Frank Clark (footballer)
Personal information | |||
---|---|---|---|
Date of birth | 9 September 1943 | ||
Place of birth | Rowlands Gill, County Durham, England | ||
Position(s) |
Full-back | ||
Senior career* | |||
Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
1961–1962 | Crook Town | ||
1962–1975 | Newcastle United | 389 | (1) |
1975–1979 | Nottingham Forest | 117 | (1) |
Total | 506 | (2) | |
Managerial career | |||
1983–1991 | Leyton Orient | ||
1993–1996 | Nottingham Forest | ||
1996–1998 | Manchester City | ||
*Club domestic league appearances and goals |
Frank Clark (born 9 September 1943) is an English former footballer and manager, and former chairman of Nottingham Forest. Clark played in over 400 games for Newcastle United before moving to Nottingham Forest where he won the European Cup.
After retiring as a player, he managed Leyton Orient for nine years (followed by a two-year spell as the club's managing director) and then returned to Nottingham Forest as manager between 1993 and 1996. He then managed Manchester City for just over a year.
Playing career
He started his career at Crook Town.[1]
He started his professional career at
He signed for
Managerial career
After his playing career he was assistant manager of
In May 1993, he returned to Nottingham Forest as manager, as a replacement for the retiring Brian Clough.[6] Some sources have said that Clough selected Clark for the job in 1993,[7] however Clark's name was submitted far earlier, and by the time of Clough's retirement his preference was his assistant Ron Fenton.[8]
Clough's 18-year reign as Forest manager had ended in relegation from the new
He was also Premier League Manager of the Month for September 1994, as Forest's fine start to the season saw them in the heat of a title challenge and hopes were high that Clark could take them to the rare distinction of top division title glory a season after promotion – just as his predecessor had done 17 years earlier. They eventually finished third in the table, and qualified for Europe for the first time in 11 years.[9] Forest reached the UEFA Cup quarter finals in 1995-96 under Clark - the best run of any English side in European competitions that season, although their league form dipped and they finished ninth. Clark also struggled to find a suitable successor to striker Stan Collymore, who was sold to Liverpool for £8.5million in the summer of 1995.[10]
In December 1996, with Forest struggling at the bottom of the Premier League, Clark expressed his concern with the boardroom crisis at the club, with rival parties attempting to buy the club. His earlier success with the club had led to him being linked to the England job when Terry Venables announced his intention to resign less than a year earlier.[11] Clark left the club in December.[12]
Clark made some shrewd signings as Forest manager, including Stan Collymore and Lars Bohinen. Collymore was sold to Liverpool in June 1995 for a then British transfer fee record of £8.5million, two years after joining Forest from Southend United.[6]
However, he also made several notably disappointing signings during his final 18 months at the City Ground. The first of these was
Clark's final managerial appointment came at Manchester City immediately after his departure from the City Ground. He arrived at Maine Road seven months after City's relegation from the Premier League, with the club in danger of a second successive relegation. Clark steered them to 14th place in Division One that season, only for City's struggles to return in 1997–98 and Clark to be sacked in February 1998, and learnt the news of his dismissal as manager while listening to the local radio at home. Clark was faced with having to halt City's decline while the club was millions of pounds debt and needing to sell its highest-paid players, including a number of disappointing signings and players who were no longer commanding regular selection in the first team.[15] He had paid a club record £3million to bring 22-year-old striker Lee Bradbury to City from Portsmouth in July 1997, but the player failed to live up to expectations, struggling with injuries and inconsistent form, and was eventually sold to Crystal Palace in October 1998. Clark's successor, Joe Royle, was unable to save City from relegation, but then guided City to back-to-back promotions.[16]
