| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Ian Stewart Clarkson[1] | ||
| Date of birth | (1970-12-04)4 December 1970 (age 54) | ||
| Place of birth | Solihull, England | ||
| Position(s) | Defender | ||
| Youth career | |||
| 1987–1988 | Birmingham City | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1988–1993 | Birmingham City | 136 | (0) |
| 1993–1996 | Stoke City | 75 | (0) |
| 1996–1999 | Northampton Town | 94 | (1) |
| 1999–2002 | Kidderminster Harriers | 105 | (0) |
| 2002 | Nuneaton Borough | 12 | (0) |
| 2002 | Stafford Rangers | ||
| 2003 | Leamington | ||
| 2003 | Forest Green Rovers | ||
| 2012– | Alvechurch | ||
| Total | 422 | (1) | |
| Managerial career | |||
| 2002 | Kidderminster Harriers (player/assistantcaretaker manager) | ||
| *Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||
Ian Stewart Clarkson (born 4 December 1970) is an English former professionalfootballer who made nearly 400 appearances inthe Football League playing as adefender forBirmingham City,Stoke City,Northampton Town andKidderminster Harriers.[2]
Ian Clarkson was born inSolihull, West Midlands. He began his football career as aYTS trainee withBirmingham City,[1] the club he had supported since childhood,[3] in 1987. He made his first team debut as a 17-year-old in theLeague Cup againstAston Villa in September 1988, and hisFootball League debut a few days later.[4] He signed his first professional contract in December 1988.[1] In 1991, he played in Birmingham's winning side in theAssociate Members' Cup final atWembley. The following season, hecaptained the side to promotion from theThird Division while still only 21, an achievement which he considers to be the highlight of his career.[3]
Former Birmingham managerLou Macari brought Clarkson to First Division sideStoke City in September 1993 for a fee of £40,000. He spent three seasons at Stoke, and played in the First Division play-offs, in which Stoke lost toMartin O'Neill'sLeicester City side in the 1996 semi-final. When his contract expired he rejected Stoke's offer of renewal terms, and left for Third Division sideNorthampton Town.[5]
At Northampton, he linked up with former Birmingham City teammatesJohn Gayle,Dean Peer and managerIan Atkins, soon to be joined byJohn Frain. In his first season, he helped them to promotion via the play-offs, and the next year played in the Second Division play-off final, but lost 1–0 toGrimsby Town. In August 1998, he suffered a badly brokentibia in a match againstLincoln City. Though he made a couple of appearances for Northampton at the start of the1999–2000 season, it appeared that he was no longer fit enough to compete at that level, and that his league career was over at the age of 28.
Clarkson went to train atKidderminster Harriers, which was then aConference club, and regained sufficient fitness to be able to play regularly at that level. Kidderminster made him club captain, and of his first 30 games for the club they lost only one; at the end of the season the club were promoted to the Football League as Conference champions.[5] They repaid the insurance payout that Clarkson had received on his retirement due to injury, so that he was able to play for them in the Football League.[6] WhenJan Molby resigned as manager of Kidderminster in March 2002, Clarkson acted as assistant tocaretaker managerIan Britton.[7] The club released him at the end of that season for financial reasons.[8] He joinedNuneaton Borough of the Conference, and was released in December again on financial grounds.[9] He then registered for short periods withStafford Rangers,[10]Leamington[11] and, from March 2003,Forest Green Rovers,[12] finally retiring at the end of the season.
In 2012, he returned to football to sign forAlvechurch in September 2012 at the age of 41.[13]
Clarkson qualified as a coach and coach educator, and worked for Birmingham City's Football in the Community programme. During the later years of his playing career he was keen to get involved in media work; from 2002 he was employed as a football reporter and journalist by theBirmingham Post andSunday Mercury newspapers and by theProfessional Footballers' Association (PFA)'s website.[3] In 2006, he was appointed to manage a scheme designed to involve young people in sport and physical activity, as part of a wider programme of regeneration of the deprived areas ofNorth Solihull.[14]Clarkson now works as a PE Teacher at Repton Prep School in Derbyshire, where he has been based since 2010.
Clarkson's nephew is theSheffield United midfielderCallum O'Hare.[15]
| Club | Season | League | FA Cup | League Cup | Other[a] | Total | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Division | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | ||
| Birmingham City | 1988–89 | Second Division | 9 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 11 | 0 |
| 1989–90 | Third Division | 20 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 26 | 0 | |
| 1990–91 | Third Division | 37 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 0 | 46 | 0 | |
| 1991–92 | Third Division | 42 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 52 | 0 | |
| 1992–93 | First Division | 28 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 36 | 0 | |
| 1993–94 | First Division | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | |
| Total | 136 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 12 | 0 | 20 | 0 | 174 | 0 | ||
| Stoke City | 1993–94 | First Division | 14 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 19 | 0 |
| 1994–95 | First Division | 18 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 25 | 0 | |
| 1995–96 | First Division | 43 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 52 | 0 | |
| Total | 75 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 10 | 0 | 96 | 0 | ||
| Northampton Town | 1996–97 | Third Division | 45 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 56 | 0 |
| 1997–98 | Second Division | 42 | 1 | 5 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 53 | 2 | |
| 1998–99 | Second Division | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 0 | |
| 1999–2000 | Third Division | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | |
| Total | 94 | 1 | 6 | 0 | 9 | 0 | 10 | 1 | 119 | 2 | ||
| Kidderminster Harriers | 1999–2000 | Conference National | 28 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 28 | 0 |
| 2000–01 | Third Division | 38 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 44 | 0 | |
| 2001–02 | Third Division | 39 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 42 | 0 | |
| Total | 105 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 114 | 0 | ||
| Nuneaton Borough | 2002–03 | Conference National | 12 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 12 | 0 |
| Career total | 422 | 1 | 21 | 0 | 29 | 0 | 43 | 1 | 515 | 2 | ||
Birmingham City
Northampton Town
Kidderminster Harriers
