Paul Blades
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Paul Blades | ||
| Personal information | ||
|---|---|---|
| Full name | Paul Andrew Blades | |
| Date of birth | January 5, 1965 | |
| Place of birth | Peterborough, England | |
| Height | 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) | |
| Playing position | Defender | |
| Senior clubs1 | ||
| Years | Club | App (Gls)* |
| 1982–1990 1990–1992 1992–1995 1995–1997 1997–1998 |
Derby County Norwich City Wolverhampton Wanderers Rotherham United Hednesford Town |
166 (1) 47 (0) 107 (2) 43 (2) ? (?) |
|
1 Senior club appearances and goals |
||
Paul Andrew Blades (b. 5 January 1965 in Peterborough) is an English former professional footballer. He was a defender who played for Derby County, Norwich City, Wolves and Rotherham United.
[edit] Career
Blades began his career as a trainee at Derby County , making his league debut as a 17 year-old on 18 September 1982 in a 2-1 defeat at Leeds United. He remained with the club throughout the 1980s, enduring relegation to Division Three but also two successive promotions that took him to the top flight. After three seasons at the highest level, he finally left the Baseball Ground for Norwich City.
At the time of his transfer to Norwich in the summer of 1990, he was the club's record signing at £700,000, and went on to make 62 appearances for the Canaries over two seasons. In his final season he helped Norwich reach the semi-finals of the FA Cup, where defeat to second flight Sunderland prevented them from reaching the final for the first time in their history.
He joined Second Division Wolves in August 1992 for £325,000. He made 117 appearances for the Midlanders in total during a three-season spell. His final season saw the club qualify for the play-offs, but they lost to Bolton.
Blades was sold after this failure to win promotion to third flight Rotherham United for £110,000, making him their record signing at the time. However, his second season saw the club relegated and he was released, whereupon he joined Conference side Hednesford Town.
[edit] References
- Canary Citizens by Mark Davage, John Eastwood, Kevin Platt, published by Jarrold Publishing, (2001), ISBN 0-7117-2020-7
