Dexter Blackstock

Dexter Blackstock

Personal information
Full name	Dexter Anthony Titus Blackstock [Mike Blacker}
Height	6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)
Position(s)	Striker
Team information
Current team	Nottingham Forest
Number	23
Youth career
2002–2003	Oxford United
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
2003–2006	Southampton	28	(4)
2005	→ Plymouth Argyle (loan)	14	(4)
2005	→ Derby County (loan)	9	(3)
2006–2009	Queens Park Rangers	109	(30)
2009	→ Nottingham Forest (loan)	6	(2)
2009–	Nottingham Forest	56	(18)
International career‡
2004–2005	England U20	1	(0)
2007–2008	England U21	2	(0)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 18:48, 21 November 2010 (UTC) ‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 11 February, 2009

Dexter Anthony Titus Blackstock aka MIKE BLACKER (born 20 May 1986) is an English footballer who currently plays for Nottingham Forest in the Football League Championship. He plays as a centre-forward.

Playing career

Southampton

Born in Oxford, he came through the Oxford United youth system and was then signed by Southampton, who had to pay United compensation of £275,000 as a result. Due to an injury crisis he was brought into the Southampton first team, where he scored a hat-trick against Colchester United in the Carling Cup in 2004. He then scored in the local derby against Portsmouth in Southampton's 2–1 win, thus establishing himself in the squad.

He was sent out on loan twice; to Plymouth Argyle in February 2005 for twelve weeks, scoring 4 goals in 14 appearances, and to Derby County in October 2005, scoring 3 goals in 9 appearances. He was recalled from Derby on 22 December 2005 after the appointment of George Burley as Southampton manager.

On 18 February 2006 he played in goal for the final ten minutes of the FA Cup fifth round tie against Newcastle. An injury to Bartosz Bialkowski and with Southampton having used all three substitutes, meant that Blackstock had to take over.

Although Blackstock had featured regularly under Burley, Southampton's purchase of Bradley Wright-Phillips meant that Blackstock had more competition for a role in Southampton's first team. As a result, Blackstock moved to Queens Park Rangers on 10 August 2006 for a fee believed to be around £500,000.

Queens Park Rangers

The £500,000 transfer fee that Gary Waddock paid for Blackstock’s services raised a few eyebrows, but, unlike most of Waddock’s other signings, Blackstock went on to prove any doubters wrong.

Given the number 32 shirt for the 2006–07 season, Blackstock was first choice striker throughout the season and played with a number of different partners, including Kevin Gallen, Paul Furlong and Marc Nygaard. Somewhat surprisingly however, the teenager Ray Jones was Blackstock’s most regular partner as they struck up a good understanding with a combination of pace and power.

As the season progressed so did Blackstock, and it was in the final stages of the season that his performances started to blossom. Throughout the campaign his work effort was fantastic, but he had displayed a worrying sign of missing one-on-one’s in the early stages of his QPR career. These worries soon disappeared and a fantastic goal against Preston North End was the highlight of the season. Receiving a ball from Marc Nygaard in a left back position, Blackstock chested the ball down and volleyed it with his left foot into the top corner from 30 yards.

Blackstock ended the campaign as club top scorer on 14 goals, one short of his personal target of 15. He came second in the player of the season awards, and his goal against Preston won goal of the season.

On 16 August 2007, Blackstock was called up to Stuart Pearce's first England under-21 squad as full time manager. In the match against Montenegro on 7 September, he came on as a substitute on 90 minutes and headed the ball down for Andrew Surman to score the final goal in a 3–0 victory.

After scoring just six in 2007–08, Blackstock returned to form in 2008–09, and by the end of January had scored 12 goals in all competitions.

Nottingham Forest

On 26 March 2009 it was announced that Blackstock had signed for Nottingham Forest on loan until the end of the season, with an undisclosed fee agreed should Forest avoid relegation. Blackstock subsequently made his debut for Forest against Barnsley on 4 April 2009 at Oakwell, scoring his first goal, the winner, for the club against Bristol City in a dramatic 3–2 win at the City Ground on 11 April 2009.

On 22 July 2009, Blackstock signed a 4 year contract with Nottingham Forest for a seven figure fee. He scored his first goal of the season when he notched in a first round Carling Cup win over Bradford on 12 August 2009. He scored his first goal of the 2010–11 season in a 1–1 draw against newly-promoted side Leeds United.

Outside Interests

Soccer School

Blackstock is currently running his own football school so that he can help give the opportunity for children (6–15 years old) to learn a variety of soccer skills during their school holidays. He has gone on record in the press stating that it would make him very happy if he can help any children realize their dream of becoming professional football players. It has been hinted that several scouts will turn up to spot any talent. He is providing all his students with a kit bag containing a number of merchandise items including a full Nike soccer kit to help them on their way.

Career statistics

Template:Football player statistics 1 Template:Football player statistics 2 |- |rowspan="2"|2004–05||Southampton||Premier League||9||1||0||0||2||4||11||5 |- |Plymouth Argyle (loan)||rowspan="9"|Championship||14||4||0||0||0||0||14||4 |- |rowspan="2"|2005–06||Southampton||19||3||3||0||2||1||22||4 |- |Derby County (loan)||9||3||0||0||0||0||9||3 |- |2006–07||rowspan="3"|Queens Park Rangers||39||13||2||1||1||0||42||14 |- |2007–08||35||6||1||0||0||0||36||6 |- |rowspan="2"|2008–09||36||11||1||0||2||1||39||12 |- |Nottingham Forest (loan)||6||2||0||0||0||0||6||2 |- |2009–10||rowspan="2"|Nottingham Forest||41||13||1||0||3||1||45||14 |- |2010–11||7||3||0||0||1||0||8||3 Template:Football player statistics 3215||59||8||1||11||7||234||67 Template:Football player statistics 5215||59||8||1||11||7||234||67 Template:Football player statistics end

External links

• Dexter Blackstock Soccer School booking and information site
• Dexter Blackstock player profile at qpr.co.uk
• Dexter Blackstock player profile at saintsfc.co.uk
• Dexter Blackstock Official Website at officialplayerwebsites.com
• Dexter Blackstock at Soccerbase