South Shields boss relishing reunion with striker Blackett

South Shields manager Ian Watson is relishing the opportunity to work with Mariners striker Paul Blackett once again - and has insisted he can draw more goals out of one of the most feared frontmen in the National League North.

The new Mariners boss worked with Blackett during his time as assistant manager at Gateshead as the duo helped the Tynesiders to the National League North title in 2022. However, with current Millwall forward Macaulay Langstaff and Carlisle United’s Cedwyn Scott firing a over 50 goals between them, Blackett was forced into a supporting role - but still hit double figures and posted the best goals-per-minutes ratio in the Heed squad.

After moving on in the early months of the following season to join Spennymoor Town, Blackett moved to the 1st Cloud Arena after hitting 12 goals in 30 appearances during a one-season stay at Brewery Field. Since becoming a Mariners, the striker has been an unquestionable success by plundering his way to 53 goals in all competitions over the last two seasons. Blackett has also landed a whole host of individual awards including Mariners Player of the Season, Goal of the Season and National League North player of the year, as well as being named in the division’s team of the season.

With pre-season training now underway, Blackett will link up with Watson once again almost three years after the duo last worked together at Gateshead - and the Heed boss has admitted he is ‘really excited’ to reunited with the striker after watching him do ‘unbelievable things’ throughout a goal-laden career.

He told The Gazette: “First and foremost, Paul, as a person, I absolutely love and I’ve stayed in contact with him a lot when he left Gateshead. I would speak to him all of the time and I spoke to him a lot about coming into South Shields before I took the job and got his thoughts on it.

“At Gateshead, he had the best goals-to-minutes ratio and the unfortunate thing for him was he had Cedwyn Scott and Macaulay Langstaff ahead of him and they just wouldn’t stop scoring goals really. When we started in the National League, there was pressure on Paul because both Cedwyn and Macaulay had left the club and everyone was heavily relying on him, which was unfair because he was new to the level.

“I’m so happy he has gone on to do unbelievable things and I am really excited to work with him again. I think I can help him, I think I can develop him, I think I can help him improve even more and help him get even more goals.”

The Mariners will kick off their preparations for Watson’s first season in charge with a home game against Sunderland on Saturday, July 12 (4pm kick-off) before hosting Northern League Division One club Shildon seven days later.

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