Adam Blacklaw

Who was Adam Blacklaw?

Adam Smith Blacklaw was a Scottish professional football player who played as a goalkeeper.

Blacklaw joined the Burnley ground staff as a schoolboy apprentice in 1954, directly from Frederick Street School in Aberdeen, earning a professional contract in October of that year. He made his first-team debut on 22 December 1956 and spent over ten seasons with the Clarets. During this time he earned a League championship medal in season 1959–60 and an FA Cup runners-up medal in 1962. Blacklaw weighed around 15 stone, giving him a great advantage at a time when goalkeepers had less protection than they do nowadays. He joined Blackburn Rovers for £15,000 at the start of the 1967–68 season and stayed for three years before finishing his career with short spells at Blackpool in season 1970–71 and moving into the non-league game with Great Harwood in season 1971–72. He later had a spell as manager of Clitheroe.

Blacklaw represented Scotland at schoolboy level 3 times, at Under–23 level and also at full international level. He made his debut in a 4–3 defeat by Norway on 4 June 1963 and gained a further two caps. Scotland defeated Spain nine days later, on 13 June 1963 with a 6–2 victory in Madrid and Blacklaw's final appearance for Scotland was on 7 December 1965 in Naples, where they lost 3–0 to Italy. Blacklaw's first two international matches, against Norway and Spain respectively, were friendlies and his third and final cap against Italy was a FIFA World Cup qualifying match.