Matthew Blinkhorn

Matthew David Blinkhorn (born 2 March 1985) is an English semi-professional footballer who plays as a striker for Lancaster City.

Matthew Blinkhorn

Blinkhorn playing for Morecambe in 2008
Personal information
Full name	Matthew David Blinkhorn[1]
Date of birth	(1985-03-02) 2 March 1985 (age 39)[1]
Place of birth	Blackpool, England
Height	5 ft 11 in (1.80 m)[1]
Position(s)	Striker
Team information
Current team	Lancaster City
Youth career
0000–2001	Blackpool
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
2001–2007	Blackpool	44	(5)
2004	→ Luton Town (loan)	2	(0)
2006–2007	→ Bury (loan)	10	(0)
2007	→ Morecambe (loan)	12	(8)
2007–2009	Morecambe	52	(10)
2009–2011	Sligo Rovers	72	(22)
2012	York City	15	(1)
2012–2013	Hyde	30	(7)
2013	→ AFC Fylde (loan)	2	(1)
2013–2018	AFC Fylde	?	(?)
2018–	Lancaster City	36	(6)
Managerial career
2018	Lancaster City (caretaker)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 3 December 2016 (UTC)

Career

Blackpool

Born in Blackpool, Lancashire, Blinkhorn started his career with hometown club Blackpool.^[1] He played as a substitute in the victorious 2004 Football League Trophy Final.^[2] On 22 November 2006 he was loaned to Bury, but Blackpool manager Simon Grayson included a 24-hour recall clause in the contract, which began 28 days into the loan period. The loan period was due to end on 22 February 2007, but Blackpool cut it short and he returned on 9 February.

Morecambe

He was loaned to Morecambe of the Conference National for a month on 2 March 2007.^[3] Blinkhorn made an immediate impact, scoring the first goal in a 2–0 victory over St Albans City. By the end of his loan stint he had scored eight goals in 12 games.

Blinkhorn joined Morecambe on a permanent basis on 28 June 2007,^[4] for a fee of tribunal-set fee of £15,000, plus 25% of any future transfer fee that Morecambe were to receive for him.^[5]

Sligo Rovers

He was released by Morecambe in May 2009, and joined League of Ireland Premier Division side Sligo Rovers two months later. He made his debut for Sligo as a substitute in a 3–0 home defeat against Cork City at the Showgrounds on 12 July and scored his first goal for the club two weeks later in a 2–0 win over St Patrick's Athletic at home.^[6]

After the signing of Shamrock Rovers striker Pádraig Amond in the pre-season of 2010, Blinkhorn had to be second choice for half of the season until Amond signed for F.C. Paços de Ferreira. On 25 September 2010, Blinkhorn scored the winner for Sligo in a 1–0 win against Monaghan United in the 2010 League of Ireland Cup Final.^[7] He had to sit out Sligo's penalty shoot-out win over Shamrock Rovers in the 2010 FAI Cup Final on 14 November through suspension, along with recently confirmed PFAI Player of the Year, Richie Ryan.

York City

Following the expiration of his Sligo contract, Blinkhorn returned to England after signing for Conference Premier side York City on a contract until the end of the 2011–12 season on 10 January 2012.^[8] He scored four minutes into his debut against Salisbury City in the FA Trophy second round on 14 January 2012, having entered as a 65th-minute substitute, with York's fifth goal in a 6–2 victory.^[9] His first and only league goal for York came with the winner in the sixth minute of stoppage time at home to Stockport County on 18 February 2012 after heading in Jamie Reed's bicycle kick.^[9][10] Having been uninvolved for York in their play-off games, which concluded with League Two promotion, Blinkhorn finished the season with two goals in 19 appearances for York.^[9][11] He was released on 3 July 2012.^[12]

Hyde

After trials with Barrow and Chester, Blinkhorn signed for Conference Premier side Hyde on 17 August 2012.^[13][14] He scored on his debut for the club later that day, putting Hyde into the lead in a 2–1 defeat at home to Luton Town.^[15] He finished the season with Hyde having scored seven goals in 30 games.^[16]

AFC Fylde

In April 2013, he joined AFC Fylde on loan.^[17] Scoring two goals in three games including the opening goal against Hednesford Town in the Northern Premier League Premier Division play-off semi-final.^[17] On 25 June 2013, Blinkhorn signed a permanent one-year deal with Fylde.^[18]

Lancaster City

Blinkhorn joined Lancaster City in June 2018.^[19]

Coaching

On 29 October 2015 while playing for AFC Fylde, Blinkhorn was appointed as the Lead Foundation Coach for the academy at Blackpool.^[20][21]

In August 2018, he became a youth development lead coach at Fleetwood Town.^[22]

Following the resignation of Lancaster manager Phil Brown on 10 September 2018, the club appointed Blinkhorn as caretaker manager together with Craig Stanley.^[23] They were in charge for 6 games.

