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. He took over as regular goalkeeper when Colin McDonald suffered a broken leg in March 1959. During his time at Burnley, Blacklaw earned a League championship medal in season 1959–60 and an FA Cup runners-up medal in 1962. He played regularly for Burnley until 1965.
Blacklaw 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, under–23 and full international levels. He played in two international friendlies in June 1963, a 4–3 defeat by Norway and a 6-2 win against Spain in Madrid. His last appearance for Scotland was on 7 December 1965 in Naples, where they lost 3–0 to Italy in a crucial 1966 FIFA World Cup qualification match.
Blacklaw died on 28 February 2010. For their fixture away to Arsenal on 6 March 2010, the Burnley players wore black armbands in memory of him.

Honours

;Burnley