even more complimentary.

Pardew, who is on the wishlist of fallen giants West Ham, compared his influence at the “Royals” to that of former French star Eric Cantona at Manchester United.

And yet, it has never quite worked for “Tony”.

At Griffin Park on Saturday, Rougier’s poise and skill stood out in a game that would have given any South American coach nightmares.

The ball barely touched the ground for much of the first half and, for long periods, Brentford appeared to be using a 4-1-5 system based on five attackers chasing long punts upfield.

The complexion of the game changed whenever Rougier was in possession.

Blessed with a central defender’s physique, a midfielder’s brain and a striker’s change of direction, his crosses from either foot always warranted attention while his feint and hook backs were well received by both sets of supporters.

Yet, it is also worth mentioning that Rougier did not get a shot off for the duration of the match nor could he directly coax a goal from his strikers.

Not surprisingly then, he lamented the poor guidance he received early in his professional life while he also accepted that certain decisions he made were not helpful to his career.

One such decision was his astounding rejection of a possible move to Scottish Premier League giants, Celtic.

Rougier was 23 when he landed in England for an unsuccessful trial with Bradford City.

Not put off, he sought lodging from former national teammate Jerren Nixon, who was then at Scottish top flight club Dundee United, in a bid to break into the professional arena there.

In just two weeks time, he had signed on the dotted line for Division Two club Raith Rovers who he helped push to promotion within his first season.

If the Scottish lords were unsure about his abilities, Rougier announced his presence emphatically in a Scottish Cup match against Celtic with a thunderous 30-yard drive into the top corner at Parkhead.

Celtic were interested but Rougier was not.

In retrospect, Rougier blamed his then agent Majeed Mohammed for not properly guiding his young and somewhat naïve player.

“I depended on Majeed for guidance and I don’t think he did a good job at all,” he said. “I had offers from clubs like Bolton and Queen’s Park Rangers when they were in the top league and Celtic too. I didn’t know better.

“They were telling me it was better for me to stay at Raith when Celtic wanted me. And, nice man that I am, I felt that they had given me my break so I stayed.

“But I should not have turned down Celtic.”

One can only speculate about how Rougier’s career would have he changed had he joined one of Britain’s biggest clubs at just 24.

And the contrast to Yorke, who drove to Villa chairman “Deadly” Doug Ellis on the eve of the transfer deadline and begged to be sold to Manchester United, is immense.

“In football, you have to be cocky and greedy sometimes,” he said. “You must believe you can do something everytime you get the ball and demand the ball. I think I’ve always been confident but I am not really one to demand the ball.

“I am more of a nice, team person.”

At 33, the lights have hardly gone out in Rougier’s career and he is expecting and praying for two more years in the First Division.

He would then enjoy a spell in the United States and Trinidad.

“If even for half a season to hear those drums in the stands again,” he said, “like (when I played for) Trintoc and to give local people a glimpse of a pro player in the local league. Hopefully, it would be something they would treasure as well as me.”

Before then, he must find the hunger and ambition required to take him back to the relative heights he enjoyed.

A selfish streak would do nicely.

“I know some strikers who are happy if they lost the game 3-1 but they scored,” he said. “But I always put team first. In the world of sport that has been my biggest problem.”

“It is probably why it has taken so long for me to get in another club. If I was scoring 10 goals a season, I’d probably be in a good Division One club by now.

“I need to get it in my head to go out and score goals and aim for double figures every season.”

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