Graham Oates

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Graham Oates
Personal information
Date of birth December 4, 1943 (1943-12-04) (age 64)
Place of birth    Scunthorpe, England
Playing position Midfielder (retired)
Senior clubs1
Years Club App (Gls)*
1961-1968
1968-1971
1971-19??
1978-1980		 Blackpool
Grimsby Town
Wigan Athletic
Detroit Express
Career		 121 (26)
081 0(9)
00? 0(?)
00? 0(?)
202 (35)   

1 Senior club appearances and goals
counted for the domestic league only.
* Appearances (Goals)

Graham Oates (born December 4, 1943 in Scunthorpe, North Lincolnshire) is an English former professional footballer. He played as a midfielder.

Oates began his career with Ron Suart's Blackpool in 1961. He made his debut for the Division One club on September 16, 1961, in a 3–1 defeat at home to Nottingham Forest. He made just three more league appearances during the 1961–62 campaign, but scored Blackpool's goal in their 1–1 draw with Leyton Orient in their League Cup second round, first leg tie on October 4, 1961.

In 1962–63, Oates made only one appearance in the entire season – goalless draw at Sheffield Wednesday on October 27, 1962.

The following season, 1963–64, he made 25 league appearances and scored eight goals. On four occasions, a single strike by Oates was enough to give Blackpool a victory: against Fulham at Bloomfield Road on September 30, 1963; against West Bromwich Albion at home on November 16, against Stoke City, again at Bloomfield Road, on February 8, 1964; and at Nottingham Forest in the very next game seven days later. He also scored one goal in the League Cup, in Blackpool's 7–1 second-round victory over Charlton Athletic at Bloomfield Road on September 25, 1963.

In 1964–65, Oates made 30 appearances and scored twelve goals in the league, finishing second-top scorer behind Ray Charnley.

Oates' strike-rate dried up in 1965–66, with only one goal in 21 league appearances, and in the first two-thirds of the 1966–67 campaign, Ron Suart gave Oates only three starts. Stan Mortensen replaced Suart in the Blackpool hot seat in the New Year, and the former Blackpool striker provided more opportunities in the team. Oates scored in the final league game of the season, a 3–1 victory against Liverpool at Anfield on May 13, 1967. Blackpool, however, had already been relegated to Division Two at that point.

In Stan Mortensen's first full season in charge, 1967–68, Oates made 23 league appearances and scored three goals (all of which came in victories).

Oates' final appearance for Blackpool occurred seven games into the 1968–69 season, in a single-goal victory over Bolton Wanderers at Bloomfield Road on September 7, 1968.

He joined Grimsby Town, with whom he went on to make 81 league appearances and score nine goals in three years.

Oates also played for Wigan Athletic in the early 1970s, before trying his hand at the game in the United States with Detroit Express.

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