Eric Black

For the American journalist, see Eric Black (writer).
Eric Black
Personal information
Date of birth (1963-10-01) 1 October 1963
Place of birth Bellshill, Scotland
Playing position Striker
Club information
Current team
 Southampton (assistant manager)
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1981–1986 Aberdeen 180 (70)
1986–1991 Metz 85 (26)
Total 265 (96)
National team
1982–1985 Scotland U21[1] 8 (2)
1987 Scotland 2 (0)
Teams managed
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)

* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only.


Eric Black (born 1 October 1963 in Bellshill, Lanarkshire) is a Scottish professional former footballer who played as a striker for Aberdeen and Metz. Black earned two international caps for the Scotland national team. He is currently working as an assistant manager under Southampton manager Claude Puel.[2]

Playing career

Black was involved in possibly the best era ever for Aberdeen who, under the management of Sir Alex Ferguson, won the European Cup Winners' Cup in 1983 with a 2–1 win over Real Madrid in which the then 19-year-old Black scored the first goal.[3] Black's main asset was his balletic heading ability and scoring goals. In February 1983, Black scored a hat-trick in a 3–1 win against Celtic.[4] He made 180 league appearances (30 as substitute) and scored 70 goals for Aberdeen between 1981 and 1986.

That same year, Black joined Metz in France. After five seasons (1986–1991) with Metz, during which he won the 1988 French Cup and had two children, Black was forced to retire prematurely from the game due to a chronic back problem.[5] 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.[5] In all, Black made 85 appearances for Metz, scoring 26 goals.

Coaching career

Black was a coach and assistant manager at Celtic, leaving the club when head coach John Barnes was sacked in February 2000.[6] Black was appointed manager of Motherwell in October 2001.[7] He was appointed Coventry City manager in January 2004, following the resignation of Gary McAllister.[8] Black was sacked by Coventry for "being inconsistent", despite a 5–2 win against Gillingham. 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 by Peter Reid, who proved to be a major disappointment).

Black joined Birmingham City in July 2004 as assistant manager to Steve Bruce.[9] He managed one game as caretaker manager, after Bruce joined Wigan Athletic, before leaving St Andrew's in November 2007.[10][11] He was assistant manager to Bruce at Sunderland from June 2009 and was appointed caretaker manager following the departure of Bruce.[12] In his only game in charge, Sunderland were beaten 2–1 by Wolverhampton Wanderers.[13] Black left Sunderland on 6 December 2011.[14]

Black was appointed assistant manager to Steve Kean at Blackburn Rovers in January 2012.[15] He was caretaker manager at Blackburn after the departure of Kean.[16]

Black was an advisor at Blackpool to caretaker manager Barry Ferguson in 2014.[17] Black was appointed as a coach at Wigan in July 2014.[17]

In July 2015, Black was named as first team coach of Championship side Rotherham United.[18] Black was appointed caretaker manager of Rotherham in September 2015, after manager Steve Evans left the club.[19] Black left Rotherham in January 2016 and was then appointed first team coach at Aston Villa.[20] He was appointed Villa manager on a temporary basis after Rémi Garde left by mutual consent in March 2016.[21] Black left Villa in June 2016 following the appointment of Roberto Di Matteo.[22]

Black joined Southampton on 30 June 2016, as assistant manager to Claude Puel.[23] On 29 September, Black was caught up in an ongoing scandal in English football, after allegedly offering advice to a third-party player ownership consortium on how to bribe lower league clubs.[24]

Managerial statistics

As of match played 15 May 2016.
Managerial record by team and tenure
Team From To Record Ref
PWDLWin %
Motherwell 16 October 2001 24 April 2002 27 7 4 16 25.9 [25]
Coventry City 11 December 2003 3 May 2004 26 12 4 10 46.2 [25]
Birmingham City (caretaker) 23 November 2007 27 November 2007 1 0 0 1 00.0 [10][11][25]
Sunderland (caretaker) 30 November 2011 5 December 2011 1 0 0 1 00.0 [12][25][26]
Blackburn Rovers (caretaker) 28 September 2012 31 October 2012 6 2 3 1 33.3 [25][27]
Rotherham United (caretaker) 28 September 2015 9 October 2015 1 0 0 1 00.0 [25][28]
Aston Villa (caretaker) 29 March 2016 2 June 2016 7 0 1 6 00.0 [21][25][29]
Total 69 21 12 36 30.4 —

