After moving to South West London Roy attended Wandsworth Tech. He was selected to represent London Schoolboys and was spotted by Fulham, signing professional forms for them in 1959 and while there played for England Youth and Middlesex Youth teams. He joined Hillingdon Borough (then known as Yiewsley) at the start of the 1961/62 season. After two years there he took a permit to play for Malden Town in the Surrey Senior League.

After a season at Malden Town Roy joined Wimbledon as they entered the Southern League and became a regular member of the reserves, playing at wing-half or full-back and often captaining the side. A G.P.O. telephone engineer, over the next four years he made a number of appearances in the first team.