If Christine Sansom was looking forward to a few days out in the Cotswolds or perhaps the occasional trip to the seaside once her husband Roger had retired she’ll have been very disappointed.

That’s because 67-year-old Roger is as busy now as he ever was when he was working as an industrial chemist and in later years in IT.

His ‘job’ these days is football – not playing it of course – but working on the administrative side making sure that today’s youngsters have as much opportunity to play the beautiful game as he did many years ago.

“If you ask Christine, she’d say I spend every waking hour of the day working on football,” laughed Roger. “I reckon it’s about eight hours a day.”

All his work is voluntary, of course, and he’s collected almost as many job titles over the years as Sir Alex Ferguson won Premier League titles.

He’s been secretary of Lydney Town Football Club for more than 40 years, he’s chairman of the North Gloucestershire League, chairman of the Northern Senior League and also a Gloucestershire FA councillor.

Born in Gloucester, Roger moved to Lydney when he and Christine got married in 1972.

By then he was an established footballer with Innsworth and Churchdown, who played on Saturday afternoons at John Daniels playing fields in Churchdown.

But that wasn’t enough for Roger, a defender who could play anywhere along the back, so he and his friends set up a Sunday side called The Undertakers, which played in the Gloucester Sunday League.

“Muggins here ended up being secretary,” laughed Roger.

So began his career as a football administrator even though he was still a successful grassroots player.

“I remember we won leagues, cups and six-a-sides,” he said. “When I moved to Lydney I started to play for Lydney Town on a Saturday but I still played for The Undertakers on a Sunday.”

Roger was a good secretary – he had an eye for it just like he could spot danger in his own penalty area when the opposition were attacking – so when Lydney were looking for a new secretary in 1975 they didn’t have far to go.

“They knew I had experience of doing the job so they appointed me and I’ve done the job ever since,” he laughed.

For the first five years he was a player as well before a broken ankle forced him to call time on his career.

“Stupidly, it happened in the last game of the season,” he said, “and I never really got back playing.

“I did make a comeback of sorts a few years later when we were very short of players. I played in goal and I broke my arm when the centre-forward kicked me trying to get to the ball.”

These days the only time the father of two girls kicks a ball is with his six-year-old grandson Charlie, but he certainly does a lot of unseen work away from the pitch that ensures everyone else can play week in, week out.

His first love, of course, remains Lydney Town, who these days ply their trade in the Premier Division of the Hellenic League.

While there is plenty of ambition in and around Lydney to take the club to the next level Roger remains cautious about making the jump into the Southern League.

A crowd of more than 100 for a home game at the Recreation Ground is considered good and Roger said: “It could happen, you never say never. But we’d be up against teams who pay their players decent money. We’d need to find a wealthy backer.

“It would be nice to make the next step but I think we do well on what we’ve got.”

Indeed they do. They’ve been playing at the Recreation Ground since the 1980s and built the clubhouse in 1990.

“I remember putting the tiles on the roof,” Roger said. “Before we moved to where we are now we’d been playing in a local park. With the facilities we’ve got now I’d like to that the people of Lydney are proud of their football club.”

The club do their bit for the community, too, running a pre-season Westdean Charity League which runs into the early part of the season with all money raised going to charity.

Of course the league needs a secretary and yep, you’ve guessed it, Roger has been doing the job for past 20-odd years!

The club also raised a considerable sum for charity last year when they celebrated their 50th anniversary with a dinner at which Sir Geoff Hurst was the special guest.

A dinner with one of England’s World Cup heroes is a perk of the job for Roger who for the most time gets on with his work without fuss or drama.

So, what makes a good secretary?

“You’ve got to be willing to make sure you do everything that needs to be done,” he said. “It’s very easy for a club to get into difficulty if they don’t follow the rules. You need to know the rules and abide by those rules.”

So how long does Roger want to continue as secretary of Lydney?

“I’ve done 42 years so it would be nice to get to 50,” he chuckled.

And one last question. What does Christine think of all his football activities?

“I’d rather not say to be honest,” he laughed. “She’s put up with my involvement for a long time. It has got in the way of several things over the years, what with midweek games and meetings.”

While that’s probably an understatement Christine does at least get to see more of her hubby in the summer because both of them are very keen Gloucestershire cricket fans.

“We’re both life members of the club,” he said. “We go along with our oldest daughter Tracy to the County Ground in Bristol and to the Cheltenham Festival – an event that is pencilled in every year as our two-week holiday!

“At one time it was very much a family affair with all of Christine’s family also at matches.

“In the club’s glory days in the late 90s and early noughties we attended every cup final. The only one we have missed was the final against Surrey in 2001 due to illness and of course we lost!”

Christine is a cousin of former Gloucestershire and England wicketkeeper Jack Russell and Roger added: “It’s something the family are obviously extremely proud of.”