References

  1. ↑ "Eric Black". www.fitbastats.com. Retrieved 11 October 2012.
  2. ↑ "Black will be Puel's counsel". Daily Echo. 1 July 2016. Retrieved 5 July 2016.
  3. ↑ Brocklehurst, Steven (9 May 2013). "Fergie's greatest triumph? - How Aberdeen conquered European football". BBC News. BBC. Retrieved 30 May 2016.
  4. ↑ "Aberdeen v Celtic: the history". www.afc.co.uk. Aberdeen FC. 30 January 2016. Retrieved 30 May 2016.
  5. 1 2 Michael Crick (2003). The Boss: The Many Sides of Alex Ferguson. Simon and Schuster. p. 224.
  6. ↑ "Barnes forced out". BBC News. BBC. 10 February 2000. Retrieved 30 May 2016.
  7. ↑ "Motherwell go for Black". BBC Sport. BBC. 16 October 2001. Retrieved 24 November 2007.
  8. ↑ "Black named Coventry boss". BBC Sport. 15 January 2004. Retrieved 24 November 2007.
  9. ↑ "Black moves to Blues". BBC Sport. 7 July 2004. Retrieved 24 November 2007.
  10. 1 2 "Bruce confirmed as Wigan manager". BBC Sport. 23 November 2007. Retrieved 30 May 2016.
  11. 1 2 "Birmingham lose caretaker Black". BBC Sport. 27 November 2007. Retrieved 30 May 2016.
  12. 1 2 "Sunderland sack Steve Bruce as manager". BBC Sport. 30 November 2011. Retrieved 30 May 2016.
  13. ↑ "Sunderland lose to Wolves". BBC Sport. Retrieved 4 December 2011.
  14. ↑ "Black leaves Sunderland". 6 December 2011. Retrieved 6 December 2011.
  15. ↑ "Eric Black to join Blackburn Rovers as Steve Kean's new assistant". BBC Sport. 19 January 2012. Retrieved 26 January 2012.
  16. ↑ "Blackburn Rovers: Eric Black focused on first-team matters". BBC Sport. BBC. 18 October 2012. Retrieved 30 May 2016.
  17. 1 2 "Wigan Athletic: Eric Black returns as first team coach". BBC Sport. 4 July 2014. Retrieved 4 July 2014.
  18. ↑ "Eric Black: Rotherham United appoint First Team Coach". BBC Sport. 8 July 2015. Retrieved 8 July 2015.
  19. ↑ McCartney, Aidan (28 September 2015). "Former Coventry City boss Eric Black takes temporary charge at Rotherham United". Coventry Telegraph. Retrieved 29 September 2015.
  20. ↑ "Aston Villa: Eric Black named as first-team coach". BBC Sport. 26 January 2016. Retrieved 2 February 2016.
  21. 1 2 "Remi Garde: Aston Villa manager leaves after 147 days in charge". BBC Sport. 29 March 2016. Retrieved 30 May 2016.
  22. ↑ "Eric Black: Aston Villa's former caretaker boss leaves club". BBC Sport. BBC. 21 June 2016. Retrieved 22 June 2016.
  23. ↑ "Claude Puel: Southampton appoint Frenchman as manager on three-year deal". BBC Sport. BBC. 30 June 2016. Retrieved 3 July 2016.
  24. ↑ http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/09/29/how-southamptons-eric-black-advised-businessmen-how-to-bribe-low/
  25. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "Managers: Eric Black". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 30 May 2016.
  26. ↑ "Martin O'Neill named Sunderland manager". BBC Sport. 3 December 2011. Retrieved 30 May 2016.
  27. ↑ "Blackburn Rovers: Henning Berg appointed manager at Ewood Park". BBC Sport. 31 October 2012. Retrieved 30 May 2016.
  28. ↑ "Steve Evans: Rotherham United part company with manager". BBC Sport. 28 September 2015. Retrieved 30 May 2016.
  29. ↑ Murphy, Pat (2 June 2016). "Roberto di Matteo appointed Aston Villa manager – Steve Clarke as assistant". BBC Sport. Retrieved 3 June 2016.
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