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Fullname: Tyler Nathan Blackett
aka: Tyler Blackett
Born: 2 Apr 1994
Birthplace: Manchester
Signed: 29 Aug 2015 (season loan from Man U)
Left: 1 June 2016 (back to Man U, then onto Reading)
Position: Left-back, Centre-half
Debut: Aberdeen 2-1 Celtic, SP, 12 Sep 2015
Squad No.: 2
Internationals: England (U21s)
International Caps: none for full senior side
Biog
Blackett arrived at Celtic in the unenviable position of having to replace the highly feted van Dijk and Denayer who last season made for a fabulous central defence.
Coming from the Man Utd stable, it was expected that he would be an ideal stop gap as a loan signing, and after the incredible success of loan signing Denayer last season, expectations were probably higher than they should have been. It was to be quite a come down.
Blackett rotated with Boyata, Ambrose and Simunovic for the central defence role although strictly he was meant to be a left back but obviously wasn’t. He played at Celtic in what was to be the collapse of the Ronnie Deila experiment.
Having successfully rebuilt the side domestically in his first season, Deila was under no illusion that anything other than progress in Europe was paramount. Celtic collapsed, and the defence in particular was an absolute disaster and Blackett couldn’t hide his part in this debacle.
Blackett may have had the size and build suited to a central defender, but he was out of his depth. He had little spacial awareness, control or intelligence on the ball. Defending at set pieces at this time was terrible, with an inordinate number of goals lost, and he was one of the poorer performers.
Amongst the lows included the shambolic defeat by Norwegian side Molde at home in the Europa League. Humiliatingly having been subbed on in the first half to replace Simunovic, he was abject on the field and was then subbed back off in the second half with twenty minutes to go. It didn’t look good for him. They were a nothing side yet still managed to ship four goals against Celtic over two legs (he actually only played in one of those games), and his performance was amongst the most highly criticised.
His greatest achievement in his time at Celtic some would say was probably taking the flak off that season from the much maligned Izaguirre and Ambrose. It was becoming clear why Man Utd had shipped him out on loan, but it was clearer that he had no future at a top tier side in the long run, it was a poor gamble but thankfully only a loan. He was rated by some just because of his EPL background, it was comical.
Possibly he was low on confidence or maybe just not interested which was quite ridiculous if true. It was a chance (like with Denayer) to kick start a career and make a name for himself. He failed.
Ex-Celt and now media pundit Chris Sutton was scathing:
“Ronny Deila clearly doesn’t rate Tyler Blackett. He picked Kieran Tierney to play at left-back ahead of him in the Fenerbahce match and then he opted for Efe Ambrose in Molde. So if he doesn’t fancy or rate Blackett, why did he sign him? That’s a mistake. And, if he didn’t sign him and someone else above him at the club did, then that is also a big worry. That needs [to be] clarified, for me.”
Former Celtic manager Gordon Strachan as a match analyst on TV remarked caustically on him during a match which in retrospect summarised his poor ability:
“Look at Blackett as the high ball comes in – he shrinks. He actually shrinks.”
Man Utd were reported to be ‘recalling’ him back in January 2016 to shore up their squad, which you can interpret as you please. They were themselves in difficult circumstances with a manager increasingly estranged from the support, and the team faltering both at home and abroad. Possibly they then read the reports on him and cancelled the call-back if it were ever true.
In any case, his time at Celtic was to be well over before he was finally gone.
Post-Celtic
He moved to Reading and went on to be a regular for the club in the second tier for a number of years. He later moved to Notts Forrest for a season and then onto the MLS in the USA with FC Cincinnati.
He returned back to the UK for a stint at Rotherham Utd.
[….]
Playing Career
| APPEARANCES | LEAGUE | SCOTTISH CUP | LEAGUE CUP | EUROPE | TOTAL |
| 2015-16 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 9 |
| Goals | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Honours with Celtic
Scottish League