Eric Black

Eric Black (born 1 October 1963 in Bellshill, Lanarkshire) is a Scottish professional former footballer who played as a striker for Aberdeen and Metz. Black earned two international caps for the Scotland national team. He is currently working as an assistant manager under Southampton manager Claude Puel.

Black was involved in possibly the best era ever for Aberdeen who, under the management of Sir Alex Ferguson, won the European Cup Winners' Cup in 1983 with a 2–1 win over Real Madrid in which the then 19-year-old Black scored the first goal. Black's main asset was his balletic heading ability and scoring goals. In February 1983, Black scored a hat-trick in a 3–1 win against Celtic. He made 180 league appearances (30 as substitute) and scored 70 goals for Aberdeen between 1981 and 1986.

That same year, Black joined Metz in France. After five seasons (1986–1991) with Metz, during which he won the 1988 French Cup and had two children, Black was forced to retire prematurely from the game due to a chronic back problem. Alex Ferguson later admitted that injury problems suffered by Black and other young players he had managed at Aberdeen were due to them playing an excessive number of games at a young age. In all, Black made 85 appearances for Metz, scoring 26 goals.

Black was a coach and assistant manager at Celtic, leaving the club when head coach John Barnes was sacked in February 2000. Black was appointed manager of Motherwell in October 2001. He was appointed Coventry City manager in January 2004, following the resignation of Gary McAllister. Black was sacked by Coventry for "being inconsistent", despite a 5–2 win against Gillingham. This angered many fans who believed that Black had brought an attractive and highly effective style of football back to the club and was merely being moved on for a bigger name (he was succeeded by Peter Reid, who proved to be a major disappointment).

Black joined Birmingham City in July 2004 as assistant manager to Steve Bruce. He managed one game as caretaker manager, after Bruce joined Wigan Athletic, before leaving St Andrew's in November 2007. He was assistant manager to Bruce at Sunderland from June 2009 and was appointed caretaker manager following the departure of Bruce. In his only game in charge, Sunderland were beaten 2–1 by Wolverhampton Wanderers. Black left Sunderland on 6 December 2011.

Black was appointed assistant manager to Steve Kean at Blackburn Rovers in January 2012. He was caretaker manager at Blackburn after the departure of Kean.

Black was an advisor at Blackpool to caretaker manager Barry Ferguson in 2014. Black was appointed as a coach at Wigan in July 2014.

In July 2015, Black was named as first team coach of Championship side Rotherham United. Black was appointed caretaker manager of Rotherham in September 2015, after manager Steve Evans left the club. Black left Rotherham in January 2016 and was then appointed first team coach at Aston Villa. He was appointed Villa manager on a temporary basis after Rémi Garde left by mutual consent in March 2016. Black left Villa in June 2016 following the appointment of Roberto Di Matteo.

Black joined Southampton on 30 June 2016, as assistant manager to Claude Puel. On 29 September, Black was caught up in an ongoing scandal in English football, after allegedly offering advice to a third-party player ownership consortium on how to bribe lower league clubs.