Nicholas Alexander Blackman (born 11 November 1989) is a professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby ...

who plays as a striker for the Barbados national football team. He can also play as a winger. He last played for

Maccabi Tel Aviv Maccabi Tel Aviv ( he, מכבי תל אביב) is one of the largest sports clubs in Israel, and a part of the Maccabi association. Many sports clubs and teams in Tel Aviv are in association with Maccabi and compete in a variety of sports, such ...

Early life

Blackman was born in

Salford Salford () is a city and the largest settlement in the City of Salford metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. In 2011, Salford had a population of 103,886. It is also the second and only other city in the metropolitan county afte ...

Greater Manchester Greater Manchester is a metropolitan county and combined authority area in North West England, with a population of 2.8 million; comprising ten metropolitan boroughs: Manchester, Salford, Bolton, Bury, Oldham, Rochdale, Stockport, Tam ...

, to a

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

mother from England and a Christian father from

Barbados Barbados is an island country in the Lesser Antilles of the West Indies, in the Caribbean region of the Americas, and the most easterly of the Caribbean Islands. It occupies an area of and has a population of about 287,000 (2019 estimate) ...

."Blackman targets Israel role; Nick Blackman is eager to play for Israel after scoring eight goals since joining Maccabi Tel Aviv on loan from Derby County."
/ref> His Polish-Jewish maternal grandfather Benjamin Rosenfeld was an Auschwitz/

Holocaust survivor Holocaust survivors are people who survived the Holocaust, defined as the persecution and attempted annihilation of the Jews by Nazi Germany and its allies before and during World War II in Europe and North Africa. There is no universally accep ...

and his Dutch-Jewish maternal grandmother Marta. He had a Bar Mitzvah. Blackman attended Manchester United Academies for five years from the age of eight, and also spent time at Bury and Preston North End academies. He attended King David High School followed by Phillips High School in Manchester. At the age of 13 Blackman competed in the 2005 Maccabiah Games in Israel as part of a British schools football team.

Club career

Macclesfield Town

Blackman was signed by

Macclesfield Town Macclesfield Town Football Club was an English professional football club based in Macclesfield, Cheshire, that was wound-up after a High Court ruling on 16 September 2020. Initially known as Macclesfield F.C., the club was formed in 1874 ...

in Summer 2006. After a string of impressive displays for the youth team Blackman signed his first professional contract at Macclesfield on 8 March 2007. After making his league debut against

Accrington Stanley Accrington Stanley Football Club is a professional association football club based in Accrington, Lancashire, England. The club competes in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. They have spent their complete his ...

his hopes of regular first team football were dashed by a pre-season injury that kept him out of action for several months. Blackman scored his debut goal for Macclesfield in a 1–1 home draw with Dagenham & Redbridge on 23 November 2007, when after coming on as a substitute, Blackman scored in the 90th minute. Blackman made a total of 12 appearances for Macclesfield, mostly as a substitute, scoring one goal.

Blackburn Rovers

Blackman joined

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Fo ...

club

Blackburn Rovers Blackburn Rovers Football Club is a professional football club, based in Blackburn, Lancashire, England, which competes in the , the second tier of the English football league system. They have played home matches at Ewood Park since 1890. Th ...

on 12 January 2009, after impressing in a trial, for an undisclosed fee on a two-and-a-half-year contract. Blackman scored two goals in his first two games for the club's reserve team.

Blackpool (loan)

On 3 March, Blackman joined

Championship In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this system ...

club Blackpool on loan initially for one month. Blackman made his debut later that same day as a 65th-minute substitute in a 0–1 home loss to

Burnley Burnley () is a town and the administrative centre of the wider Borough of Burnley in Lancashire, England, with a 2001 population of 73,021. It is north of Manchester and east of Preston, Lancashire, Preston, at the confluence of the River C ...

Bloomfield Road Bloomfield Road is a single-tier football stadium in Blackpool, Lancashire, England, which has been the home of Blackpool F.C. since 1901. It is the third stadium in the club's existence, the previous two being Raikes Hall Gardens and the At ...

. After two substitution appearances, Blackman scored on his full debut, a 2–2 draw with

Sheffield United Sheffield United Football Club is a professional football club in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, which compete in the . They are nicknamed "the Blades" due to Sheffield's history of cutlery production. The team have played home games at ...

at Bramall Lane on 10 March.

Oldham (loan)

On 20 August 2009, Blackman joined

Oldham Athletic Oldham Athletic Association Football Club is a professional football club in Oldham, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in the National League, the fifth tier of the English football league system. The history of Oldham Athletic be ...

on a month's loan. Two days later, Blackman made his Latics debut in a 2–2 draw versus

Swindon Town Swindon Town Football Club is a professional football club based in Swindon, Wiltshire, England. The team currently competes in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. The club has played home matches at the County Ground sin ...