Nottingham Forest chairman
Clark took over from Nigel Doughty as chairman of Nottingham Forest football club on 12 October 2011.[17] Forest were managerless at the time, following the resignation of Steve McClaren.[18]
Clark was sacked from his role as club ambassador on 17 January 2013.[19]
Managerial statistics
Team | From | To | Record | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
P | W | D | L | Win % | |||
Leyton Orient | 31 May 1983 | 1 July 1991 | 451 | 174 | 111 | 166 | 38.6 |
Nottingham Forest | 13 May 1993 | 19 December 1996 | 180 | 73 | 59 | 48 | 40.6 |
Manchester City | 29 December 1996 | 17 February 1998 | 59 | 20 | 17 | 22 | 33.9 |
Total[20] | 690 | 267 | 187 | 236 | 38.7 |
Honours
As a player
Crook Town
- FA Amateur Cup: 1961–62[21]
Newcastle United
- Inter-Cities Fairs Cup: 1968–69
- FA Cup runner-up: 1973–74[22]
Nottingham Forest
- 1977–78
- European Cup: 1978–79[5]
As a manager
Nottingham Forest
- Football League First Division runner-up: 1993–94[6]
Individual
- Premier League Manager of the Month: September 1994, October 1995[23]
- LMA Manager of the Year: 1994–95
References
- ^ Harry Pearson (March 1997). "Amateur dramatics". When Saturday Comes. Retrieved 29 December 2013.
- ^ Fearon, Matthew (20 May 2009). "Dream Teams: Newcastle". The Independent. London. Retrieved 11 September 2010.
- ^ a b "How Newcastle United legend Frank Clark celebrated his birthday - with a host of Geordie fans" chroniclelive.co.uk 10 September 2016
- ^ "Frank CLARK"
- ^ a b "The European Cup Team 1979". Nottingham Forest FC. Archived from the original on 6 February 2010. Retrieved 29 December 2013.
- ^ a b c "Frank Clark". Profile. u-reds.com. Archived from the original on 10 August 2017. Retrieved 23 September 2011.
- ^ "Sir Alex Ferguson could have helped sacked Manchester United manager David Moyes by following Brian Clough's lead". Metro. DMG Media. 22 April 2014. Retrieved 23 April 2014.
- ^ Turner, Georgina (22 January 2014). "Which managers have chosen their successor?". The Guardian. Retrieved 23 April 2014.
- ^ "FA Premiership League Table at 24 September 1994". nottinghamforest-mad.co.uk. Retrieved 14 October 2010.
- ^ Soar, Phil (abridged by Roger Litawski). "History of Nottingham Forest". The Official History of Nottingham Forest. Nottingham Forest. Retrieved 16 February 2013.
- ^ "Clark's anxiety leads to City speculation: Football". The Independent. London. 16 November 1996. Retrieved 23 September 2011.
- ^ "Winless Forest lose manager Clark". The Nation. Bangkok: Nation Multimedia Group. Agence France-Presse. 20 December 1996. Retrieved 23 April 2014.
- ^ "Why Nottingham Forest flop Andrea Silenzi was a Premier League pioneer". 11 May 2018.
- ^ "Where are they now? Former Forest defender Nikola Jerkan". 18 November 2018.
- Independent.co.uk. 19 February 1998.
- ^ "Lee BRADBURY - Biography at Man City. - Manchester City FC".
- ^ "Frank Clark appointed Nottingham Forest chairman". BBC. Retrieved 12 October 2011.
- ^ Heath, Neil (4 October 2011). "Dave Bassett backs Frank Clark to help stabilise Forest". BBC. Retrieved 17 July 2012.
- ^ "Nottingham Forest: Mark Arthur, Keith Burt and Frank Clark leave". BBC. 17 January 2013. Retrieved 17 January 2013.
- ^ Frank Clark at the English National Football Archive (subscription required)
- ^ "Past Players (C)". Durham County Schools Football Association. Retrieved 29 December 2013.
- ISBN 0354 09018 6.
- ^ "Manager profile: Frank Clark". Premier League. Retrieved 14 September 2018.
External links
- Frank Clark managerial statistics Archived 30 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine at soccerbase.com