Kevin Blackwell

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Kevin Patrick Blackwell (born 21 December 1958 in Luton) is a football manager and former player. He is currently without a job after his contract was terminated as manager of Leeds United on 20 September 2006.

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[edit] Early career

Kevin Blackwell began his football career as an apprentice at Cambridge United, with Ron Atkinson as his manager. After failing to make the grade at the Abbey Stadium, he moved into non-league football, playing for Bedford Town while working as a bricklayer. He later played in the 1978 FA Vase final for Barton Rovers and for Middlesex Wanderers before being signed by Barry Fry for Barnet.

In 1980 he moved to Boston United for a fee of £5,000, saving a penalty at Wembley in the 1985 FA Trophy final. He returned to Barnet in 1986 before Neil Warnock signed him for Scarborough in November the same year.

That season saw Scarborough promoted to the Football League and Blackwell remained at the club for their first 2 league seasons, making 44 league appearances in addition to those made in the Conference. Warnock moved to Notts County in January 1989, and in November of that year he returned to Scarborough to sign Blackwell for £15,000. In just over 3 years at Meadow Lane, Blackwell never made a league appearance, and in January 1993, when Warnock took over at Torquay United, Kevin followed him, playing 18 league games in a successful battle to stay in the football league.

[edit] Coaching

At the end of the season, Warnock moved to Huddersfield Town and in August 1993, Blackwell once again joined him, this time taking on coaching duties in addition to his playing role. His playing opportunities were limited to 3 full league appearances, plus another 2 as a substitute.

In August 1995, Blackwell followed Warnock to Plymouth Argyle on a free transfer and was appointed player-youth coach. Warnock left in February 1997, but Blackwell remained at Argyle, working as assistant manager to Mick Jones. He remained registered as a player, solely as a precautionary measure, but in March 1998 returned to full-time training as emergency cover for Argyle's only keeper Jon Sheffield. He was never called upon and ended his career after 24 league appearances for Argyle.

In June 1998, Jones was sacked after Plymouth's relegation, and a month later Blackwell also left with new manager Kevin Hodges wanting to appoint his own management team, which was understandable given how well Hodges and Steve McCall had worked together at Torquay United the previous season.

By now Neil Warnock was manager of Bury, and Blackwell was soon appointed goalkeeping coach at Bury, eventually becoming assistant manager. In October 1998, Blackwell found himself making headlines from an incident that had happened during his time at Huddersfield. He was taken to court by the family of a girl whose arm was broken by one of his stray shots during the warm-up. Soon after Torquay chairman Mike Bateson banned his own players from shooting at the goals during the pre-match warm up and the case was delayed so an out of court settlement could be reached.

In December 1999, Neil Warnock was appointed manager of Sheffield United and took Blackwell with him as his assistant. In September 2000, Blackwell's thoughts were turned to playing again, he was still registered as a player and due to injuries was the only cover for the Blades' first choice keeper.

[edit] Management

He took over as manager of Leeds United in 2004. Handed the task of rebuilding Leeds' team after huge debts forced the jettisoning of its highly paid stars, Blackwell made a record number of signings for the club in 2004-05. He focused on value for money, buying players that, while talented, had not made the highest grade. Although early results were poor, perhaps affected by boardroom turmoil that saw the new board struggle to put the club onto a sound financial footing and in time led to its takeover by Ken Bates, Blackwell led the side to challenge for the playoffs, before a run of draws slowed progress, leaving Leeds in midtable.

Blackwell had been seen as a temporary appointment, perhaps to be replaced by a more glamorous name, but his success in stabilising the team - and his initial popularity with fans - led Bates to suggest he had a long term future at the club.

In the summer of 2005 Blackwell was giving financial backing and bought some high profile players for the new season. Proven strikers Richard Cresswell, Rob Hulse and Robbie Blake gave Blackwell plenty of firepower up front, while USA winger Eddie Lewis arrived to supply the ammunition. Once again Blackwell had convinced in-demand players to join Leeds. Blackwell's shrewd tactics away from Elland Road and attacking style at home (where 9 out of 10 matches were won) proved very effective and, by the end of February, Blackwell had guided Leeds to 3rd spot and an almost guaranteed play off spot, with automatic promotion remaining a possibility. The Leeds team however then produced some distinctly average performances and settled for their play-off place. This made a lot of Leeds fans disgruntled and many blamed it on Blackwell using the same tactics week in week out, with teams being able to predict this and counteract them.

Blackwell took his Leeds team into the Championship play-off final, after beating Preston North End 3-1 on aggregate in the semi-finals. However Leeds lost the final 3-0 to Watford on 21 May 2006. A string of bad results followed in both pre-season and the start of the 2006-07 and on 20 September 2006 his contract as Leeds United manager was terminated. As Blackwell left the club, Leeds were lying 23rd in the table, with 7 points from 8 games.

Since leaving Leeds, Kevin has been travelling round Europe going to big name clubs such as Real Madrid and Inter Milan acquiring knowledge of further training techniques for when he is appointed to his next role. He has not ruled out taking up a coaching or assistant managerial position in his next job[1]. On 20 November 2006 Kevin Blackwell announced he was suing Leeds United for wrongful dismissal after it was confirmed he was sacked for Gross Misconduct on the grounds of "negative comments made in the press about the club's finances"[2].

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ BBC Sport (20/10/2006). Blackwell learns from Euro visits bbc.co.uk (accessed 20th Oct 2006)
  2. ^ Blackwell to sue Whites. James Pearson. Sky Sports (20 November 2006). Retrieved on 2006-11-20.

[edit] External links

Preceded by
Eddie Gray (caretaker)		 Leeds United manager
2004-2006		 Succeeded by
John Carver (caretaker)
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