Noel Blake

{{Infobox football biography

| name = Noel Blake

| image = Noel Blake.jpg

| caption = Blake as manager of England U19 in 2012

| fullname = Noel Lloyd George Blake{{Hugman|1709|access-date=19 March 2017}}

| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1962|1|12|df=y}}

| birth_place = Kingston, Jamaica

| height = 6 ft 0 in{{cite book |title=Rothmans Football Yearbook 1987–88 |editor-first=Peter |editor-last=Dunk |publisher=Queen Anne Press |location=London |date=1987 |page=290 |isbn=978-0-356-14354-5}}

| position = Defender

| youthyears1 = 1978–1979 |youthclubs1 = Sutton Coldfield Town

| youthyears2 = 1979–1980 |youthclubs2 = Aston Villa

| years1 = 1980–1982 |clubs1 = Aston Villa |caps1 = 4 |goals1 = 0

| years2 = 1982 |clubs2 = → Shrewsbury Town (loan) |caps2 = 6 |goals2 = 0

| years3 = 1982–1984 |clubs3 = Birmingham City |caps3 = 76 |goals3 = 5

| years4 = 1984–1988 |clubs4 = Portsmouth |caps4 = 144 |goals4 = 10

| years5 = 1988–1990 |clubs5 = Leeds United |caps5 = 51 |goals5 = 4

| years6 = 1990–1992 |clubs6 = Stoke City |caps6 = 75 |goals6 = 3

| years7 = 1992 |clubs7 = → Bradford City (loan) |caps7 = 6 |goals7 = 0

| years8 = 1992–1993 |clubs8 = Bradford City |caps8 = 39 |goals8 = 3

| years9 = 1993–1995 |clubs9 = Dundee |caps9 = 54 |goals9 = 2

| years10 = 1995–2001 |clubs10 = Exeter City |caps10 = 147 |goals10 = 10

| totalcaps = 602 | totalgoals = 37

| manageryears1 = 2000–2001 | managerclubs1 = Exeter City

| manageryears2 = 2009–2014 | managerclubs2 = England U19

}}

Noel Lloyd George Blake (born 12 January 1962) is a former professional footballer and current coach. He was formerly the head coach of the England national under-19 football team.{{cite web|title=National Coach and Young Lions boss Noel Blake leaves|url=http://www.thefa.com/news/england/development/2014/jun/noel-blake-leaves-fa-130614|website=www.thefa.com |publisher=The FA|access-date=13 June 2014}} He played in the Football League for Aston Villa, Shrewsbury Town, Birmingham City, Portsmouth, Leeds United, Stoke City, Bradford City and Exeter City, and in the Scottish Football League for Dundee.{{cite web |url=http://www.neilbrown.newcastlefans.com/player/noelblake.html |title=Noel Blake |work=UK A–Z Transfers |publisher=Neil Brown |access-date=15 May 2009}}

Playing career

Born in Kingston, Jamaica, Blake moved to England and played football with non-league side Sutton Coldfield Town. He was spotted by scouts at Aston Villa who signed Blake a year later. He struggled to force his way into the Villa side and went out on loan to Shrewsbury Town in 1982. He left Villa upon his return and joined local rivals Birmingham City. He quickly became a fan favourite with Birmingham as he scored against Villa in December 1982.{{cite web|title=Christmas Cracker 1982 – Blues 3 Villa 0|url=http://www.birminghamcity-mad.co.uk/feat/ed21/christmas_cracker_1982__blues_3__villa_0_27887/index.shtml|work=birminghamcity-mad.co.uk|access-date=8 February 2012}}

He spent two years with Birmingham before signing with Portsmouth on the south coast. Whilst he did enjoy some success at 'Pompey' winning promotion as Second Division runners-up in 1987, Blake had problems with racial abuse from his own supporters, at a time when racism was still rife in English football.{{cite book |last1=Canoville |first1=Paul |title=Black and Blue: How Racism, Drugs and Cancer Almost Destroyed Me |date=18 December 2012 |publisher=Hachette UK |isbn=978-0755364787 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=t_JAPXrMLJMC&q=Noel+Blake+racist+abuse&pg=PT97 |access-date=7 October 2020}} After making over 150 appearances with Portsmouth, Blake joined Leeds United on a free transfer and he helped to club to promotion as Second Division champions in the 1989–90 season. However his opportunities were limited the following season and so he was sold to Stoke City just after promotion was achieved, with Howard Wilkinson looking to spend heavily on new players to build a squad capable of competing with the very best in the First Division.{{cite web|title=Noel Blake|url=http://www.leeds-fans.org.uk/leeds/players/451.html|work=leeds-fans.org.uk|access-date=8 February 2012}}

