Clive Clarke

Stoke City

Clarke started playing football with local club Newtown Schoolboys in his home town of Newtownmountkennedy, County Wicklow. He joined Stoke City as a trainee in August 1996, making his debut against Oldham Athletic in May 1999. He quickly became a regular in the team, making 55 appearances in the 1999–2000 season and 33 appearances in the 2000–01 season. In both seasons Stoke reached the play-offs where they lost to Gillingham and Walsall respectively. However he played as they won the 2000 Football League Trophy final. Although he was dropped from the side in February 2001, which prompted him to hand in a transfer request. However, he returned to the side in 2001–02 and helped Stoke gain promotion by beating Brentford in the 2002 Football League Second Division play-off final. He played 32 times in 2002–03 as Stoke narrowly avoided relegation. He made 44 appearances in both the 2003–04 and 2004–05 campaigns. He left for West Ham United in the summer of 2005 after making 264 appearances for Stoke City in nine years.

West Ham United

Clarke signed for West Ham for a fee of £275,000 at the end of July 2005, brought to the club by the then manager, Alan Pardew, who wanted another left-sided player. He made only three appearances for West Ham and, in August 2006, moved to Sunderland in a deal that saw George McCartney move to Upton Park.

Sunderland

Clarke joined Sunderland as a replacement for the injured George McCartney. However, he made…

Clarke was a Republic of Ireland Under 21 player, and has two caps for the Republic of Ireland senior team, against Nigeria and against Jamaica, both during the 2004 Unity Cup.

Club

International

After retiring from football due to health problems, Clarke became a football agent. He is the uncle of Republic of Ireland international footballer Mason Melia.