Hibees and Whites

Player Profile:

John Henderson Blackley was born in Polmont on 12 May 1948. Blackley started his career with Gairdoch United before joining Hibernian.

He was nicknamed "Sloop" which owes its origins to the Beach Boys song, "Sloop John B" that having been released in the early to mid Seventies when he was playing for Hibs. He also was superstitious insisting he was last out onto the pitch and to kick the ball into the Hibs net before kick off.

Blackley made his debut for Hibernian in the 1967/68 season and was introduced into the side sparingly making 4 appearances in 1967/68 and 13 appearances in the 1968/69 season. The 1968/69 season saw Hibs lose 6-2 to Celtic in the Scottish League Cup Final

The 1969/70 season saw Blackley make 31 of the 34 matches during the 1969/70 season as Hibs finished third behind Celtic and Rangers. Blackley scored his first goals for the club when he scored twice in 29 appearances in 1970/71.

The arrival of Eddie Turnbell as Manager from Aberdeen in 1971/72 saw Blackley keep the number six shirt for the next few years. He scored two goals in 33 appearances and was part of the team which were beaten by Celtic 6-1 in the Scottish FA Cup Final.

The 1972/73 season Blackley made 29 appearances as Hibs finished third behind Celtic and Rangers again. But the December 1972 will always be remembered by the Hibs faithful. Blackley helped Hibs beat Celtic 2 - 1 to lift the Scottish League Cup on 9 December 1972. Seven days later Hibs demolished Ayr United 8 - 1 at Easter Road and on New Years Day Hibs won 7-0 against Hearts at Tynecastle!

The 1973/74 season saw Hibs finish runners-up to Celtic with Blackley scoring one goal in 31 appearances. Blackley made his fist of seven Scottish Caps in a 1-0 defeat to Czechoslovakia on 17 October 1973 and was part of the squad who went to the 1974 World Cup Finals.

Hibs were runners-up again in 1974/75 with Blackley making 22 appearances and was part of the team which lost 6-3 to Celtic in the Scottish League Cup Final.

The next two seasons saw Blackley make a further 87 appearances in the next three seasons and made his last International appearance in a 3-1 win against Sweden on 27 April 1977.

After 264 league appearances and 6 goals Blackley joined Newcastle for a fee of £100,000 in October 1977. His first season saw him make 18 appearances but could not help save them from relegation to Division Two. In Division Two Blackley made a further 28 appearances in 1978/79 before joining Preston in July 1979.

Unfortunately his two and a half year stay was littered with injures. He made his debut in a 3-0 win at Charlton on 18 August 1979 and made 27 appearances during the 1979/80 season as PNE finished tenth in Division Two.

The 1980/81 season Blackley made 33 appearances which saw the Lilywhites relegated to Division Three.

Blackley made the last of his 53 appearances in a 4-0 defeat at Swindon on 12 September 1981.

Blackley returned to Scotland and joined Hamilton making 19 appearances in both the 1981/82 and 1982/83 seasons before rejoining Hibernian in 1983/84 and made 16 appearances.

In 1983, Blackley returned to Easter Road as Assistant Manager to his former team-mate and Club Captain Pat Stanton and then in September of that year he took the hot seat himself when Stanton resigned. He made 16 league appearances during the season.

In 1986/87, however, a run of only 3 wins in 17 League starts saw Blackley tender his resignation. His final managerial role was at Cowdenbeath, which he left to become Gordon Wallace's assistant at Dundee.

Blackley is currently a member of Paul Sturrock's long-term coaching set-up at Plymouth, having rejoined the club when Paul Sturrock was re-appointed manager there in November 2007. He has previously worked with Sturrock as Assistant Manager at St Johnstone as well as at Dundee United, Plymouth, Sheffield Wednesday and Swindon.