Allan Clarke

Early career

Clarke was born in Short Heath, Willenhall, Staffordshire. He is the third of seven children. Clarke joined Walsall in 1961 as an apprentice, playing his debut for the Saddlers in October 1963, against Reading. Whilst at the club he scored 46 goals in 82 appearances. He was transferred to Fulham in March 1966 for a fee of £35,000. Such was his early promise that Leicester City paid £150,000 for Clarke in 1968, a then British football transfer fee record. Frank Large moved to Fulham from Leicester as part of the deal. 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. He also played in the FA Cup final and was man of the match, despite Leicester City losing 1–0 to Manchester City.

Leeds United

On 24 June 1969, Leeds United manager Don Revie paid £165,000 to Leicester City for Clarke's services. For the second time, Clarke had topped the British football transfer fee record. Clarke scored 26 goals in his first season at Leeds and earned the nickname "Sniffer", because of his predatory instincts of "sniffing out" scoring opportunities. Leeds United chased a dream "treble" of League championship, FA Cup and European Cup though ultimately they won nothing. Clarke hit the post in the FA Cup Final at Wembley (with strike partner Mick Jones following up to score the rebound) and then went on a run through…

Clarke was called up for England's 1970 World Cup squad in Mexico, despite being uncapped. He made his debut for his country against Czechoslovakia in the heat and pressure of a World Cup first-round match. Clarke scored the only goal of the match, from the penalty spot. 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. In 1973, he was in the England team which needed to defeat Poland at Wembley to qualify for the 1974 World Cup. A goal down, England were awarded a penalty from which Clarke scored, but other than that, he was among many England players to be thwarted by the Polish goalkeeper Jan Tomaszewski. A 1–1 draw was not enough, and England did not go through to play in the 1974 World Cup.

Clarke was appointed Barnsley player-manager on 1 June 1978, and under him they won promotion to the old third Division in May 1979, with Clarke scoring 12 goals himself that season including a hat-trick against Port Vale on Boxing Day. On 29 December 1979, Barnsley lost 7–0 at Reading, and Clarke decided to end his playing career. He was infuriated by the performance of his team and ordered his players to spend a day down a Yorkshire coal mine at Woolley Colliery to show them what they could have been doing for a living. Clarke then began to bring in new players such as Trevor Aylott and Derrick Parker and Ian Evans and Barnsley finished mid-table. Clarke left Barnsley in September 1980 to manage Leeds United. 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. Leeds were relegated and Clarke was dismissed on 25 June 1982. He then became manager at Scunthorpe United between February 1983, and 24 August 1984, He led Scunthorpe to promotion to the Third Division in May 1983, but a year later they were relegated, and both he and the chairman resigned. Clarke had another spell at Barnsley between 1 July 1985 and 8 November 1989. Despite having no money to spend, low gates, and being forced to sell players such as David Hirst and John Beresford, Clarke led Barnsley to the fifth round of the FA Cup twice, when they were knocked out by Arsenal in…

From 1993 until he reached retirement age, Clarke was a travelling salesman for MTS Nationwide, a firm based at Wakefield, West Yorkshire. He has, however, remained an outspoken critic of the game, and like many of the Leeds United players of the Don Revie era, has remained fiercely protective of the reputation of both the manager and the club. He has suffered from arthritic knees in recent years. Clarke now lives in Scunthorpe, Lincolnshire.