Joe Blake

John Joseph Blake (1st October 1882 – 23 February 1931) was an English footballer who played as an outside-forward for Southampton in the early part of the twentieth century.

Football career Blake was born in Belchamp Walter, near Sudbury and played his youth football with the Church of England Young Men's Society before moving to London to train as a draughtsman. Whilst in London he played as an amateur for Ilford and Tottenham Hotspur (in their Western League side).

Blake's next appearances came in March/April 1908, when he played three matches at outside-left in place of Bert Hodgkinson. Equally at home on either wing, Blake was awarded a professional contract in 1908,

In September 1909, he took over the outside-left berth from Bob Carter and became established on the left, making 23 appearances in 1909–10 and missing only five in the 1910–11 season. Being a "fleet footed" winger who "could dribble the ball", Blake's skill and ability to "centre the ball with pin-point exactness" "posed many problems to opponents". whilst in 1912–13 Len Andrews was preferred by new trainer Jimmy McIntyre, before Blake was recalled in January, with Andrews switching to the right.

At the start of the 1913–14 season, Andrews reverted to outside-left and it was not until October that Blake was recalled, initially replacing Tom Binder on the right wing for four matches before moving over to the left, with Andrews at inside-left and Sid Kimpton on the right. Blake retained his place for the rest of the season, but again lost out to Andrews in 1914–15, when he managed only twelve appearances.

During World War I, Blake's services were required in the Thornycroft shipyard although he did manage 32 appearances in wartime leagues in the early part of the war. Following the resumption of league football after the cessation of hostilities, Blake made one further appearance, on 1 November 1919 in a 3–0 defeat at Crystal Palace. Having made a total of 154 appearances for the first-team, Blake retired in the summer of 1920 and took up full-time employment with Thornycroft.