2000-2001 Noel Blake
Birth Date
12th January 1962
Birthplace
Kingston, Jamaica
Occupation
Manager
Biographical Text
Noel Blake was Exeter City's manager between January 2000 and September 2001 at a time when the club was struggling towards the end of Ivor Doble's time in the boardroom. Best known for his time as a player with Birmingham, Portsmouth and Stoke, he also made around 150 league appearances for Exeter City and was later in charge of England age-group teams.
After playing a handful of league games for Aston Villa in the early 1980s, he then enjoyed two years as a regular with Birmingham City before switching to Portsmouth in 1984. Always a regular wherever he played, Noel had four seasons at Fratton Park before time at Leeds, Stoke, Bradford City and Dundee took him through to 1995.
Known to new Exeter City manager Peter Fox from their time together at Stoke, he arrived at Exeter City as a player-assistant manager in August 1995 and was a regular member of the team for three seasons before playing less frequently over the next three seasons.
During what were often challenging, and far from happy times for the club, Peter Fox had soldiered on until his departure in January 2000. With chairman Ivor Doble possessing relatively limited options, the decision was made to appoint Noel Blake who went on to take the club to 21st in the fourth-tier in what remained of the 1999/2000 season and a marginally-improved 19th in 2000/2001.
But with Ivor Doble both seeking to sell and keen for the club not to slip into further decline, Noel was dismissed in September 2001 having just played the final match of his 700-game career. Replaced by John Cornforth, Noel's short time in the role meant the end of a period when three managers - Terry Cooper, Alan Ball and Peter Fox - had each spent a reasonable amount of time with the club. From now on, until the appointment of Paul Tisdale in 2006, Exeter City was to represent something of a managerial merry-go-round starting with Cornforth's failure to fare any better.
Noel Blake later returned to Stoke City, where he was a successful manager of the youth team, before his 2007 appointment with the Football Association for whom he worked as a FA National Coach working with the England under-16 and under-19 teams. Thereafter he worked for the Premier League and the League Managers’ Association as well as running the Absolute Football Consultancy and briefly acting as caretaker manager of Blackpool.
After playing a handful of league games for Aston Villa in the early 1980s, he then enjoyed two years as a regular with Birmingham City before switching to Portsmouth in 1984. Always a regular wherever he played, Noel had four seasons at Fratton Park before time at Leeds, Stoke, Bradford City and Dundee took him through to 1995.
Known to new Exeter City manager Peter Fox from their time together at Stoke, he arrived at Exeter City as a player-assistant manager in August 1995 and was a regular member of the team for three seasons before playing less frequently over the next three seasons.
During what were often challenging, and far from happy times for the club, Peter Fox had soldiered on until his departure in January 2000. With chairman Ivor Doble possessing relatively limited options, the decision was made to appoint Noel Blake who went on to take the club to 21st in the fourth-tier in what remained of the 1999/2000 season and a marginally-improved 19th in 2000/2001.
But with Ivor Doble both seeking to sell and keen for the club not to slip into further decline, Noel was dismissed in September 2001 having just played the final match of his 700-game career. Replaced by John Cornforth, Noel's short time in the role meant the end of a period when three managers - Terry Cooper, Alan Ball and Peter Fox - had each spent a reasonable amount of time with the club. From now on, until the appointment of Paul Tisdale in 2006, Exeter City was to represent something of a managerial merry-go-round starting with Cornforth's failure to fare any better.
Noel Blake later returned to Stoke City, where he was a successful manager of the youth team, before his 2007 appointment with the Football Association for whom he worked as a FA National Coach working with the England under-16 and under-19 teams. Thereafter he worked for the Premier League and the League Managers’ Association as well as running the Absolute Football Consultancy and briefly acting as caretaker manager of Blackpool.
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