Blake's old manager at Portsmouth Alan Ball tempted Blake to join him at Stoke City in 1990. Ball was sacked in February 1991 as Stoke went on to record their worst league position of 14th in the third tier. Stoke's new manager Lou Macari only used Blake sparingly and later joined Bradford City on loan in 1992. He joined Bradford permanently and latter played for Scottish side Dundee before ending his playing career with Exeter City.Matthews, Tony: "The Who's who of Stoke City " (Breedon's, {{ISBN|1-85983-473-6}})

Coaching career

Blake held the position of manager of Exeter City from January 2000 until September 2001.{{cite news|title=Blake steps down at Exeter|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/e/exeter_city/1559472.stm|website=news.bbc.co.uk |date=23 September 2001 |publisher=BBC|access-date=13 June 2014}}

A qualified coach and holder of the UEFA Pro Licence,{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/6376121.stm |title=Focus: Football's black mark |publisher=BBC Sport |date=22 February 2007 |first=Simon |last=Austin |access-date=15 May 2009}} Blake was appointed in February 2007 as one of the Football Association's National Coaches to work with players in England's youth teams and to assist with coach education.{{cite web

|url=http://www.thefa.com/England/MensUnder19s/NewsAndFeatures/2007/NoelBlakeAppointment.aspx |title=Noel Blake on board |date=12 February 2007 |access-date=15 May 2009 |publisher=The Football Association}} He was placed in charge of the England under-19 team in 2009, leading the side to the semi-finals of the UEFA European Under-19 Championship in both 2010 and 2012 before leaving the Football Association in June 2014.

On 1 July it was reported that Blake was about to become first-team coach at Blackpool.{{cite web|title=England coach set for Pool|url=http://www.blackpoolgazette.co.uk/sport/blackpool-fc/england-coach-set-for-pool-1-6703238|publisher=Blackpool Gazette|access-date=1 July 2014|date=1 July 2014}} On 27 October Blake was put in temporary charge following the departure of Jose Riga.{{cite web|title=Jose Riga: Championship strugglers Blackpool sack manager |url=https://www.bbc.com/sport/0/football/29795449|publisher=BBC|access-date=27 October 2014|date=27 October 2014}} He left Blackpool in December 2014.

Personal life

Blake suffered a stroke in August 2015.{{cite web|title=Noel Blake opens up about emotional trauma after suffering stroke|url=http://www.stokesentinel.co.uk/Stoke-City-Noel-Blake-opens-emotional-trauma/story-29346832-detail/story.html|website=Stoke Sentinel|access-date=6 June 2016}}

Career statistics

=As a player=

class="wikitable" style="text-align:center" \|+ Appearances and goals by club, season and competition{{ENFA}}
rowspan="2"\|Club !rowspan="2"\|Season !colspan="3"\|League !colspan="2"\|FA Cup !colspan="2"\|League Cup !colspan="2"\|Other{{ref label\|Other\|A

class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"

|+ Appearances and goals by club, season and competition{{ENFA}}

rowspan="2"|Club

!rowspan="2"|Season

!colspan="3"|League

!colspan="2"|FA Cup

!colspan="2"|League Cup

!colspan="2"|Other{{ref label|Other|A

}

!colspan="2"|Total

!Division!!Apps!!Goals!!Apps!!Goals!!Apps!!Goals!!Apps!!Goals!!Apps!!Goals

|rowspan="4"|Aston Villa

|1979–80

|First Division

|3||0||0||0||0||0||0||0||3||0

|1980–81

|First Division

|0||0||0||0||0||0||0||0||0||0

|1981–82

|First Division

|1||0||0||0||0||0||0||0||1||0

!colspan="2"|Total

!4!!0!!0!!0!!0!!0!!0!!0!!4!!0

|Shrewsbury Town (loan)

