Nathan Blake

Cardiff City

Blake was a trainee at Chelsea but was released in 1990, without graduating to the first team. He told WalesOnline in 2020 how, despite his upbringing showing "99% of people from the estate [having] no fear", he saw racism "like no other time in my life" at Chelsea. The club have since been accused of ignoring the racist abuse of coaches Graham Rix and Gwyn Williams. He moved back to his home-city club Cardiff City after this, where he quickly made his senior debut against Bristol Rovers in March. He quickly rose to being a first team regular in 1990–91 and went on to become a firm favourite with fans. He helped the club to the Third Division title in 1992–93, scoring 11 times, and made a strong start to life in the third tier the next season, scoring 14 goals in 20 games. It was during this season that he rose to national prominence when he scored a spectacular goal against Manchester City to send them crashing out of the FA Cup. This form attracted Premier League Sheffield United to snap him up for £300,000 in February 1994. In total, he scored 40 goals in 164 appearances for the Welsh side.

Sheffield United

Blake scored five goals in the remainder of Sheffield United's top flight campaign, but could not halt relegation. He then finished as the Blades' top scorer in the next two seasons, but neither season saw the club mount a serious promotion challenge in Division One. During the 1995–96 season, his goalscoring again won him a move to the…

Born in Wales and of Jamaican descent, Blake won 29 caps for Wales, scoring four times. He made his debut on 9 March 1994 in a 3–1 friendly loss to Norway, which marked the only game of John Toshack's first spell in charge. He scored his first goal against Moldova in a 3–1 Euro 96 qualifying defeat. Blake refused to play for Wales team manager Bobby Gould after accusing Gould of making a racist comment in training. His other three international goals came against Turkey (August 1997), Norway (October 2000) and Poland (June 2001). He also set the unfortunate record of being the first Welsh player to score an international goal at Wales' Millennium Stadium when he put through his own net against Finland on 29 March 2000. He announced his retirement in September 2004, ten months after playing his final match in the Euro 2004 play-off loss to Russia.

Blake was born in Cardiff and grew up nearby on the Ringland estate in Newport, Wales. Blake was raised by his mother, aunt, and grandmother, and his cousins Matthew Robinson, a Wales rugby union international and Anthony Sullivan, a dual code rugby international. His uncle Clive Sullivan was a rugby league international. Blake attended Milton Primary School and Hartridge High School.

Blake grew up in the "tough" neighbourhood of Ringland in Newport. He nevertheless states he "would choose my upbringing 100 times out of 100 - it was amazing". He noted the existence of racism in his childhood, such as being called a "n*****" at the age of seven, and not being considered academically capable at school, but praised the community spirit among those growing up on the estate. Before breaking through as a footballer, Blake fell foul of the law and was prosecuted for theft from a fruit machine in London. Following his retirement from professional football in 2006, he set up and runs his own property management company in his native Wales. He is also involved in a football agency and has three children.