Blake Herbert Image 3 Tottenham Hotspur 1922

Description

Bristol born goalkeeper Herbert Blake had joined local junior club Fishponds in 1913 before joining Second Division Bristol City prior to the First World War, and he made his Football League debut for The Robins against Birmingham in December 1914, his only appearance before the War interrupted his career, during which time he served in the Armed Forces.

On resumption he joined the short lived Mid-Rhondda revolution in 1919, but two years later returned to London with Tottenham Hotspur, where he vied with Bill Jaques and Alex Hunter for the goalkeeper’s jersey, making his Spurs debut at Sunderland in April 1922 taking over from Jacques soon after Tottenham’s FA Cup semi final defeat. In 1922-23 he was the established number one goalkeeper at White Hart Lane but the following season he lost his place to Geordie Maddison and was only recalled for 7 games towards the end of the season. Those proved his last of 56 Tottenham appearances and he moved to non league Kettering Town in 1925.

NB In this photograph from an unidentified match almost certainly in September 1922 (seemingly against either Burnley or Aston Villa, as he only played against West Ham United in April 1924, but he played against Burnley and then twice against Villa between 16th September and 14th October), Herbert Blake looks on anxiously as the ball loops towards goal. My opinion is that this is probably against Burnley and the player to the right could well be Joe Anderson, in which case it would be at Turf Moor on 16th September 1922 in a match Tottenham won 1-0.