 Clarke in 1980 | |||
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Allan John Clarke | ||
| Date of birth | (1946-07-31)31 July 1946 (age 79) | ||
| Place of birth | Short Heath, Willenhall,Staffordshire, England[1] | ||
| Height | 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)[2] | ||
| Position(s) | Striker,Inside-forward | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1963–1966 | Walsall | 72 | (41) |
| 1966–1968 | Fulham | 86 | (45) |
| 1968–1969 | Leicester City | 36 | (12) |
| 1969–1978 | Leeds United | 273 | (110) |
| 1978–1980 | Barnsley | 47 | (15) |
| Total | 514 | (223) | |
| International career | |||
| 1970–1975 | England | 19 | (10) |
| Managerial career | |||
| 1978–1980 | Barnsley | ||
| 1980–1982 | Leeds United | ||
| 1983–1984 | Scunthorpe United | ||
| 1985–1989 | Barnsley | ||
| 1990 | Lincoln City | ||
| * Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||
Allan John Clarke (born 31 July 1946),[1] nicknamed "Sniffer", is an English former professionalfootballer who played inthe Football League forWalsall,Fulham,Leicester City,Leeds United andBarnsley, and won 19 internationalcaps forEngland.[3]
Clarke was born inShort Heath,Willenhall,Staffordshire.[4] He is the third of seven children. Clarke joinedWalsall in 1961 as an apprentice,[5] playing his debut for the Saddlers in October 1963, against Reading.[6] Whilst at the club he scored 46 goals in 82 appearances.[4] He was transferred toFulham in March 1966 for a fee of £35,000.[4] Such was his early promise thatLeicester City paid £150,000 for Clarke in 1968, a thenBritish football transfer fee record.Frank Large moved to Fulham from Leicester as part of the deal.[7] Clarke spent just one season at Leicester City, in which he scored the winning goal in the semi-final of the 1969 FA Cup, knocking out the team he had supported as a boy –West Bromwich Albion.[8] He also played in the FA Cup final and was man of the match, despite Leicester City losing 1–0 toManchester City.[8]
On 24 June 1969, Leeds United managerDon Revie paid £165,000 to Leicester City for Clarke's services.[9] For the second time, Clarke had topped theBritish football transfer fee record.[7]
Clarke scored 26 goals in his first season at Leeds and earned the nickname "Sniffer",[9] because of his predatory instincts of "sniffing out" scoring opportunities.[9] Leeds United chased a dream "treble" ofLeague championship, FA Cup andEuropean Cup though ultimately they won nothing.[9] Clarke hit the post in the FA Cup Final atWembley (with strike partnerMick Jones following up to score the rebound) and then went on a run through severalChelsea defenders in the replay to set up a goal for Jones again, but Leeds United still lost.[5] The title had already gone toEverton who had clinched the trophy several weeks before the end of the season, and the European Cup campaign ended with defeat toCeltic in the semi-final (0–1 at Elland Road and 1–2 at Hampden Park).[9]
Clarke was in the Leeds United side that won its secondFairs Cup in 1971,[9] scoring in the final againstJuventus.[9] Leeds United reached the FA Cup Final again in the competition's centenary year, and at Wembley they faced the Cup holders,Arsenal.[5] Clarke scored the only goal of the game with a diving header from a Jones cross early in the second half.[9] He had hit the crossbar with another diving header earlier in the game. Unfortunately for Clarke and Leeds, they lost the League title and the chance of emulating Arsenal's previous season "double" when they lost toWolverhampton Wanderers two days after winning the FA Cup.[5]
Clarke played again at Wembley – and lost – when Leeds United were beaten 1–0 bySunderland in the1973 FA Cup Final.[5] Clarke was again Leeds United's top scorer as Leeds United won the league title in 1974, including a run of 29 opening matches without defeat.[5] Leeds United lost the1975 European Cup Final toBayern Munich 2–0 and were denied a clear penalty when Clarke was tackled from behind and felled byFranz Beckenbauer in the penalty area.[9]
After this match the Revie side began to break up;[9] their manager had left in 1974 to take the England job,[9] and Clarke himself left the club in 1978 after 351 appearances and 151 goals, with a knee injury curtailing his ability to play at top-flight level.[9] He scored in the 1977 FA Cup semi-final, but the game ended in a 2–1 win byManchester United.[9]
Clarke was called up forEngland's1970 World Cup squad inMexico, despite being uncapped.[10] He made his debut for his country againstCzechoslovakia in the heat and pressure of a World Cup first-round match.[1] Clarke scored the only goal of the match, from the penalty spot.[9] He remains the most recent England player to make his international debut in a World Cup finals match. Over the next five years he appeared a total of 19 times for England, scoring ten goals.[1]
In 1973, he was in the England team which needed to beatPoland at Wembley to qualify for the 1974 World Cup.[11] A goal down, England were awarded a penalty from which Clarke scored,[11] but other than that, he was among many England players to be thwarted by the Polish goalkeeperJan Tomaszewski.[11] A 1–1 draw was not enough, and England did not go through to play in the 1974 World Cup.[11]
