Paul Blades

Last updated

Paul Blades
Personal information
Full name Paul Andrew Blades
Date of birth (1965-01-05) 5 January 1965 (age 59)
Place of birth Peterborough, England
Height 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) [1]
Position(s) Defender
Senior career*
YearsTeamApps(Gls)
1982–1990 Derby County 166 (1)
1990–1992 Norwich City 47 (0)
1992–1995 Wolverhampton Wanderers 107 (2)
1995–1997 Rotherham United 43 (2)
1997–1998 Hednesford Town ? (?)
International career
1983 England Youth 1 (0)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Paul Andrew Blades (born 5 January 1965) is an English former professional footballer. He was a defender who played for Derby County, Norwich City, Wolverhampton Wanderers and Rotherham United. Now Paul works for the health and safety side of Manstal Electrical in Birmingham.

Contents

Career

Blades attended Walton School in Peterborough. [2] He began his career as a trainee at Derby County, making his league debut as a 17-year-old on 18 September 1982 in a 2–1 defeat at Leeds United. He remained with the club throughout the 1980s, enduring relegation to the Third Division in 1984 but also two successive promotions that took him to the top flight in 1987. He formed a formidable centre back partnership with Mark Wright which supported a midfield containing Trevor Hebberd and Ted McMinn as well as the high scoring centre forward Dean Saunders as the Rams finished fifth in the league in 1988–89 season and only missed out on a UEFA Cup place because of the ban on English clubs in European competitions that was the sequel to the Heysel disaster of 1985.

After three seasons at the highest level, he finally left the Baseball Ground for Norwich City in July 1990. He had played for them 166 times in the league and scored once, his only goal coming in the successful 1988–89 campaign.

At the time of his transfer to Norwich in the summer of 1990, he was the club's record signing at £700,000, and went on to make 62 appearances for the Canaries over two seasons. In his final season he helped Norwich reach the semi-finals of the FA Cup, where defeat to second flight Sunderland prevented them from reaching the final for the first time in their history.

He joined Wolves in August 1992 for £325,000. He made 117 appearances for the Midlanders in total during a three-season spell. His final season saw the club qualify for the play-offs, but they lost to Bolton.

Blades was sold after this failure to win promotion to third flight Rotherham United for £110,000, making him their record signing at the time. Whilst at Rotherham he was a part of the team that won the 1996 Football League Trophy Final. [3] However, his second season saw the club relegated and he was released, whereupon he joined Conference side Hednesford Town.

Honours

Rotherham United

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Norwich City F.C.</span> Association football club in Norwich, England

Norwich City Football Club is a professional football club based in Norwich, Norfolk, England. The club competes in the Championship, the second tier of English football. The club was founded in 1902. Since 1935, Norwich have played their home games at Carrow Road and have a long-standing rivalry with East Anglian rivals Ipswich Town, with whom they have contested the East Anglian derby since 1902.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rotherham United F.C.</span> Association football club in England

Rotherham United Football Club, nicknamed The Millers, is a professional association football club based in Rotherham, South Yorkshire, England. The team will compete in EFL League One in the 2024–25 season after suffering relegation from EFL Championship in the previous season. The club's colours were initially yellow and black, but changed to red and white around 1930. They have played home matches at the New York Stadium since 2012, having briefly moved to the Don Valley Stadium from their original home at Millmoor in 2008.

David Watson is an English football manager and former professional player.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Paul Peschisolido</span> Canadian soccer player and coach

Paolo Pasquale Peschisolido, commonly known as Paul Peschisolido, is a Canadian former soccer player and coach. Peschisolido was coach of English League Two club Burton Albion from May 2009 until March 2012.

Mark Gordon Robins is an English football manager and former player, who is the current manager of Coventry City in the EFL Championship. As a player, he was a striker and is best known for his time in the Premier League with Norwich City and Leicester City.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lee Frecklington</span> British footballer (born 1985)

Lee Craig Frecklington is a former professional footballer who played as a midfielder.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alan Lee (footballer)</span> Irish footballer

Alan Desmond Lee is an Irish former footballer who played as a striker. He scored 119 goals in 547 appearances in a 19-year professional career in the Football League and won 10 caps for the Republic of Ireland.

Ian Brett Culverhouse is an English former professional footballer who played as a defender. He is currently the manager of Boston United.

Colin Woodthorpe is an English former footballer who played for Chester City, Norwich City, Aberdeen, Stockport County and Bury before moving into management roles.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bobby Davison</span> English footballer (born 1959)

Robert Davison is an English former professional footballer who played as a striker. He began his professional career with Huddersfield Town before spending time at Halifax Town, Derby County (twice), Leeds United, Sheffield United (twice), Leicester City, Rotherham United and Hull City. After he retired from playing he spent time on the coaching staff of a number of clubs, including brief spells as manager of Guiseley and Ferencváros, and is currently youth team coach at Crystal Palace and assistant manager to Noel Blake's England national under-19 football team.

The 1988–89 season was the 90th completed season of the Football League.

Edward Lee Glover is an English-born Scottish professional football manager and former player who is a coach at EFL League Two club Doncaster Rovers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Paul Warne</span> English footballer and manager

Paul Warne is an English professional football manager and former player who played as a midfielder. He is the current manager of EFL Championship club Derby County.

Kevin Watson Scott is an English former football defender. He played over 300 games for six clubs in the Football League.

The 1974–75 season was the 76th completed season of The Football League.

The 1980–81 season was the 82nd completed season of The Football League. This was the final league season with two points for win.

The 1991–92 season was the 93rd completed season of The Football League.

The 1986–87 season was the 88th completed season of The Football League.

The 1993–94 Football League season was the 95th completed season of The Football League. From 1993 to 1996 the league was sponsored by Endsleigh.

The 1996–97 Football League was the 98th completed season of The Football League.

References

  1. Dunk, Peter, ed. (1987). Rothmans Football Yearbook 1987–88. London: Queen Anne Press. p. 154. ISBN   978-0-356-14354-5.
  2. THOSE WERE THE DAYS...Local sporting highlights from this week in years gone by - French On Friday - Peterborough Evening Telegraph [ permanent dead link ]
  3. "Rotherham's 1996 Auto Windscreens Shield winning side: Where are they now?". itsmillerstime.co.uk. 14 April 2017. Retrieved 12 June 2019.
  4. Wood, Greg (14 April 1996). "Familiar role for Jemson". The Independent. Retrieved 25 April 2024.