Maxime Edouard Camille Blanchard, or just Maxi Blanchard, (born 27 September 1986) is a French former professional footballer who played as defender and defensive midfielder. He played in the Football League for Tranmere Rovers,

Plymouth Argyle Plymouth Argyle Football Club is a professional football club based in the city of Plymouth, Devon, England. As of the 2021–22 season, the team are competing in League One, the third tier of English football. They have played at Home Park, ...

and Newport County, in his native league Championnat National for

Laval Laval means ''The Valley'' in old French and is the name of: People * House of Laval, a French noble family originating from the town of Laval, Mayenne * Laval (surname) Places Belgium * Laval, a village in the municipality of Sainte-Ode, Luxem ...

, L'Entente SSG and Moulins, and in the

League of Ireland Premier Division The League of Ireland Premier Division ( ga, Príomhroinn Sraith na hÉireann), also known as the SSE Airtricity League Premier Division for sponsorship reasons, is the top level division in both the League of Ireland and the Republic of Ireland f ...

for

Shamrock Rovers Shamrock Rovers Football Club ( ga, Cumann Peile Ruagairí na Seamróige) is an Irish association football club based in Tallaght, South Dublin. The club's senior team competes in the League of Ireland Premier Division and it is the most su ...

Career

Maxime Blanchard began his career in

Alençon Alençon (, , ; nrf, Alençoun) is a commune in Normandy, France, capital of the Orne department. It is situated west of Paris. Alençon belongs to the intercommunality of Alençon (with 52,000 people). History The name of Alençon is firs ...

, a commune in Normandy, before joining his first professional club –

. He spent two years in the youth team before being promoted to train with the senior squad during the 2005–06 season. Blanchard made his senior debut in Championnat National the following season and went on to appear in another 25 league matches for Laval over the next two years. He spent the 2008–09 campaign with L'Entente SSG, where he scored his first league goal, and the next with Moulins – making 35 league appearances in both. He moved to England in the summer of 2010, signing for

Football League One The English Football League One (often referred to as League One for short or Sky Bet League One for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League One from 2004 until 2016) is the second-highest division of the English Football Leag ...

club Tranmere Rovers. He made his debut in a 0–0 draw against Huddersfield Town and went on to make 24 appearances during the 2010–11 season. He left Tranmere at the end of the campaign. Blanchard signed a short-term contract with

in November. He made his debut in a 4–1 win against Northampton Town, and extended his contract in January 2012 until the end of the season. Blanchard scored his first goal for the club in a 1–1 draw with Crawley Town. Blanchard signed a new two-year contract in May, and won the club's Player of the Year award for the 2011–12 season. He made 28 league appearances, in which he scored two goals and, according to '' The Herald'', had a "formidable partnership" with Darren Purse. In 2015, he moved to Ireland and signed one-year contract with

. He left the club in July 2016 and joined the UK League Two side Newport County on a game-by-game contract.

Personal life

Maxime Blanchard retired from the professional game, and converted into tech sales.

Career statistics

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Blanchard, Maxime 1986 births Living people Sportspeople from Alençon French men's footballers Footballers from Normandy Men's association football defenders Championnat National players English Football League players League of Ireland players Stade Lavallois players Entente SSG players AS Moulins players Tranmere Rovers F.C. players Plymouth Argyle F.C. players Shamrock Rovers F.C. players Newport County A.F.C. players French expatriate men's footballers French expatriate sportspeople in England Expatriate men's footballers in England French expatriate sportspeople in Ireland Expatriate men's association footballers in the Republic of Ireland French expatriate sportspeople in Wales Expatriate men's footballers in Wales