, playing the full 90 minutes. His first goal for the club came on 29 August when Blackman curled a shot into the net from the edge of the

area Area is the quantity that expresses the extent of a region on the plane or on a curved surface. The area of a plane region or ''plane area'' refers to the area of a shape or planar lamina, while '' surface area'' refers to the area of an ope ...

for Oldham's only goal in a 1–1 draw against Brentford. His loan period was extended until January 2010 after which Blackman returned to Blackburn.

Motherwell and Aberdeen (loan)

Blackman joined Scottish Premier League club Motherwell on a six-month loan on 13 August 2010 and scored 10 goals in 18 games in total which, included a hat trick in a 4–0 win over St Johnstone in November 2010. On 13 January 2011, former Motherwell manager Craig Brown signed Blackman for

Aberdeen Aberdeen (; sco, Aiberdeen ; gd, Obar Dheathain ; la, Aberdonia) is a city in North East Scotland, and is the third most populous city in the country. Aberdeen is one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas (as Aberdeen City), and ...

on loan for six-months.

Return to Blackburn Rovers

Blackman returned to Blackburn Rovers at the end of his loan spell. During the Premier League Asia Trophy match against Kitchee of Hong Kong, Blackman came off the bench for Blackburn Rovers winning and converting a penalty in a 3–0 win.

Sheffield United

Blackman signed for

, on 10 August 2012, a two-year-deal for an undisclosed fee reported to be £115,000 plus a 20% sell on after turning down offers from

clubs. Blackman scored his first goal for the Blades with his first touch in a

League Cup In several sports, most prominently association football, a league cup or secondary cup generally signifies a cup competition for which entry is restricted only to teams in a particular league. The first national association football tournament t ...

game against

Burton Albion Burton Albion Football Club is a professional association football club in the town of Burton upon Trent, Staffordshire, England. The team compete in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. The club moved its home grou ...

at Bramall Lane on 11 August 2012. Blackman played regularly for the Blades throughout the first half of the season, making 33 appearances and scoring 14 goals by the end of January. By this time however Blackman was attracting interest from other clubs and was the subject of bids from both

Crystal Palace Crystal Palace may refer to: Places Canada * Crystal Palace Complex (Dieppe), a former amusement park now a shopping complex in Dieppe, New Brunswick * Crystal Palace Barracks, London, Ontario * Crystal Palace (Montreal), an exhibition building ...

and

Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of letters, symbols, etc., especially by sight or touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifaceted process involving such areas as word recognition, orthography (spelling ...

and despite United accepting offers from both clubs, Blackman rejected a move to Palace.

Reading

On 30 January 2013, Blackman signed for

side

for an undisclosed fee, reported to be around £1.35m and a 20% sell on. He signed on a three-and-a-half-year contract. Blackman made his debut on 2 February, replacing

Pavel Pogrebnyak Pavel Viktorovich Pogrebnyak (russian: Па́вел Ви́кторович Погребня́к ; born 8 November 1983) is a Russian former professional footballer who played as a striker. Born in Moscow, Pogrebnyak began his career at Spart ...

in the 72nd minute of a 2–1 win against Sunderland. Blackman scored the first

goal of the 2015–2016 Championship season in a 2–1 away defeat to

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1. ...

Derby County

On 6 January 2016, it was announced that Blackman had signed a three-and-a-half-year deal with

Derby County Derby County Football Club () is a professional association football club based in Derby, Derbyshire, England. In 2022, it was announced that DCFC was acquired by Clowes Developments (UK) Ltd, a Derbyshire-based property group. Founded in 188 ...

for a reported fee of over £3 million. He scored his only goal for the club, a penalty, in a 2–0 win over Cardiff City on 27 September 2016.

Maccabi Tel Aviv loan

After starting only 12 matches for Derby, Blackman joined

Israeli Premier League The Israeli Premier League ( he, ליגת העל, ''Ligat Ha`Al'', ), is a professional association football league which operates as the highest division of the Israeli Football League – the state's league of Israel. The league is contested b ...

club

on a season-long loan in August 2017. He scored 10 goals in 31

games. On 22 May 2018 Blackman returned to

after the end of his loan spell.

