Blake Interview, 2005
Many things have changed for the better around Elland Road since this time last year, and one of them is the start made by our strikers. Two games into last season our two goals were scored by Frazer Richardson and Danny Pugh, while at the same stage this year David Healy had already knocked in two and Robbie Blake had opened his account against Cardiff. Blake's still not happy though - and not just about the result in South Wales - though we'll come to that later.
"I'm not playing as well as I know I can," he says. "I didn't play well against Millwall and I don't think I did against Cardiff. I lost a couple of weeks of pre-season so I'm still finding my touch."
But you did score in Cardiff, only your second game...
"It was only a tap-in though! I'll get better."
Things are definitely looking up...
"I'm not playing as well as I know I can," he says. "I didn't play well against Millwall and I don't think I did against Cardiff. I lost a couple of weeks of pre-season so I'm still finding my touch."
But you did score in Cardiff, only your second game...
"It was only a tap-in though! I'll get better."
Things are definitely looking up...
Blake joined Leeds in July from Birmingham City, bringing our striker total up to five - and it seems a long time since we had that number of forwards. He's Middlesbrough born and bred and grew up supporting the north-east club. Tellingly, his hero is Bernie Slavin: "He was great. He'd do nothing for 80 minutes and then score two goals!" No fancy dan Maradona types for our Robbie then.
Now 29, Blake started his career at Darlington, alongside Sean Gregan (who's now his room-mate), before moving onto Bradford City where he had a memorable five years and scored the goal that saw City promoted to the Premiership in 1999 in a 3-2 win over Wolves.
"I'd say that was my favourite goal," he smiles. "We had to win to go up and we did it. That and staying up the next season are the highlights of my career so far." So far indeed - let's hope it gets just as good with Leeds...
In 2002 he joined Burnley in a million pound move, and scored 51 goals at Turf Moor before the chance to play in the Premiership with Birmingham came about in January 2005. The move to the Midlands didn't quite go as planned though, as he started only three games and scored twice in 13 appearances.
"It was nothing that I'd done wrong," he says of his experience at St Andrews. "I just ended up being fourth or fifth choice striker so it was one of those things.
"I didn't ask for a move but when Leeds came in I didn't think twice about it," he continues. "Other clubs came in, Wigan were interested, but I didn't want to go anywhere else."
So why Leeds, when he could have stayed in the Premiership?
"You've just got to look around!" he exclaims. "Look at the training facilities, it's the number one club in this part of Yorkshire."
He'll learn...
"And I still live in Harrogate so I've not got far to come!"
We're conducting the interview in a quiet changing room at Thorp Arch and at this point the lights begin to flicker before giving up entirely for about five minutes - maybe a ghostly protest at the 'this part of Yorkshire' comment, maybe another cost cutting measure. We carry on, with the photographer's flash occasionally cutting through the gloom.
Blake's not fazed by the interruption and seems to have settled in at Leeds remarkably quickly both on and off the pitch.
"Yeah, I've settled in straight away," he nods. "They're (the players) a great bunch of lads. It normally takes a couple of weeks to settle in when you're a new boy, and they can be funny with you at some clubs, but it only took a couple of days here. They've all been great, and we've only got one aim, which is to get back into the Premiership, which is where this club belongs. And hopefully we can do that together."
His signing looks all the more shrewd following the injuries to Rob Hulse and Ian Moore, which ruled both out of the start of the season. Blake and David Healy were given the chance to play together in pre-season and took a promising partnership into the new campaign.
"It's great playing with David," he enthuses. "He's a good player and we're quite similar so we've got used to each other quickly. We've both scored goals so it's a good start to the partnership."
And Blake's been part of a proven striking partnership in his time.
"When me and Lee Mills were together at Bradford, we played with each other a long time and knew each other inside out. I think we scored 50 goals between us one season. You need to be on each other's wavelength, to know where the other is all the time."
However, when the others are fit, there's no guarantee of a starting place for Blake. Competition for places is what it's all about at Leeds this season.
He agrees: "I've got to prove myself, but I'm the one wearing the shirt so I've got to make sure I do well enough to stay in the team. I wouldn't say it's extra pressure but it's good to have the competition."
And Kevin Blackwell was very happy to increase that competition, saying at the time of
the signing: "Robbie has a fantastic goal-scoring record at this level and is an undoubted
talent.
