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Date of Birth – 01/10/63
Place of Birth – Bellshill
Clubs as a Player – Aberdeen, Metz
As a Coach – SFA, Celtic,
Post Celtic: – Motherwell (Manager), Coventry (Assistant Manager and Caretaker Manager), Birmingham City(Assistant Manager and Caretaker Manager), Wigan Athletic (Assistant Manager), Sunderland (Assistant Manager)
Head of Youth Development
At the end of the 1996-1997 season Fergus McCann stated that the club would move towards a continental club model with the appointment of a General Manager, a Head Coach and a Head of Youth Development. Jock Brown was appointed General Manager and he then appointed Wim Jansen as Head Coach and in early September 1997 Eric Black was appointed as Head of Youth Development.
Eric Black came originally from East Kilbride and he had played in the same team as the young Alistair McCoist, in a partnership which "scored a few goals". After moving to Alness on the Moray Firth, he was soon put on an S form by Aberdeen, scoring on his debut against Dundee United, aged 17. He was 19 when Aberdeen won the European Cup-Winners' Cup. Aberdeen under Alex Ferguson and Archie Knox was a school of hard knocks and a young Eric Black learnt fast.
"Once, when I was 17, I remember nutmegging one of the regular first-team players in training, and he ended up shoving me around. Archie took me aside, and said: 'Next time you get the ball, do exactly the same. If he's not good enough, it's his problem.' That was their attitude to youth."
He won two championships, three Scottish Cups, two European trophies with Aberdeen. He had a habit of scoring in most of those finals, and in the big games in Glasgow. He moved on to Metz in France much to the chagrin of Ferguson. By Christmas in his first year, Black was the top goalscorer in France, but then the injuries set in, first groin, then spinal, which forced him to retire from the game at 27.
Though lost to playing he made great progress as a coach and Craig Brown drafted him into the Scotland set-up with the S.F.A. In the summer of 1997 he took the Scotland U18's to Toulon and made a big impression there. He was approached by Jock Brown and offered the job of Head of Youth Development at Celtic and after a discussion on the scope and role that the position would entail Black had little hesitation in taking the job.
Brown and McCann wanted him to completely redevelop the Celtic squad from U21 level downwards and to oversee a massive expansion of all aspects below first team level. Brown said, "Eric will have overall responsibility for strategy, direction and co-ordination of all football activities below first-team level. The post also includes responsibility for coaching and selection of both reserve and under-21 teams."
Eric's first action was to appoint Willie McStay as Head Youth Coach followed closely by recruiting Kenny McDowall from The S.F.A. to head up the Reserves/U21 side.
Assistant Head Coach
Black appears to have enjoyed a warm relationship with Venglos and his stock rose. Though the 1998-99 season turned out to be trophy-less and at times lacking in direction most of the burden of responsibility for that barren year appears to have fallen on Venglos.
When Fergus McCann stepped down and Allan MacDonald came in as Chief Executive it was clear that another round of re-organisation would take place. The club headed down a line between continental and 'English/traditional' management structures. MacDonald, with the approval of the Board appointed Kenny Dalglish as Director of Football. He in turn brought in John Barnes as Head Coach with Eric continuing as Assistant Head Coach.
This structure appeared to suit all those involved. As a new rookie coach without any real previous experience, John Barnes views on tactics and how the team would play were to prove radical and at times confusing to one and all. At the first AGM with the shareholders Allan MacDonald even went as far as to say that the appointing of Barnes was a 'high risk' strategy. It was felt however that because Barnes had a substantial body of experience in the people around him that things would and could be balanced out between radical strategies and experienced pragmatics. Kenny Dalglish would be the focal point for Barnes to discuss developments and Eric Black would be the hands on man in the dressing room with the players.
When everything came off the rails culminating in the disaster of Inverness Caledonian Thistle it was Black, Barnes and McDermott that paid for the failure with their jobs.
There is the general feeling that Eric Black was never liked within the dressing room at Celtic. Consequently he has shown little fondness for Celtic since leaving the club. The cause of the half-time dressing room bust up at the Inverness Caley Thistle game was partly a near-ruck between Viduka and Eric Black when Black accused Viduka of '….not being up for it tonight'. This was the spark that set the dressing room alight, with Viduka having to be restrained from physically attacking Black and Gould then chipping in. When Barnes was sacked, Black was offered another position within the coaching setup at the club but felt that the right thing to do was to go with Barnes.