Antony John Blake (26 February 1927 – 31 October 2014) was an English 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 played in

the Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, it is the oldest football league in the world, and was the top-level football league in England from ...

for

Birmingham City Birmingham City Football Club is a professional football club based in Birmingham, England. Formed in 1875 as Small Heath Alliance, it was renamed Small Heath in 1888, Birmingham in 1905, and Birmingham City in 1943. The team compete in the ...

and Gillingham. Blake was born in

Cofton Hackett Cofton Hackett is a village and civil parish in the Bromsgrove (district), Bromsgrove District of Worcestershire, north east Worcestershire, England. It is southwest of the city centre of Birmingham and northeast of Worcester, England, Worcest ...

Worcestershire Worcestershire ( , ; written abbreviation: Worcs) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England. It is bordered by Shropshire, Staffordshire, and the West Midlands (county), West ...

. He played football for Rubery & Rednal British Legion as a

centre forward In the sport of association football, a forward (attacker or striker) is an outfield position which primarily plays further up the pitch than midfielders and defenders. As with any attacking player, the role of the forward relies heavily on be ...

before joining

in October 1948. While in Birmingham's junior teams, Blake was converted to play at full back, and it was as a left back that he made his first-team debut on 18 February 1950, deputising for Dennis Jennings in the First Division match away at

Bolton Wanderers Bolton Wanderers Football Club ( ) is a professional association football, football club based in Horwich, Metropolitan Borough of Bolton, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in EFL League One, League One, the third level of the Englis ...

, a game which Birmingham lost 1–0. Blake played once more that season,Matthews, p. 185. but then returned to the reserves, and in the 1952 close season moved on to Gillingham. Due to injuries to other players, he made his Gillingham debut in his former position as a striker against Crystal Palace on 3 September 1952, and marked the occasion with a goal. He made nine further appearances for the club during the 1952–53 season in his more usual defensive role, but then sustained a serious knee injury. An operation in the spring of 1953 proved unsuccessful and he was forced into retirement. He returned to the Midlands where he took a job at an engineering firm. Blake died in

Worcester Worcester may refer to: Places United Kingdom * Worcester, England, a city and the county town of Worcestershire in England ** Worcester (UK Parliament constituency), an area represented by a Member of Parliament * Worcester Park, London, Engl ...

in 2014 at the age of 87.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Blake, Tony 1927 births 2014 deaths People from Bromsgrove District English men's footballers Men's association football fullbacks Birmingham City F.C. players Gillingham F.C. players English Football League players Footballers from Worcestershire 20th-century English sportsmen