Matthew David Blinkhorn (born 2 March 1985) is an English semi-professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...

who plays as a striker for

Lancaster City Lancaster City Football Club is an English semi-professional non-League football club based in the northern city of Lancaster, Lancashire. They currently compete in and play at Giant Axe. They are full members of the Lancashire County Foot ...

Career

Blackpool

Born in

Blackpool Blackpool is a seaside town in Lancashire, England. It is located on the Irish Sea coast of the Fylde peninsula, approximately north of Liverpool and west of Preston, Lancashire, Preston. It is the main settlement in the Borough of Blackpool ...

, Lancashire, Blinkhorn started his career with hometown club

. He played as a substitute in the victorious 2004 Football League Trophy Final. On 22 November 2006 he was loaned to Bury, but Blackpool manager

Simon Grayson Simon Nicholas Grayson (born 16 December 1969) is an English professional Manager (association football), football manager and former Association football, player who is head coach of National League (division), National League club Hartlepool ...

included a 24-hour recall clause in the contract, which began 28 days into the loan period. The loan period was due to end on 22 February 2007, but Blackpool cut it short and he returned on 9 February.

Morecambe

He was loaned to

Morecambe Morecambe ( ) is a seaside town and civil parish in the City of Lancaster district of Lancashire, England, on Morecambe Bay, part of the Irish Sea. In 2011 the parish had a population of 34,768. Name The first use of the name was by John Whit ...

of the

Conference National The National League, officially known as Vanarama National League for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in England. The National League is the first division of the National League (English football), National Le ...

for a month on 2 March 2007. Blinkhorn made an immediate impact, scoring the first goal in a 2–0 victory over St Albans City. By the end of his loan stint he had scored eight goals in 12 games. Blinkhorn joined Morecambe on a permanent basis on 28 June 2007, for a fee of tribunal-set fee of £15,000, plus 25% of any future transfer fee that Morecambe were to receive for him.

Sligo Rovers

He was released by Morecambe in May 2009, and joined

League of Ireland Premier Division The League of Ireland Men's Premier Division (), also known as the SSE Airtricity Men's Premier Division for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in the Republic of Ireland and the highest level of the Republic of I ...

side

Sligo Rovers Sligo Rovers Football Club is an Irish professional association football, football club playing in the Premier Division of the League of Ireland. The club is based in Sligo in the west of Ireland. The club was founded in 1928 and have been in ...

two months later. He made his debut for Sligo as a substitute in a 3–0 home defeat against

Cork City Cork ( ; from , meaning 'marsh') is the second-largest city in Republic of Ireland, Ireland, the county town of County Cork, the largest city in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster and the List of settlements on the island of Ireland ...

at the Showgrounds on 12 July and scored his first goal for the club two weeks later in a 2–0 win over

St Patrick's Athletic St Patrick's Athletic Football Club, commonly known as Pat's or The Athletic, is a professional List of association football clubs in the Republic of Ireland, Irish association football club based in Inchicore, Dublin, that plays in the League ...

at home. After the signing of

Shamrock Rovers Shamrock Rovers Football Club is an Irish professional Association football, football club based in Tallaght, South Dublin. The club's senior team competes in the League of Ireland Premier Division and it is List of football clubs by competit ...

striker

Pádraig Amond Pádraig Amond (born 15 April 1988) is an Irish professional Association football, footballer who plays as a Striker (association football), striker for League of Ireland Premier Division club Waterford F.C., Waterford. He began his career in ...

in the pre-season of 2010, Blinkhorn had to be second choice for half of the season until Amond signed for F.C. Paços de Ferreira. On 25 September 2010, Blinkhorn scored the winner for Sligo in a 1–0 win against

Monaghan United Monaghan United F.C. is an Irish association football club based in Monaghan currently playing in the Monaghan Cavan League. The club joined the League of Ireland in 1983 and subsequently went on to play in the B Division, the First Division an ...

in the 2010

League of Ireland Cup The League of Ireland Cup, also referred to in Ireland as the 'League Cup', was an annual knockout competition in men's football in Ireland. It was contested by League of Ireland clubs and invited clubs from the lower levels of the Irish footb ...

Final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final examination or finals, a test given at the end of a course of study or training *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which d ...

. He had to sit out Sligo's

penalty shoot-out The penalty shootout is a method of determining a winner in sports matches that would have otherwise been drawn or tied. The rules for penalty shootouts vary between sports and even different competitions; however, the usual form is similar to pe ...

win over Shamrock Rovers in the 2010

FAI Cup The Football Association of Ireland Senior Challenge Cup (FAI Cup), known as the Sports Direct FAI Cup for sponsorship reasons, is a knock-out association football competition contested annually by teams from the Republic of Ireland (as well as D ...

on 14 November through suspension, along with recently confirmed PFAI Player of the Year, Richie Ryan.

