[8] He moved back to his home-city club Cardiff City after this, where he quickly made his senior debut against Bristol Rovers in March.
It was during this season that he rose to national prominence when he scored a spectacular goal against Manchester City to send them crashing out of the FA Cup.
He started the 1998–99 season brightly, with six goals in the opening 12 games, which won him his third move back to the Premier League with Blackburn Rovers in a £4.25 million deal in October 1998.
[11] Blake, who had a strained relationship with Blackburn manager Graeme Souness, was offered the chance to stay and fight for a place in the side but decided to accept the transfer.
[12] Blake quickly refound his form at First Division Wolves, scoring on his debut against Stockport County, and ending the season with 11 goals.
The next season saw Blake better his tally, despite suffering a broken foot during a match against Portsmouth in November 2002,[12] as his 12 goals helped the club go one step further as they won the play-offs.
Blake himself scored in the 3–0 final win over his former club Sheffield United, held at the Millennium Stadium in his birth city of Cardiff.
[14] Failing to make an impact, he was instead loaned out to Leeds United in January 2005, where he managed the final goal of his league career against Coventry City.
He also set the unfortunate record of being the first Welsh player to score an international goal at Wales' Millennium Stadium when he put through his own net against Finland on 29 March 2000.
[22] On 27 January 2012, following several race related scandals in the English game, Blake came out to say whilst he was a player he was sent a racially motivated death threat after withdrawing from a Wales squad.
In 2015 Blake returned to Newport County for five months as a non-executive Director advising on football decisions, including the appointment of a permanent successor to Justin Edinburgh.
In May 2020 he voiced his support for footballers Troy Deeney, Raheem Sterling, and Danny Rose who all expressed reluctance to return to training due to the disproportionate threat of COVID-19 to their families.
[26] In October 2020, Blake criticised former club Newport County for not taking the knee in their League Two fixture against Tranmere Rovers, despite the town having "probably one of the biggest black populations in Great Britain".
County Chairman Gavin Foxall responded by clarifying he thought it had been a decision for "the referee [...] agreed with the two captains", but that the "club is fully behind the campaign".
[4] He noted the existence of racism in his childhood, such as being called a "n*****" at the age of seven, and not being considered academically capable at school,[6] but praised the community spirit among those growing up on the estate.