| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | John Eric Black[1] | ||
| Date of birth | (1963-10-01)1 October 1963 (age 62) | ||
| Place of birth | Bellshill, Scotland | ||
| Height | 5 ft 8 in (1.73 m)[2] | ||
| Position | Striker | ||
| Youth career | |||
| 1980–1981 | Aberdeen | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1981–1986 | Aberdeen | 115 | (45) |
| 1986–1991 | Metz | 86 | (26) |
| Total | 201 | (71) | |
| International career | |||
| 1982–1985 | Scotland U21[3] | 8 | (2) |
| 1987 | Scotland | 2 | (0) |
| Managerial career | |||
| 2001–2002 | Motherwell | ||
| 2003–2004 | Coventry City | ||
| 2007 | Birmingham City (caretaker) | ||
| 2011 | Sunderland (caretaker) | ||
| 2012 | Blackburn Rovers (caretaker) | ||
| 2015 | Rotherham United (caretaker) | ||
| 2016 | Aston Villa (caretaker) | ||
| * Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||
John Eric Black (born 1 October 1963) is a Scottish former professionalfootball player and coach. Black played as astriker forAberdeen andMetz, winning major trophies with both clubs, and earned two international caps for theScotland national team. He was forced to retire from playing at a relatively early age and became a coach, working as amanager atMotherwell andCoventry City.
Born inBellshill,Lanarkshire, Black spent his early life in theGlasgow area before his family moved north toNigg, Highland due to his father's job in the offshore oil industry, and he signed forAberdeen in 1980 (a week afterBryan Gunn who came from the same part of the country).[4] He won the Scottish 2nd XI Cup with the reserves.[5] Black was heavily involved in the most successful era of Aberdeen's history under the management ofAlex Ferguson, the pinnacle being their victory in theEuropean Cup Winners' Cup in 1983 with a2–1 win overReal Madrid, in which the then 19-year-old Black scored the first goal.[6][7][8] Black's main assets were his strength in the air (despite not being particularly tall) and goalscoring instincts.[2][4] In February 1983, Black scored a hat-trick in a 3–1 win againstCeltic,[9] as of 2020 still the last visiting player to score three atCeltic Park.[4][10] He made 180 appearances (30 as substitute) in all competitions for Aberdeen and scored 70 goals between 1981 and 1986, winning twoScottish Football League titles, threeScottish Cups and aScottish League Cup as well the Cup Winners' Cup and theEuropean Super Cup in 1983.[2] He missed out on a potential fourth Scottish Cup medal when he was overlooked for the1986 final having already agreed to move abroad.[4]
In summer 1986, Black joinedMetz in France.[11] He had initially agreed a deal in principle withArsène Wenger to joinMonaco, but this fell through when Wenger was not released from his previous club contract at that time as had been anticipated.[7] After five seasons (1986 to 1991) with Metz, during which he won the Summer Cup (forerunner of theLeague Cup) within weeks of arriving in 1986 and theFrench Cup in1988 (and off the field became a father to two children),[7] Black was forced to retire from the game aged 27 due to a chronic back problem.[12] Alex Ferguson later admitted that injury problems suffered by Black and other young players he had managed at Aberdeen were due to them playing an excessive number of games at a young age.[12] In all, Black made 95 appearances for Metz, scoring 34 goals.[13]
Black was a coach and assistant manager at Celtic, leaving the club when head coachJohn Barnes was sacked in February 2000.[14] Black was appointed manager ofMotherwell in October 2001.[15] He was appointedCoventry City manager in January 2004, following the resignation ofGary McAllister.[16] Black was sacked by Coventry for "being inconsistent", despite a 5–2 win againstGillingham.[citation needed] and 6-1 away to Walsall. This angered many fans who believed that Black had brought an attractive and highly effective style of football back to the club and was merely being moved on for a bigger name (he was succeeded byPeter Reid, who proved to be a major disappointment).[citation needed]