Blinkhorn returned to Blackpool FC as the youth academy's Head of Coaching in 2020, returning as part of Ciaran Donnelly's staffing structure after spending 2 seasons at Fleetwood FC's youth academy.

Career statistics

Blinkhorn playing for York City in 2012

As of match played 21 November 2017

Appearances and goals by club, season and competition

Club	Season	League			National Cup		League Cup		Other		Total
		Division	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Blackpool	2001–02[24]	Second Division	3	0	0	0	0	0	1[a]	0	4	0
	2002–03[25]	Second Division	7	2	0	0	0	0	1[a]	0	8	2
	2003–04[26]	Second Division	12	1	0	0	0	0	4[a]	1	16	2
	2004–05[27]	League One	4	0	2	0	0	0	2[a]	3	8	3
	2005–06[28]	League One	16	2	1	0	1	0	1[a]	1	19	3
	2006–07[29]	League One	2	0	0	0	0	0	1[a]	0	3	0
	Total		44	5	3	0	1	0	10	5	58	10
Luton Town (loan)	2004–05[27]	League One	2	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	3	0
Bury (loan)	2006–07[29]	League Two	10	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	10	0
Morecambe (loan)	2006–07[29]	Conference National	12	8	0	0	—		0	0	12	8
Morecambe	2007–08[30]	League Two	41	10	1	0	2	0	5[a]	1	49	11
	2008–09[31]	League Two	11	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	12	0
	Total		64	18	1	0	3	0	5	1	73	19
Sligo Rovers	2009[6]	LOI Premier Division	17	4	1	1	?	?	?	?	18	5
	2010[6]	LOI Premier Division	26	6	2	0	?	?	?	?	28	6
	2011[6][32][33]	LOI Premier Division	29	12	6	0	3	0	5[b]	0	43	12
	Total		72	22	9	1	3	0	5	0	89	23
York City	2011–12[9]	Conference Premier	15	1	0	0	—		4[c]	1	19	2
Hyde	2012–13[34]	Conference Premier	30	7	0	0	—		2[c]	0	32	7
AFC Fylde (loan)	2012–13	NPL Premier Division	3	2	0	0	—		0	0	3	2
AFC Fylde	2013–14	NPL Premier Division	?	?	?	?	—		?	?	?	?
	2014–15[35]	Conference North	18	0	0	0	—		1[c]	0	19	0
	2015–16[35]	National League North	25	2	2	0	—		3[c]	1	30	3
	2016–17[35]		22	3	0	0	—		2[c]	0	24	3
	2017–18[35]	National League	7	0	0	0	—		0	0	7	0
	Total		72	5	2	0	0	0	6	1	80	6
Career total			312	60	15	1	8	0	30	8	365	69

Honours

Blackpool

• Football League Trophy: 2003–04^[36]

Sligo Rovers

• FAI Cup: 2010, 2011
• League of Ireland Cup: 2010

Notes

1. Appearances in Football League Trophy
2. Three appearances in Setanta Sports Cup, two in UEFA Europa League.
3. Appearances in FA Trophy