Sporting de Gijón loan

On 15 August 2018, Blackman joined

Sporting de Gijón Real Sporting de Gijón, S.A.D. (), commonly known as Real Sporting, Sporting Gijón, or simply Sporting (although in an international context this can lead to confusion with Sporting Clube de Portugal) is a Spanish football club from Gijón, ...

on a season-long loan. In January 2019 he scored the winner in the last 16 of the

Copa del Rey The Campeonato de España–Copa de Su Majestad el Rey, commonly known as Copa del Rey or simply La Copa and formerly known as Copa del Presidente de la República (1932–36) and Copa del Generalísimo (1939–76), is an annual knockout footb ...

against

Valencia Valencia ( va, València) is the capital of the autonomous community of Valencia and the third-most populated municipality in Spain, with 791,413 inhabitants. It is also the capital of the province of the same name. The wider urban area al ...

Maccabi Tel Aviv

After being released by Derby County in July 2019, Blackman signed a two-year contract with

on 17 July 2019. In his first season back at the club, Blackman won the

title. Despite some favourable displays in the early part of the season, Blackman spent large amounts of time away from the first team due to injury.

2020–21 season

Blackman scored both goals for Maccabi in the first leg of their victory against

Hapoel Be'er Sheva Hapoel Be'er Sheva Football Club ( he, מועדון הכדורגל הפועל באר שבע, ''Moadon HaKaduregel Hapoel Be'er Sheva'') is an Israeli football club from the city of Be'er Sheva, that competes in the Israeli Premier League. The c ...

in the

Israel Super Cup The Israel Super Cup, also known as the Champion of Champions ( he, אלוף האלופים, Aluf HaAlufim), is an Israeli association football club competition played as a single match between the winner of the latest Israeli top league champio ...

on 8 August 2020. On 19 August, Blackman again scored twice in a 2–0 victory over

Riga FC Riga Football Club, commonly referred to as Riga FC, is a Latvian football club, founded in 2014. The club is based at the Skonto Stadium in Riga. Since 2016 the club has been playing in the Virslīga. History The club was officially registered ...

in the

first qualifying round First or 1st is the ordinal form of the number one (#1). First or 1st may also refer to: *World record, specifically the first instance of a particular achievement Arts and media Music * 1$T, American rapper, singer-songwriter, DJ, and rec ...

of the

2020–21 UEFA Champions League The 2020–21 UEFA Champions League was the 66th season of Europe's premier club football tournament organised by UEFA, and the 29th season since it was renamed from the European Champion Clubs' Cup to the UEFA Champions League. Chelsea defea ...

. Seven days later, Blackman continued his good form, scoring in Maccabi's successful second qualifying round win over FK Sūduva of Lithuania in the same competition.

International career

According to Blackman, he was eligible to represent

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

, the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populou ...

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

at international level—Barbados through his father, the Netherlands and Poland through his maternal grandparents, and Israel through "family members". In 2019, Blackman decided to represent

at international level.

Career statistics

Club

International

International goals

:''Scores and results list Barbados' goal tally first.''

Honours

Maccabi Tel Aviv *

: 2019–20 *

Toto Cup The Israel Toto Cup ( he, גביע הטוטו, ''Gvia Ha'Toto'') is an association football tournament that features clubs in the two highest divisions in Israel: the Israeli Premier League (Ligat Ha'Al), and the second division Liga Leumit. F ...

: 2017–18,בפעם החמישית: מכבי ת"א זכתה בגביע הטוטו
14 December 2017. 2020–21 *

2020 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global social and economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of events, worldwide lockdowns and the largest economic recession since the Great Depression in t ...

References

External links

Nick Blackman profile
at Reading F.C. *
Twitter page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Blackman, Nick Living people 1989 births People from Whitefield, Greater Manchester People with acquired Barbadian citizenship Barbadian footballers Barbados international footballers English footballers Black British sportspeople Jewish footballers English Ashkenazi Jews Association football forwards Macclesfield Town F.C. players Blackburn Rovers F.C. players Blackpool F.C. players Oldham Athletic A.F.C. players Motherwell F.C. players Aberdeen F.C. players Sheffield United F.C. players Reading F.C. players Derby County F.C. players Maccabi Tel Aviv F.C. players Sporting de Gijón players Premier League players English Football League players Scottish Premier League players Israeli Premier League players Maccabiah Games competitors for Great Britain Maccabiah Games footballers British emigrants to Israel Competitors at the 2005 Maccabiah Games Barbadian expatriate footballers English sportspeople of Barbadian descent Footballers from Salford Barbadian Jews English Jews English expatriate sportspeople in Spain Expatriate footballers in Spain Expatriate footballers in Israel English expatriate sportspeople in Israel Barbadian expatriate sportspeople in Israel Barbadian expatriate sportspeople in Spain Segunda División players