Jeff Blockley

Last updated

Jeff Blockley
Personal information
Date of birth (1949-09-12) 12 September 1949 (age 74)
Place of birth Leicester, England
Position(s) Defender
Senior career*
YearsTeamApps(Gls)
1968–1972 Coventry City 146 (6)
1972–1975 Arsenal 52 (1)
1975–1978 Leicester City 76 (2)
1978–1980 Notts County 59 (5)
1980–? Enderby Town ?
1981–1982 Gloucester City 15 (1)
International career
1972 England 1 (0)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Jeffrey Paul Blockley (born 12 September 1949) is an English former footballer who played as a defender. He made over 300 Football League appearances and was capped by the England national football team. [1]

Contents

Playing career

Blockley was born in Leicester but began his career with Coventry City, making his debut for them in the 1968–69 season. [1] A central defender, he played nearly 150 league matches for Coventry [1] and was capped by the England U23 side. In October 1972 he was snapped up by Arsenal for a fee of £200,000, as the intended replacement for former captain Frank McLintock. [2] He made his debut for Arsenal in a 1–0 loss to Sheffield United on 7 October 1972, [2] and four days later made his full England debut, against Yugoslavia, which finished 1-1. [3] [4]

Towards the end of his first season, and playing despite an injury, Blockley's uncertainty in the FA Cup semi-final against Sunderland contributed to Arsenal's defeat, and his relationship with the supporters never really recovered. However, with Frank McLintock leaving Arsenal in the summer of 1973 Blockley became first choice centre back, and early in the 1973-74 season he scored his only league goal for the Gunners, versus Leeds United. However, the season was to turn out to be a difficult one for both Blockley and Arsenal, with defeats in both domestic cup competitions to lower-level sides. [2]

Many of the club's fans laid the blame at Blockley's feet (Nick Hornby recounts in his memoir Fever Pitch that Blockley was "an incompetent to rival Ian Ure" [5] ); Bertie Mee would later reflect that signing Blockley was the worst mistake he ever made as Arsenal manager. [6] Blockley's days at Arsenal were numbered – though he was still at Arsenal at the start of the 1974–75 season, he was dropped, and placed on the transfer list. In January 1975 Blockley was sold to Leicester City for £100,000. [2] [4] In all he played 62 matches for the Gunners, scoring one goal. His England cap against Yugoslavia proved to be his only one. [1]

At Leicester, Blockley had somewhat of a mini-renaissance, helping rescue the side from relegation that season, helping them finish seventh in 1975–76, and eventually becoming club captain. [4] Blockley struggled with injuries throughout the 1977-78 season, which contributed significantly to Leicester's ultimate relegation. [7] After 76 league matches [1] in three and a half seasons and a brief loan to Derby County, where he played one game, he left in 1978 for Notts County. Blockley made 59 league appearances for the Nottingham-based club, [1] before leaving the club at the end of the 1979-80 season to join Enderby Town. [8] He went on to join Gloucester City for the 1981-82 season, playing 15 times. [9]

After retiring, Blockley did not opt for a career in coaching or management and instead became a salesman for a power transmission company. He now owns his own business, Transmech. [10]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Billy Wright (footballer, born 1924)</span> English footballer

William Ambrose Wright CBE, was an English footballer who played as a centre half. He spent his entire club career at Wolverhampton Wanderers. The first footballer in the world to earn 100 international caps, Wright also held the record for longest unbroken run in competitive international football, with 70 consecutive appearances, although that was surpassed by Andoni Zubizarreta's 86 consecutive appearances for Spain (1985-94). He also made a total of 105 appearances for England, captaining them a record 90 times, including during their campaigns at the 1950, 1954 and 1958 World Cup finals.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Michael Thomas (footballer, born 1967)</span> English footballer

Michael Lauriston Thomas is an English former professional footballer who played as a midfielder from 1986 to 2001.

The 1977–78 season was the 98th season of competitive football in England.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alan Smith (footballer, born 1962)</span> English former professional footballer (born 1962)

Alan Martin Smith is an English former professional footballer who played as a striker. Smith played for Leicester City and Arsenal in a career that spanned over a decade.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Martin Keown</span> Former English footballer, coach, and scout

Martin Raymond Keown is an English football pundit and former professional footballer who played as a defender from 1984 to 2005, notably in the Premier League for Arsenal, where he made over 400 appearances for the club and won ten honours.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tim Flowers</span> English footballer (born 1967)

Timothy David Flowers is an English football manager and former player who was most recently the manager of National League North side Gloucester City.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Charlie George</span> English footballer

Frederick Charles George is an English former professional footballer who played as a forward.

