Career
Blacklaw joined the 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.
He joined Blackburn Rovers for £15,000 at the start of the 1967-1968 season and stayed for three years before finishing his career with short spells at Blackpool in season 1970-1971 and moving into the non-league game with Great Harwood in season 1971-1972.
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 died on 28 February 2010.
Foreign their fixture away to Arsenal on 6 March 2010, the players wore black armbands in memory of him.