Clarke was appointedBarnsley player-manager on 1 June 1978,[12] and under him they won promotion to the old third Division in May 1979, Clarke scoring 12 goals himself that season including ahat-trick againstPort Vale onBoxing Day.[5] On 29 December 1979, Barnsley lost 7–0 at Reading, and Clarke decided to end his playing career.[5] He took his players downWoolley Colliery to show them what they could have been doing for a living.[13][14] Clarke then began to bring in new players such asTrevor Aylott andDerrick Parker andIan Evans and Barnsley finished mid-table.[5] Clarke left Barnsley in September 1980 to manage Leeds United.[12] Leeds finished 9th under Clarke at the end of his first season as manager, but the following season, they were beaten 5–1 at Swansea on the opening day, and only won once until October.[5] Leeds were relegated and Clarke was sacked on 25 June 1982.[12] He then became manager atScunthorpe United between February 1983, and 24 August 1984,[12] when he and the chairman both resigned.[5] He led Scunthorpe to promotion to the Third Division in May 1983, but a year later they were relegated.[5]
Clarke had another spell at Barnsley between 1 July 1985 and 8 November 1989.[12] Despite having no money to spend, low gates, and being forced to sell players such asDavid Hirst andJohn Beresford,[5] Clarke led Barnsley to the fifth round of the FA Cup twice, when they were knocked out byArsenal in 1987 andEverton in 1989.[5] At the end of 1988–89 season, Barnsley finished just two points off securing a play-off place, losing only twice in the last 17 games. However, in the following season, after a bright start, a bad run saw Barnsley move, by 4 November, to fifth-from-bottom.[5] Four days later Clarke was sacked.[12] He wasLincoln City caretaker manager for six months, being replaced bySteve Thompson on 30 November 1990.[12]
From 1993 until he reached retirement age,[15] Clarke was a travelling salesman for MTS Nationwide, a firm based atWakefield, West Yorkshire.[15] He has, however, remained an outspoken critic of the game, and like all the Leeds United players of the Revie era, has remained fiercely protective of the reputation of both the manager and the club. He has suffered fromarthritic knees in recent years.[15] Clarke now lives inScunthorpe,Lincolnshire.[5]
Allan was the second of five brothers to play the professional game – four of whom played forWalsall across three decades.[5]Frank was the only Clarke brother not to represent Walsall, playing forShrewsbury Town,Queens Park Rangers,Ipswich Town andCarlisle United;Derek played for Walsall,Oxford United andOrient;Kelvin played for Walsall; and the youngest sibling,Wayne Clarke, played for Walsall towards the end of his career.[5]
| Club | Season | League | FA Cup | League Cup | Europe | Total | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Division | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | ||
| Walsall[6] | 1963–64 | Third Division | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | 6 | 0 | |
| 1964–65 | Third Division | 43 | 23 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | 43 | 23 | ||
| 1965–66 | Third Division | 24 | 19 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 1 | – | 29 | 21 | ||
| Total | 73 | 42 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 78 | 44 | ||
| Fulham | 1965–66 | First Division | 8 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 1 | ||
| 1966–67 | First Division | 42 | 24 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 47 | 29 | |||
| 1967–68 | First Division | 36 | 20 | 3 | 2 | 6 | 5 | 45 | 27 | |||
| Total | 86 | 45 | 6 | 5 | 8 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 100 | 57 | ||
| Leicester City | 1968–69 | First Division | 36 | 12 | 8 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 46 | 16 | ||
| Leeds United | 1969–70 | First Division | 28 | 17 | 9 | 7 | – | 5 | 2 | 42 | 26 | |
| 1970–71 | First Division | 41 | 19 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 10 | 3 | 56 | 23 | |
| 1971–72 | First Division | 35 | 11 | 6 | 4 | 4 | 0 | – | 45 | 15 | ||
| 1972–73 | First Division | 36 | 18 | 8 | 6 | 4 | 0 | 5 | 2 | 53 | 26 | |
| 1973–74 | First Division | 34 | 13 | 3 | 0 | – | 5 | 3 | 42 | 16 | ||
| 1974–75 | First Division | 34 | 14 | 7 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 8 | 4 | 52 | 22 | |
| 1975–76 | First Division | 36 | 11 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | – | 39 | 13 | ||
| 1976–77 | First Division | 20 | 4 | 5 | 3 | 1 | 0 | – | 26 | 7 | ||
| 1977–78 | First Division | 9 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | – | 11 | 3 | ||
| Total | 273 | 110 | 45 | 25 | 15 | 2 | 33 | 14 | 366 | 151 | ||
| Barnsley | 1978–79 | Fourth Division | 34 | 12 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 0 | – | 39 | 14 | |
| 1979–80 | Third Division | 13 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 18 | 4 | |||
| Total | 47 | 15 | 5 | 3 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 57 | 18 | ||
| Career total | 515 | 224 | 66 | 35 | 33 | 13 | 33 | 14 | 647 | 286 | ||
Leicester City[16]
Leeds United[5]
Individual
 | ||
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