"He gives us some options too because he can play up front or wide on the left or right. He can play that role just behind the strikers and hopefully he can add that little bit of guile that was sometimes missing from our play last season. He's a major signing for us and I am delighted that we have him at Leeds United."
So, with all this competition for places, Leeds are looking to finish a lot higher than last year's 14th position. The players and the manager haven't been frightened to mention the promotion word and Blake has been there and done it before with Bradford. He's one of a number of players at the club who have got experience of promotion, is that important?
"That experience is important, but all of us know what's got to be done," he says. "We've all got the same aim and hopefully we can do what we need to do. It's a strange league though - you look at how Crystal Palace have started and how well Luton have done - so it can be a hard league to get out of.
"We haven't really sat down and talked about a target of promotion but that's what every player here wants, there would be no point thinking anything else."
And has he got a goal target in mind for himself?
"I don't like setting myself targets, I never have. If I score 20 goals, that's great, but I'd rather play well and help us to get up."
Things have definitely changed in a year. The emphasis last year was on putting out a team capable of staying in the division. There were seven debutants in the first game of the season against Derby, while three, including Blake, made their debuts this time around against Millwall. This time last year, Neil Sullivan was LLL's Player of the Month, a theme which continued throughout the whole season. This year, everyone's talking about getting back to the Premiership. Let's hope a few other players around the pitch begin to stake a claim for this year's awards. And it started well, but things fell down a little at Cardiff...
Blake nods and says: "It was good to score (at Cardiff) so early in the season because it gives you confidence but I'd rather not have scored and we'd got the three points. Maybe soon I can score and we'll win!"
He continues: "Maybe it was a bit of a wake-up call, we can't afford to go places like that and lose. It won't be a problem raising our game for the bigger teams like Norwich, Southampton, Palace, but we've got to beat the others as well, and play as well as we can every game.
"But we should have had a penalty - the ref was 40 yards away when he gave theirs and only five yards away when he didn't see ours. But that's the way it goes -so early in the season and we're already talking about refs."
Was he warned about the Cardiff-Leeds rivalry beforehand?
"No, not really," he grins. "We didn't really talk about the history between the two clubs, we know it, we all saw the FA Cup game on telly! It's a good job Kelly (Gary played in midfield that day) didn't tell us all about it though, I might not have gone!
"We don't really prepare for games that way."
One thing Blake will have to work on is his goal record at Elland Road, where he has never scored.
"Yeah, thanks for bringing that up!" he grins. "I've got a few home games coming up to change that - though hopefully it won't be an own goal!"
Room-mate - It's Greegs. We knew each other at Darlington, I've been friends with him now for about 10 or 12 years. He has to be in bed by ten because he's got three kids, while I'm still wide awake! No, he hasn't got any bad habits, not that I'm telling you anyway! He'll probably tell you I've got some though...
Now 29, Blake started his career at Darlington, alongside Sean Gregan (who's now his room-mate), before moving onto Bradford City where he had a memorable five years and scored the goal that saw City promoted to the Premiership in 1999 in a 3-2 win over Wolves.
"I'd say that was my favourite goal," he smiles. "We had to win to go up and we did it. That and staying up the next season are the highlights of my career so far." So far indeed - let's hope it gets just as good with Leeds...
In 2002 he joined Burnley in a million pound move, and scored 51 goals at Turf Moor before the chance to play in the Premiership with Birmingham came about in January 2005. The move to the Midlands didn't quite go as planned though, as he started only three games and scored twice in 13 appearances.
"It was nothing that I'd done wrong," he says of his experience at St Andrews. "I just ended up being fourth or fifth choice striker so it was one of those things.
"I didn't ask for a move but when Leeds came in I didn't think twice about it," he continues. "Other clubs came in, Wigan were interested, but I didn't want to go anywhere else."
So why Leeds, when he could have stayed in the Premiership?
"You've just got to look around!" he exclaims. "Look at the training facilities, it's the number one club in this part of Yorkshire."
He'll learn...
"And I still live in Harrogate so I've not got far to come!"
We're conducting the interview in a quiet changing room at Thorp Arch and at this point the lights begin to flicker before giving up entirely for about five minutes - maybe a ghostly protest at the 'this part of Yorkshire' comment, maybe another cost cutting measure. We carry on, with the photographer's flash occasionally cutting through the gloom.