References

1. Hugman, Barry J., ed. (2009). The PFA Footballers' Who's Who 2009–10. Mainstream Publishing. p. 50. ISBN 978-1-84596-474-0.
2. "Blackpool 2-0 Southend". BBC. 21 March 2004. Retrieved 27 October 2018.
3. "Morecambe take Blinkhorn on loan". BBC Sport. 2 March 2007. Retrieved 10 January 2012.
4. "Blinkorn seals Morecambe switch". BBC Sport. 28 June 2007. Retrieved 10 January 2012.
5. Gillatt, Peter (30 November 2009). Blackpool FC On This Day: History, Facts and Figures from Every Day of the Year. Pitch Publishing Ltd. ISBN 978-1-905411-50-4.
6. "M. Blinkhorn". Soccerway. Retrieved 10 January 2012.
7. "Sligo Rovers 1–0 Monaghan Utd". RTÉ Sport. 25 September 2010. Retrieved 26 September 2010.
8. "York City sign Matthew Blinkhorn from Sligo Rovers". BBC Sport. 10 January 2012. Retrieved 14 March 2012.
9. Appearances and goals for this season are taken from:
   "Games played by Matt Blinkhorn in 2011/2012". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 3 July 2012.
   Flett, Dave (16 January 2012). "Match report: Salisbury City 2, York City 6 – FA Trophy round two". The Press. York. Retrieved 21 January 2012.
   Flett, Dave (27 February 2012). "Match report: Grimsby Town 0, York City 1 – FA Trophy quarter-final". The Press. York. Retrieved 10 March 2012.
   Flett, Dave (12 March 2012). "Match report: York City 1, Luton Town 0 – FA Trophy semi-final, first leg". The Press. York. Retrieved 13 March 2012.
   Flett, Dave (19 March 2012). "Match report: Luton Town 1, York City 1 – FA Trophy semi-final, second leg". The Press. York. Retrieved 19 March 2012.
10. Flett, Dave (20 February 2012). "Match report: York City 2, Stockport County 1". The Press. York. Retrieved 3 July 2012.
11. Maiden, Phil (20 May 2012). "Luton 1–2 York". BBC Sport. Retrieved 3 July 2012.
12. Flett, Dave (3 July 2012). "Treble joy as Blanchett, Challinor and Doig sign up for York City". The Press. York. Archived from the original on 9 December 2012. Retrieved 3 July 2012.
13. "Hyde sign former Blackpool forward Matthew Blinkhorn". BBC Sport. 17 August 2012. Retrieved 17 August 2012.
14. Wheelock, Paul (7 August 2012). "Chester FC 1 Fleetwood Town 1: Sean Clancy nets draw for Blues". Chester Chronicle. Retrieved 17 August 2012.
15. "Hyde 1–2 Luton". BBC Sport. 17 August 2012. Retrieved 18 August 2012.
16. "Hyde FC player appearances 2012/13". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 29 June 2013.
17. "Blinkhorn returns on permanent deal". Pitchero. Retrieved 29 June 2013.
18. "Matty Blinkhorn Signs Permanent Deal". AFC Fylde. Archived from the original on 22 March 2014. Retrieved 29 June 2013.
19. The Dolly Blues sign Matthew Blinkhorn!, lancastercityfc.co.uk, 8 June 2018
20. Blinkhorn On Blackpool Academy Position, blackpoolfc.co.uk, 2 February 2019
21. Blackpool tweet on official Twitter account, twitter.com, 29 September 2018
22. Club Officials and Staff – Fleetwood Town, fleetwoodtownfc.com
23. Will Stan be the man for Lancaster City: caretaker boss Craig Stanley hopes to land job on permanent basis, lancasterguardian.co.uk, 20 September 2018
24. "Games played by Matt Blinkhorn in 2001/2002". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 14 September 2012.
25. "Games played by Matt Blinkhorn in 2002/2003". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 14 September 2012.
26. "Games played by Matt Blinkhorn in 2003/2004". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 14 September 2012.
27. "Games played by Matt Blinkhorn in 2004/2005". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 14 September 2012.
28. "Games played by Matt Blinkhorn in 2005/2006". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 14 September 2012.
29. "Games played by Matt Blinkhorn in 2006/2007". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 10 January 2012.
30. "Games played by Matt Blinkhorn in 2007/2008". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 14 September 2012.
31. "Games played by Matt Blinkhorn in 2008/2009". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 14 September 2012.
32. "Sligo Rovers 3 – 2 Pike Rovers". Extratime.ie. Archived from the original on 3 March 2016. Retrieved 13 January 2012.
33. "Player Profile". Airtricity League Stats Centre. Retrieved 12 January 2012.
34. Appearances and goals for this season are taken from:
    "Games played by Matt Blinkhorn in 2012/2013". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 17 August 2012.
    "Hyde vs. Barrow 1 – 1". Soccerway. Retrieved 19 July 2013.
    "Barrow vs. Hyde 1 – 0". Soccerway. Retrieved 19 July 2013.
35. Matthew Blinkhorn at Soccerway. Retrieved 25 November 2017.
36. "Blackpool 2–0 Southend". BBC Sport. 21 March 2004. Retrieved 17 March 2024.

External links

• Matthew Blinkhorn at Soccerbase