 Clark with Scotland in 1968 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Personal information | |||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Robert Brown Clark | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Date of birth | (1945-09-26)26 September 1945 (age 80) | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Place of birth | Glasgow, Scotland | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Height | 1.83 m (6 ft 0 in)[1] | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Position | Goalkeeper | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Senior career* | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) | ||||||||||||||||||||
| 1962–1965 | Queen's Park | 84 | (0) | ||||||||||||||||||||
| 1965–1982 | Aberdeen | 424 | (0) | ||||||||||||||||||||
| 1967 | →Washington Whips (loan) | 12 | (0) | ||||||||||||||||||||
| 1976 | →San Antonio Thunder (loan) | 19 | (0) | ||||||||||||||||||||
| 1983 | Clyde | 4 | (0) | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Total | 543 | (0) | |||||||||||||||||||||
| International career | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1966–1968 | Scotland U23[2] | 3 | (0) | ||||||||||||||||||||
| 1967–1973 | Scotland | 17 | (0) | ||||||||||||||||||||
| 1971 | Scottish League XI[3] | 1 | (0) | ||||||||||||||||||||
| 1976–1977 | Scotland U21[4][5] | 3 | (0) | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Managerial career | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1984–1985 | Highlanders | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1985–1993 | Dartmouth Big Green | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1994–1996 | New Zealand | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1996–2000 | Stanford Cardinal | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2001–2017 | Notre Dame Fighting Irish | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
| |||||||||||||||||||||||
| * Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||||||||||||||||||||||
Robert Brown Clark (born 26 September 1945) is a Scottishfootball player and coach. Clark, who played as agoalkeeper, spent most of his playing career withAberdeen. He also played forQueen's Park,Washington Whips,San Antonio Thunder andClyde. Clark played 17 times forScotland and represented theScottish League. He later became a coach, mainly working in New Zealand and the United States.
Clark started his senior career in Scotland's second tier withQueen's Park F.C.[7][8] then in 1965 signed for top divisionAberdeen F.C., with whom he won the 1970Scottish Cup, the 1976League Cup and the 1980Premier League Championship.[8] During his time with theDons, Clark played some games as adefender, including againstRangers atIbrox Park, after losing his place in goal toErnie McGarr.[9] With 594 competitive appearances for Aberdeen between 1965 and 1980, he is ranked third inthe club's all-time list.
Clark graduated fromJordanhill College in Glasgow, Scotland in 1967 with a degree in Physical Education. He was named first team all-star goalkeeper in the 1967United Soccer Association playing for theWashington Whips and making the USA All Star Team.[10] He also spent the summer of 1976, on loan, in theNASL, playing for theSan Antonio Thunder.
A fan ofScottish First Division sideClyde, Clark came out of retirement in 1983 to help Clyde when they had a goalkeeping injury crisis. His father, Tom, was once the chairman of Clyde.[8] In autumn 1984 he once more came out of retirement to keep goal forForres Mechanics in a 1–0 victory overBuckie Thistle in theHighland League Cup Final held atElgin.
Clark set the British top-flight record for not conceding a goal in consecutive, all-competition matches (at 1,155 minutes) in the 1970–71 season,[8] untilEdwin van der Sar set a new mark on 8 February 2009.[11] He also briefly held the world record, until Bulgarian goalkeeperStoyan Yordanov set a new record of 1202 minutes in May 1971.[12]Fraser Forster broke the Scottish league record in 2014 and was congratulated by Clark after the match in which it was surpassed.[13] He still holds the Aberdeen club record, although this was threatened by the form ofScott Brown in early 2015.[9]
He earned 17 caps for theScotland national team, and was Scotland's backup goalkeeper at the1978 FIFA World Cup.[8]
Clark coachedHighlanders F.C., Bulawayo (1983–84),Dartmouth College (1985–93), theNew Zealand national football team (1994–96),[14]Stanford University (1996–2000) and theUniversity of Notre Dame men's soccer team (2001–2017), winning the national title in 2013 with the Irish.[9][15][8]
In November 2018, Clark was one of four inductees into the AberdeenHall of Fame.[16]
His sonJamie has played inMajor League Soccer and is the head coach of theWashington Huskies men's soccer team. His son Tommy, a paediatrician, is the founder and executive director of the HIV prevention organisation Grassroot Soccer. His daughter, Jennifer Clark, is also a football coach and is the head women's coach at Claremont-McKenna in California.
| Club | Season | League | National cup | League cup | Europe | Total | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Division | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | ||
| Queens' Park | 1962–63 | Scottish Division Two | 18 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 21 | 0 |
| 1963–64 | 31 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 39 | 0 | ||
| 1964–65 | 35 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 47 | 0 | ||
| Total | 84 | 0 | 11 | 0 | 12 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 107 | 0 | ||
| Aberdeen | 1965–66 | Scottish Division One | 33 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 40 | 0 |
| 1966–67 | 34 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 50 | 0 | ||
| 1967–68 | 33 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 46 | 0 | ||
| 1968–69 | 14 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 24 | 0 | ||
| 1969–70 | 14 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 18 | 0 | ||
| 1970–71 | 34 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 46 | 0 | ||
| 1971–72 | 22 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 32 | 0 | ||
| 1972–73 | 33 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 11 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 49 | 0 | ||
| 1973–74 | 34 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 10 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 49 | 0 | ||
| 1974–75 | 33 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 41 | 0 | ||
| 1975–76 | Scottish Premier Division | 20 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 26 | 0 | |
| 1976–77 | 27 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 38 | 0 | ||
| 1977–78 | 36 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 50 | 0 | ||
| 1978–79 | 23 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 31 | 0 | ||
| 1979–80 | 34 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 11 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 51 | 0 | ||
| 1980–81 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
| 1981–82 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Total | 424 | 0 | 49 | 0 | 95 | 0 | 23 | 0 | 591 | 0 | ||
| Washington Whips (loan) | 1967 | United Soccer Association | 12 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 13 | 0 |
| San Antonio Thunder (loan) | 1976 | North American Soccer League | 19 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 19 | 0 |
| Clyde | 1982–83 | Scottish First Division | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 |
| Career total | 543 | 0 | 61 | 0 | 107 | 0 | 23 | 0 | 734 | 0 | ||
| National team | Year | Apps | Goals |
|---|---|---|---|
| Scotland | 1967 | 1 | 0 |
| 1968 | 1 | 0 | |
| 1969 | — | ||
| 1970 | 1 | 0 | |
| 1971 | 7 | 0 | |
| 1972 | 6 | 0 | |
| 1973 | 1 | 0 | |
| Total | 17 | 0 | |
Aberdeen[22]
Washington Whips
Forres Mechanics
Scotland
Individual
Dartmouth Big Green
Stanford Cardinal
Notre Dame Fighting Irish
Individual
