Tribsport - The winning team every week of the year
Tribsport - The winning
Tribsport - The winning team every week of the year
MOSCOW
Nuneaton Borough striker Mark Rosegreen went into Saturday's FA Cup clash at Wembley fresh from a million pound deal in Moscow.
The 26-year-old from Dordon missed the 3-1 win over Congleton in the FA Trophy but had the perfect excuse for boss George Rooney.
An electronics engineer with Spark Tec Europe, the former England schoolboy and Southampton player was in charge of installing the "Brain" that will control steel production in a new plant opening in Moscow.
It was part of the largest East-West deal since the collapse of communism and German firm Sundwig have invested £400 million in the new plant.
Rosegreen has recently been promoted to project manager after four years with Spark Tec. They are one of only five firms worldwide to supply this kind of sophisticated equipment and Moscow is expensive.
"I have travelled to the USA, Germany and now Russia. There are also plans to sell the machines to Korea and Japan so I'm hoping to travel there too," said Rosegreen.
Brought up in the shadow of Coventry RFC's Coundon Road ground, the young Rosegreen was forced to play rugby before his school, Bar's Hill, would let him play soccer for Coventry schools and Warwickshire — no small achievement for a school with no football pitch. "I hated rugby and especially Bablake school which was nearby but it turned out to be quite useful later. I'm fairly well-built and I find I can shrug off tackles and hold up the ball while the rest of the attack arrives," he said.
Eventually he escaped the rugby tyranny, making his name at AP Leamington, playing for England schoolboys and being talent-spotted by Lawrie McMenemy, then boss at Saints, now assistant to Graham Taylor with England.
"I had a great year there, scoring lots of goals in the reserves, but I was too old by then to be an apprentice and they let me go at the end of the season although Lawrie said I'd done myself proud.
"I really thought I was going to be a professional footballer but my father persuaded me to retake my A levels and I went on to gain a HND in electronics and computing at Birmingham Polytechnic before starting work with Spark Tec," he said.
Like most footballers he moved around, playing for Alvechurch, Bromsgrove, Redditch and Kidderminster Harriers before becoming leading scorer at VS Rugby with 25 goals last season.
"I moved to Dordon by that time and the travelling was getting me down so when George Rooney came in for me I was only too happy to move. Boro are a big club that are going places and I think the start to this season has proved that.
"What is especially pleasing is the team spirit that exists and the presence of several players capable of scoring regularly which takes the pressure off.
He said that his first trip to Moscow had been "a major culture-shock."
"It was -13 centigrade and it didn't look like anything had changed for 50 years. The people are still mentally oppressed but they really opened up once they found out I was a footballer.
"Sport is the only thing they have and they are fanatical about it. They wanted me to play for the factory team but I didn't think George Rooney would have been too delighted if I had been injured so I had to turn them down.
"Once they knew us a little the people took to us and showed us with gifts. But I always felt a little ashamed, casually paying for drinks with a ten dollar bill when I knew that was a month's wages for most people."
Mark Rosegreen by ROBIN BIDGOOD
– MARTIN ROBERTS