York City

Following the expiration of his Sligo contract, Blinkhorn returned to England after signing for

Conference Premier The National League, officially known as Vanarama National League for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in England. The National League is the first division of the National Leagues and step 1 of the National Le ...

side

York City York City Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of York, North Yorkshire, England. The team competes in the National League, the fifth level of the English football league system, as of the 2024–25 seas ...

on a contract until the end of the 2011–12 season on 10 January 2012. He scored four minutes into his debut against Salisbury City in the

FA Trophy The Football Association Challenge Trophy, also known as the Isuzu FA Trophy for sponsorship reasons, is a men's football knockout cup competition run by and named after The Football Association (the FA) and competed by mainly National League ...

second round The second (symbol: s) is a unit of time derived from the division of the day first into 24 hours, then to 60 minutes, and finally to 60 seconds each (24 × 60 × 60 = 86400). The current and formal definition in the International System of Un ...

on 14 January 2012, having entered as a 65th-minute substitute, with York's fifth goal in a 6–2 victory. His first and only league goal for York came with the winner in the sixth minute of stoppage time at home to

Stockport County Stockport County Football Club is a professional association football club based in Stockport, Greater Manchester, England. The team competes in EFL League One, the third tier of the English football league system. Formed in 1883 as Heaton ...

on 18 February 2012 after heading in

Jamie Reed Jamieson Ronald "Jamie" Reed (born 4 August 1973) is a British former politician who served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Copeland from 2005 to 2017. A member of the Labour Party, he was a Shadow Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Min ...

bicycle kick In association football, a bicycle kick, also known as an overhead kick or scissors kick, is an acrobatic strike where a player kicks an airborne ball rearward in midair. It is achieved by throwing the body backward up into the air and, before ...

. Having been uninvolved for York in their play-off games, which concluded with League Two promotion, Blinkhorn finished the season with two goals in 19 appearances for York. He was released on 3 July 2012.

Hyde

After trials with Barrow and

Chester Chester is a cathedral city in Cheshire, England, on the River Dee, Wales, River Dee, close to the England–Wales border. With a built-up area population of 92,760 in 2021, it is the most populous settlement in the borough of Cheshire West an ...

, Blinkhorn signed for Conference Premier side Hyde on 17 August 2012. He scored on his debut for the club later that day, putting Hyde into the lead in a 2–1 defeat at home to Luton Town. He finished the season with Hyde having scored seven goals in 30 games.

AFC Fylde

In April 2013, he joined

AFC Fylde AFC Fylde is a professional football club based in Wesham in the Borough of Fylde, Lancashire, England. They are currently members of the and play at Mill Farm. Originally known as Kirkham & Wesham following a merger of Kirkham Town and Wes ...

on loan. Scoring two goals in three games including the opening goal against

Hednesford Town Hednesford Town Football Club is a football club based in Hednesford, Staffordshire, England. They are currently members of the and play at Keys Park. They won the FA Trophy in 2004. History The club was established in 1880 as a merger of t ...

in the

Northern Premier League Premier Division The Northern Premier League is an English football league that was founded in 1968. Together with the Isthmian League and the Southern League it forms levels seven and eight of the English football league system. Geographically, the league c ...

play-off semi-final. On 25 June 2013, Blinkhorn signed a permanent one-year deal with Fylde.

Lancaster City

Blinkhorn joined

in June 2018.

Coaching

On 29 October 2015 while playing for

, Blinkhorn was appointed as the Lead Foundation Coach for the academy at

. In August 2018, he became a youth development lead coach at

Fleetwood Town Fleetwood Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Fleetwood, Lancashire, England. The team competes in EFL League Two, the fourth level of the English football league system. Established in 1997, the current Flee ...

. Following the resignation of Lancaster manager Phil Brown on 10 September 2018, the club appointed Blinkhorn as caretaker manager together with Craig Stanley. They were in charge for 6 games. Blinkhorn returned to Blackpool FC as the youth academy's Head of Coaching in 2020, returning as part of Ciaran Donnelly's staffing structure after spending 2 seasons at Fleetwood FC's youth academy.

Career statistics

Honours

Blackpool *

Football League Trophy The English Football League Trophy, officially known as the Vertu Trophy for sponsorship reasons, is an annual English football knockout competition open to all clubs in EFL League One and EFL League Two and U-21 teams from the Premier Le ...

: 2003–04 Sligo Rovers *

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

2011 The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...

Notes

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Blinkhorn, Matthew 1985 births Living people Footballers from Blackpool English men's footballers English expatriate men's footballers Men's association football forwards Blackpool F.C. players Luton Town F.C. players Bury F.C. players Morecambe F.C. players Sligo Rovers F.C. players York City F.C. players Hyde United F.C. players AFC Fylde players English Football League players National League (English football) players League of Ireland players Expatriate men's association footballers in the Republic of Ireland English expatriate sportspeople in Ireland Lancaster City F.C. players 21st-century English sportsmen