Maxime Blanchard

Maxime Edouard Camille Blanchard, or just Maxy Blanchard, (born 27 September 1986) is a French former professional footballer who played as defender and defensive midfielder. He played in the Football League for Tranmere Rovers, Plymouth Argyle and Newport County, in his native league Championnat National for Laval, L'Entente SSG and Moulins, and in the League of Ireland Premier Division for Shamrock Rovers.

Maxime Blanchard
Personal information
Full name Maxime Edouard Camille Blanchard[1]
Date of birth (1986-09-27) 27 September 1986
Place of birth Alençon, France
Height 1.53 m (5 ft 0 in)
Position(s) Defender, midfielder
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2005–2008 Laval 6 (0)
2008–2009 L'Entente SSG 5 (1)
2009–2010 Moulins 5 (1)
2010–2011 Tranmere Rovers 0 (0)
2011–2014 Plymouth Argyle 24 (4)
2015–2016 Shamrock Rovers 6 (4)
2017 Newport County 1 (0)
Total 267 (10)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only

Career

Blanchard began his career in Alençon, a commune in Normandy, before joining his first professional club – Laval.[2] He spent two years in the youth team before being promoted to train with the senior squad during the 2005–06 season. Blanchard made his senior debut in Championnat National the following season and went on to appear in another 25 league matches for Laval over the next two years.[2][3] He spent the 2008–09 campaign with L'Entente SSG, where he scored his first league goal, and the next with Moulins – making 35 league appearances in both.[2][3]

He moved to England in the summer of 2010, signing for Football League One club Tranmere Rovers.[4][5] He made his debut in a 0–0 draw against Huddersfield Town and went on to make 24 appearances during the 2010–11 season. He left Tranmere at the end of the campaign after not being offered a new contract.[6][7] Blanchard signed a short-term contract with Plymouth Argyle in November after spending time with the club on trial.[8][9] He made his debut in a 4–1 win against Northampton Town,[10] and extended his contract in January 2012 until the end of the season after making seven appearances.[11][12] Blanchard scored his first goal for the club in a 1–1 draw with Crawley Town.[13]

Blanchard signed a new two-year contract in May,[14][15] and won the club's Player of the Year award for the 2011–12 season.[16][17] He made 28 league appearances, in which he scored two goals and, according to The Herald, had a "formidable partnership" with Darren Purse.[15]

He left Shamrock Rovers in July 2016. On 10 February 2017, he joined League Two side Newport County on a game-by-game contract.[18] He made his Newport debut the same day in the starting line-up during a 0–0 draw with Doncaster Rovers.[19] This proved to be his only appearance as he left the club on 14 February for not being good enough.[20]

Personal life

Following his spell at Newport, Blanchard retired from the professional game, and went back to Dublin to live and work for software development company Zendesk.[21]

Career statistics
Appearances and goals by club, season and competition[22]
Club Season League FA Cup League Cup Other Total
DivisionAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoals
Laval 2005–06 Ligue 2 0000000000
2006–07 National 4010000050
2007–08 National 220303000280
Total 260403000330
L'Entente SSG 2008–09 National 3511[lower-alpha 1]00000361
Moulins 2009–10 National 351300000381
Tranmere Rovers 2010–11 League One 20010102[lower-alpha 2]0240
Plymouth Argyle 2011–12 League Two 282000000282
2012–13 League Two 40110201[lower-alpha 2]0441
2013–14 League Two 36150002[lower-alpha 2]0431
Shamrock Rovers 2015 Irish Premier 174000000174
2016 Irish Premier 9000000[lower-alpha 2]090
Newport County 2016–17 League Two 1000000[lower-alpha 2]010
Total 22110110305024010
Career total 24710150605027310
  1. Line-ups from two matches are not provided
  2. Appearances in the Football League Trophy

References
  1. "Professional retain list & free transfers 2012/13" (PDF). The Football League. 18 May 2013. p. 67. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2 August 2014. Retrieved 18 June 2013.
  2. "Maxime Blanchard" (in French). Foot National. Retrieved 22 January 2013.
  3. "Maxime Blanchard" (in French). L'Équipe. Archived from the original on 20 June 2009. Retrieved 22 January 2013.
  4. "Tranmere Rovers sign French defender Maxime Blanchard". Liverpool Echo. Liverpool. 7 August 2010. Retrieved 22 January 2013.
  5. Hilton, Nick (16 September 2010). "Maxime Blanchard says Tranmere Rovers should fear no one ahead of Charlton Athletic's visit to Prenton Park". Liverpool Daily Post. Liverpool. Retrieved 22 January 2013.
  6. "Rovers Offer Six New Contracts". Tranmere Rovers F.C. 9 May 2011. Archived from the original on 13 May 2011. Retrieved 22 January 2013.
  7. "Tranmere Rovers to release seven players". BBC Sport. BBC. 10 May 2011. Retrieved 22 January 2013.
  8. "Plymouth Argyle sign French defender Maxime Blanchard". BBC Sport. BBC. 18 November 2011. Retrieved 18 November 2011.
  9. "Plymouth Argyle sign trialist Max Blanchard". The Herald. Plymouth. 19 November 2011. Archived from the original on 5 May 2013. Retrieved 22 January 2013.
  10. "Plymouth 4–1 Northampton". BBC Sport. BBC. 26 November 2011. Retrieved 12 January 2012.
  11. "Maxime Blanchard extends Plymouth Argyle stay". BBC Sport. BBC. 12 January 2012. Retrieved 12 January 2012.
  12. "Plymouth Argyle extend Maxime Blanchard deal". The Herald. Plymouth. 12 January 2012. Archived from the original on 5 May 2013. Retrieved 22 January 2013.
  13. "Plymouth 1–1 Crawley Town". BBC Sport. BBC. 21 January 2012. Retrieved 21 January 2012.
  14. "Maxime Blanchard signs new Plymouth Argyle deal". BBC Sport. BBC. 3 May 2012. Retrieved 3 May 2012.
  15. "Maxime Blanchard promises Plymouth Argyle will try to set the record straight". The Herald. Plymouth. 4 May 2012. Archived from the original on 5 May 2013. Retrieved 22 January 2013.
  16. "Max Is Player Of The Season". Plymouth Argyle F.C. 5 May 2012. Archived from the original on 9 May 2012. Retrieved 22 January 2013.
  17. "Plymouth Argyle almost failed to sign Maxime Blanchard". The Herald. Plymouth. 11 May 2012. Archived from the original on 5 May 2013. Retrieved 22 January 2013.
  18. "Maxime Blanchard: French defender signs for Newport County". BBC Sport. 10 February 2017. Retrieved 10 February 2017.
  19. "Newport County 0–0 Doncaster Rovers". BBC Sport. 10 February 2017. Retrieved 11 February 2017.
  20. "Maxime Blanchard: Defender leaves Newport County after one game". BBC Sport. 14 February 2017. Retrieved 15 February 2017.
  21. "Former Shamrock Rovers defender Max Blanchard joins and leaves Newport County". ExtraTime IE. 17 February 2017. Retrieved 10 October 2017.
  22. "Maxime Blanchard". Soccerway. Retrieved 10 October 2017.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.