Black joinedBirmingham City in July 2004 as assistant manager toSteve Bruce.[17] He managed one game as caretaker manager, after Bruce joinedWigan Athletic, before leavingSt Andrew's in November 2007.[18][19] He was assistant manager to Bruce atSunderland from June 2009 and was appointed caretaker manager following the departure of Bruce.[20] In his only game in charge, Sunderland were beaten 2–1 byWolverhampton Wanderers.[21] Black left Sunderland on 6 December 2011.[22]
Black was appointed assistant manager toSteve Kean atBlackburn Rovers in January 2012.[23] He was caretaker manager at Blackburn after the departure of Kean.[24]
Black was an advisor atBlackpool to caretaker managerBarry Ferguson in 2014.[25] Black was appointed as a coach at Wigan in July 2014.[25]
In July 2015, Black was named as first team coach ofChampionship sideRotherham United.[26] Black was appointed caretaker manager of Rotherham in September 2015, after managerSteve Evans left the club.[27] Black left Rotherham in January 2016 and was then appointed first team coach atAston Villa.[28] He was appointed Villa manager on a temporary basis afterRémi Garde left by mutual consent in March 2016.[29] Black left Villa in June 2016 following the appointment ofRoberto Di Matteo.[30]
Black joinedSouthampton on 30 June 2016, as assistant manager toClaude Puel.[31] On 29 September,The Daily Telegraph alleged that Black had offered advice to a third-party player ownership consortium on how to bribe lower league clubs.[32] An investigation by Southampton FC cleared Black of any wrongdoing, as the newspaper refused to provide any evidence to substantiate their allegation.[33] He resigned in December 2017 for personal reasons, with the club citing ongoing back problems due to injuries sustained during his playing career.[34] 18 months after leaving that post, he confirmed he no longer wished to be involved in professional coaching and was happy to have left the intense football environment after nearly four decades.[10]
| Club | Season | League | National cup[a] | League cup[b] | Europe | Other | Total | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Division | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | ||
| Aberdeen | 1980–81 | Scottish Premier Division | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | 0 | 0 | |
| 1981–82 | 13 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2[c] | 1 | – | 17 | 4 | |||
| 1982–83 | 31 | 12 | 5 | 1 | 8 | 3 | 8[d] | 3 | – | 52 | 19 | |||
| 1983–84 | 18 | 6 | 7 | 1 | 6 | 5 | 6[d] | 0 | 1[e] | 0 | 38 | 12 | ||
| 1984–85 | 27 | 16 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2[f] | 2 | – | 35 | 19 | |||
| 1985–86 | 26 | 8 | 5 | 2 | 4 | 4 | 4[f] | 1 | – | 39 | 15 | |||
| Total | 115 | 45 | 25 | 5 | 18 | 12 | 22 | 7 | 1 | 0 | 181 | 69 | ||
| FC Metz | 1986–87 | French Division 1 | 19 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | – | – | 19+ | 16 | ||
| 1987–88 | 28 | 8 | 7 | 1 | – | – | – | 35 | 9 | |||||
| 1988–89 | 12 | 2 | 1 | 0 | – | – | – | 13 | 2 | |||||
| 1989–90 | 23 | 6 | 1 | 1 | – | – | – | 24 | 7 | |||||
| 1990–91 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | – | – | 4 | 0 | |||||
| Total | 86 | 26 | 9 | 2 | 0 | 6 | – | – | 95+ | 34 | ||||
| Career total | 201 | 71 | 34 | 7 | 18+ | 18 | 22 | 7 | 1 | 0 | 276+ | 103 | ||
| National team | Year | Apps | Goals |
|---|---|---|---|
| Scotland | 1987 | 2 | 0 |
| Total | 2 | 0 | |
| Team | From | To | Record | Ref | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| P | W | D | L | Win % | ||||
| Motherwell | 16 October 2001 | 24 April 2002 | 27 | 7 | 4 | 16 | 025.9 | [38] |
| Coventry City | 11 December 2003 | 3 May 2004 | 26 | 12 | 4 | 10 | 046.2 | [38] |
| Birmingham City (caretaker) | 23 November 2007 | 27 November 2007 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 000.0 | [18][19][38] |
| Sunderland (caretaker) | 30 November 2011 | 5 December 2011 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 000.0 | [20][38][39] |
| Blackburn Rovers (caretaker) | 28 September 2012 | 31 October 2012 | 6 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 033.3 | [38][40] |
| Rotherham United (caretaker) | 28 September 2015 | 9 October 2015 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 000.0 | [38][41] |
| Aston Villa (caretaker) | 29 March 2016 | 2 June 2016 | 7 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 000.0 | [29][38] |
| Total | 69 | 21 | 12 | 36 | 030.4 | — | ||
Aberdeen[7]
Metz[7]
Southampton