Blake's not fazed by the interruption and seems to have settled in at Leeds remarkably quickly both on and off the pitch.
"Yeah, I've settled in straight away," he nods. "They're (the players) a great bunch of lads. It normally takes a couple of weeks to settle in when you're a new boy, and they can be funny with you at some clubs, but it only took a couple of days here. They've all been great, and we've only got one aim, which is to get back into the Premiership, which is where this club belongs. And hopefully we can do that together."
His signing looks all the more shrewd following the injuries to Rob Hulse and Ian Moore, which ruled both out of the start of the season. Blake and David Healy were given the chance to play together in pre-season and took a promising partnership into the new campaign.
"It's great playing with David," he enthuses. "He's a good player and we're quite similar so we've got used to each other quickly. We've both scored goals so it's a good start to the partnership."
And Blake's been part of a proven striking partnership in his time.
"When me and Lee Mills were together at Bradford, we played with each other a long time and knew each other inside out. I think we scored 50 goals between us one season. You need to be on each other's wavelength, to know where the other is all the time."
However, when the others are fit, there's no guarantee of a starting place for Blake. Competition for places is what it's all about at Leeds this season.
He agrees: "I've got to prove myself, but I'm the one wearing the shirt so I've got to make sure I do well enough to stay in the team. I wouldn't say it's extra pressure but it's good to have the competition."
And Kevin Blackwell was very happy to increase that competition, saying at the time of
the signing: "Robbie has a fantastic goal-scoring record at this level and is an undoubted
talent.
"He gives us some options too because he can play up front or wide on the left or right. He can play that role just behind the strikers and hopefully he can add that little bit of guile that was sometimes missing from our play last season. He's a major signing for us and I am delighted that we have him at Leeds United."
So, with all this competition for places, Leeds are looking to finish a lot higher than last year's 14th position. The players and the manager haven't been frightened to mention the promotion word and Blake has been there and done it before with Bradford. He's one of a number of players at the club who have got experience of promotion, is that important?
"That experience is important, but all of us know what's got to be done," he says. "We've all got the same aim and hopefully we can do what we need to do. It's a strange league though - you look at how Crystal Palace have started and how well Luton have done - so it can be a hard league to get out of.
"We haven't really sat down and talked about a target of promotion but that's what every player here wants, there would be no point thinking anything else."
And has he got a goal target in mind for himself?
"I don't like setting myself targets, I never have. If I score 20 goals, that's great, but I'd rather play well and help us to get up."
Things have definitely changed in a year. The emphasis last year was on putting out a team capable of staying in the division. There were seven debutants in the first game of the season against Derby, while three, including Blake, made their debuts this time around against Millwall. This time last year, Neil Sullivan was LLL's Player of the Month, a theme which continued throughout the whole season. This year, everyone's talking about getting back to the Premiership. Let's hope a few other players around the pitch begin to stake a claim for this year's awards. And it started well, but things fell down a little at Cardiff...
Blake nods and says: "It was good to score (at Cardiff) so early in the season because it gives you confidence but I'd rather not have scored and we'd got the three points. Maybe soon I can score and we'll win!"
He continues: "Maybe it was a bit of a wake-up call, we can't afford to go places like that and lose. It won't be a problem raising our game for the bigger teams like Norwich, Southampton, Palace, but we've got to beat the others as well, and play as well as we can every game.
"But we should have had a penalty - the ref was 40 yards away when he gave theirs and only five yards away when he didn't see ours. But that's the way it goes -so early in the season and we're already talking about refs."
Was he warned about the Cardiff-Leeds rivalry beforehand?
"No, not really," he grins. "We didn't really talk about the history between the two clubs, we know it, we all saw the FA Cup game on telly! It's a good job Kelly (Gary played in midfield that day) didn't tell us all about it though, I might not have gone!
"We don't really prepare for games that way."
One thing Blake will have to work on is his goal record at Elland Road, where he has never scored.
"Yeah, thanks for bringing that up!" he grins. "I've got a few home games coming up to change that - though hopefully it won't be an own goal!"
Room-mate - It's Greegs. We knew each other at Darlington, I've been friends with him now for about 10 or 12 years. He has to be in bed by ten because he's got three kids, while I'm still wide awake! No, he hasn't got any bad habits, not that I'm telling you anyway! He'll probably tell you I've got some though...
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