Ronnie Blackman

Ronnie Blackman
Personal information
Full name Ronald Henry Blackman
Date of birth (1925-04-02)2 April 1925
Place of birth Cosham, England
Date of death 16 February 2016(2016-02-16) (aged 90)
Playing position Forward
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
Gosport Borough
1946–1954 Reading 218 (158)
1954–1955 Nottingham Forest 11 (3)
1955–1958 Ipswich Town 27 (12)
Tonbridge
Total 256 (173)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only.

Ronald Henry Blackman (2 April 1925 – 16 February 2016), known as Ronnie or Ron Blackman, was a British professional footballer who is the all-time leading league goalscorer for Reading.

Blackman joined Reading in 1946 from Gosport Borough, making his debut for Reading with a 5–2 defeat v Bristol City. In the second half of the 1948–49 season, Blackman became a regular goal scorer, scoring the three goals in the 3–0 win v Leyton Orient on 12 February at Elm Park, in the Reading team that finished second to Swansea in the Third Division South. His goalscoring form continued and in the 1950–51 season he scored three of the four goals in the 4–2 win v Bristol City on 23 March.

Blackman played a vital role in the Reading team that finished second in the 1951–52 Third Division, narrowly missing out on promotion. Towards the end of that season, within the space of three weeks, Blackman scored a total of 10 goals at Elm Park – including five goals against Southend United on 14 April and four against Bournemouth on 3 May to end the season on a high note. He scored 39 league goals that season and another goal in the FA Cup, a league club record which has yet to be equalled six decades later, although Trevor Senior edged ahead by scoring 41 goals in all competitions in 1983–84.[1]

In 1953, Blackman left Reading to join Nottingham Forest with the club record for the number of League goals scored – 158.

Blackman died on 16 February 2016.[2] A minute's applause was held in his honour before Reading's FA Cup tie with West Bromwich Albion on 19 February 2016.

References

  1. ↑ "Top Scorers". Royalsrecord.co.uk. Retrieved 4 October 2012.
  2. ↑ "Ronnie Blackman: Reading's record goalscorer dies, aged 90". BBC Sport. Retrieved 2016-02-20.
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