|1981–82

|Second Division

|6||0||0||0||0||0||0||0||6||0

|rowspan="3"|Birmingham City

|1982–83

|First Division

|37||3||3||0||4||0||0||0||44||3

|1983–84

|First Division

|39||2||5||0||8||0||0||0||52||2

!colspan="2"|Total

!76!!5!!8!!0!!12!!0!!0!!0!!96!!5

|rowspan="5"|Portsmouth

|1984–85

|Second Division

|42||3||2||0||4||0||0||0||48||3

|1985–86

|Second Division

|42||4||2||1||7||1||3||1||54||7

|1986–87

|Second Division

|41||3||2||0||3||0||3||0||49||3

|1987–88

|First Division

|19||0||4||1||0||0||0||0||23||1

!colspan="2"|Total

!144!!10!!10!!2!!14!!1!!6!!1!!174!!14

|rowspan="3"|Leeds United

|1988–89

|Second Division

|44||4||2||0||3||0||2||0||51||4

|1989–90

|Second Division

|7||0||0||0||2||0||2||0||11||0

!colspan="2"|Total

!51!!4!!2!!0!!5!!0!!4!!0!!62!!4

|rowspan="4"|Stoke City

|1989–90

|Second Division

|18||0||0||0||0||0||0||0||18||0

|1990–91

|Third Division

|44||3||3||0||4||0||1||0||52||3

|1991–92

|Third Division

|13||0||1||0||2||0||4||0||20||0

!colspan="2"|Total

!75!!3!!4!!0!!6!!0!!5!!0!!90!!3

|rowspan="4"|Bradford City

|1991–92

|Third Division

|6||0||0||0||0||0||0||0||6||0

|1992–93

|Second Division

|32||3||3||1||2||0||3||0||40||3

|1993–94

|Second Division

|7||0||2||0||1||0||1||0||11||0

!colspan="2"|Total

!45!!3!!5!!1!!3!!0!!4!!0!!57!!3

|rowspan="3"|Dundee

|1993–94

|Scottish Premier Division

|||||||||||||||||||

|1994–95

|Scottish First Division

|||||||||||||||||||

!colspan="2"|Total

!54!!2!!5!!0!!2!!0!!3!!0!!64!!2

|rowspan="7"|Exeter City

|1995–96

|Third Division

|44||2||1||0||2||0||0||0||47||2

|1996–97

|Third Division

|46||6||2||0||2||0||2||0||52||6

|1997–98

|Third Division

|38||1||2||0||2||0||1||0||43||1

|1998–99

|Third Division

|7||0||1||0||0||0||0||0||8||0

|1999–2000

|Third Division

|7||1||0||0||0||0||2||0||9||1

|2000–01

|Third Division

|5||0||0||0||0||0||0||0||5||0

!colspan="2"|Total

!147!!10!!6!!0!!6!!0!!5!!0!!164!!10

!colspan="3"|Career total

!602!!37!!40!!3!!48!!1!!27!!1!!717!!42

:A. {{note|Other}} The "Other" column constitutes appearances and goals in the Football League Trophy, Football League play-offs Full Members Cup.

=As a manager=

class="wikitable" style="text-align: center"
rowspan=2 width=120\|Team !rowspan=2 width=120\|From !rowspan=2 width=120\|To !colspan=5\|Record
width=30\|G !width=30\|W !width=30\|D !width=30\|L !width=40\|Win %
align=left\|Exeter City \|align=left\|10 January 2000 \|align=left\|24 September 2001 {{WDL\|86\|20\|24\|42}}
align="left" \|England U19 \| align="left" \|8 September 2009 \|align="left"\|26 June 2014 {{WDL\|52\|33\|12\|7}}

class="wikitable" style="text-align: center"

rowspan=2 width=120|Team

!rowspan=2 width=120|From

!rowspan=2 width=120|To

!colspan=5|Record

width=30|G

!width=30|W

!width=30|D

!width=30|L

!width=40|Win %

align=left|Exeter City

|align=left|10 January 2000