Peter Edwin Storey is a former England international footballer. Able to play at full-back or more commonly as a defensive midfielder, he picked up a reputation in the Football League as an aggressive player in the 1960s and 1970s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Frank McLintock</span> Scottish footballer and manager

Francis McLintock MBE is a former Scotland international footballer, football manager and businessman. He also worked as a sports agent and football pundit in his later life.

Anthony Stewart Woodcock is an English retired international footballer who played professionally in both England and Germany as a striker for Nottingham Forest, FC Köln and Arsenal. Woodcock won the European Cup in 1979 with Nottingham Forest.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eddie Kelly (footballer)</span> Scottish footballer

Edward Patrick Kelly is a Scottish former footballer, who played as a midfielder. Kelly featured for clubs Arsenal, Queens Park Rangers, Leicester City, Notts County, AFC Bournemouth, Kettering Town and Torquay United.

Kevin Richardson is an English former footballer who made more than 500 appearances in the Football League and Premier League, playing for Everton, Watford, Arsenal, Aston Villa, Coventry City, Southampton, Barnsley and Blackpool, and also spent a season in La Liga with Real Sociedad. He was capped once for England.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Geoff Strong</span> English footballer

Geoffrey Hugh Strong was an English professional footballer who scored 98 goals from 313 appearances in the Football League playing for Arsenal, Liverpool and Coventry City. He began his career as an inside forward, but went on to occupy every outfield position.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stephen Hughes (footballer, born 1976)</span> English footballer

Stephen John Hughes is an English former professional footballer and pundit.

The 1983–84 season was the 104th season of competitive football in England.

Brian Marwood is an English former footballer who made more than 400 appearances in the Football League and was capped once for England. He is City Football Group's Managing Director of Global Football.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">James Maddison</span> English footballer (born 1996)

James Daniel Maddison is an English professional footballer who plays as an attacking midfielder for Premier League club Tottenham Hotspur and the England national team.

The 1974–75 season was Arsenal Football Club's 49th consecutive season in the Football League First Division. Arsenal finished sixteenth in the league, their poorest position since Herbert Chapman became manager in 1925. They reached the quarterfinals of the FA Cup but lost to West Ham.

The 1972–73 season was Arsenal Football Club's 47th consecutive season in the Football League First Division. Arsenal were runners-up to Liverpool in the league. They were knocked out of the League Cup in the quarterfinals by Norwich and the FA Cup in the semifinals by Sunderland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mark Goodwin (footballer)</span> English footballer

Mark Goodwin is an English former professional footballer who played as a midfielder.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Jeff Blockley at Post War English & Scottish Football League A–Z Player's Database
  2. 1 2 3 4 Arsenal biography and stats at football heroes, including photo from September 1974
  3. ↑ England stats at football heroes
  4. 1 2 3 Attwood, Tony (5 October 2013). "Jeff Blockley, derided by fans, but the manager should take more blame". The History of Arsenal. Archived from the original on 6 July 2022.
  5. ↑ Hornby, Nick (1992). Fever Pitch . Indigo. p.  78. ISBN   978-0-575-40015-3.
  6. ↑ Soar, Phil; Tyler, Martin (2005). The Official Illustrated History of Arsenal. Hamlyn. p. 133. ISBN   0-600-61344-5.
  7. ↑ The Cunning Fox (15 March 2010). "Bloomfield Boys: Leicester City in the 70's". Norfox.net. Retrieved 6 November 2010.
  8. ↑ "Notts County results and player apps 1979/80, including squad photo". Archived from the original on 21 April 2010. Retrieved 6 November 2010.
  9. ↑ Clark, Timothy R.D.; Kujawa, Rob (2009). The Complete Record of Gloucester City AFC 1883–2009. Gloucester: Tiger Timbo Publications. ISBN   978-0-9557425-1-4.
  10. ↑ "Where are they now?". Bob's 70-71 Footballers. Archived from the original on 6 May 2006.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.