Clarke: Allan John (Allan)

1980-1982 (Manager Details) (Manager Details) (Player Details)

Born 31st July 1946 in Short Heath, Willenhall, Staffordshire, Clarke had a stellar career as a player. Starting at Walsall as a teenager in 1961 he signed professional in 1963 and he was snapped up by Fulham in March 1966 and continued his early promise and goal scoring achievements and Leicester City £150,00 to take him to Filbert Street in June 1968. After Leeds had won the Football League Championship in 1968/69, Don Revie saw him as the final piece in his jigsaw and brought him to Elland Road for £165,000 in June 1969. Clarke became half of the most feared strike force in British and European Football with Mick Jones as they spearheaded the Leeds juggernaut which took England and Europe by storm and brought many honours into the Leeds trophy room and plenty of near misses in all competitions. Clarke became an England regular, scoring ten times in nineteen appearances and on the domestic front scored the goal that brought the FA Cup to Leeds in 1972. After winning the Football League Championship in 1973/74, Don Revie became the England Manager and after defeat in the European Cup Final in 1975 the Leeds team that had provided the 'Glory Years' began to break up and Clarke joined Barnsley as Player-Manager as the first step in his managerial career in June 1978. He made an immediate impression, revitalising the club which were in the lower reaches of the Fourth Division and gaining promotion to the Third Division in his first season with them. He then prepared the club for promotion to the Second Division with an eleventh finish in 1979/80. After sacking Jimmy Adamson Leeds came knocking on his door in September 1980 to take up the reins at Elland Road with his former team in deep trouble at the bottom of the League table. he left his Assistant Norman Hunter to pilot Barnsley to second place and promotion in 1980/81 while he concentrated on the harder task of saving Leeds from relegation. He chose to concentrate on defence to get United out of their predicament and his strategy worked. Leeds finished a respectable ninth but the entertainment factor was zero. After Jimmy Adamson departed the goal tally was five for and twelve against, at season's end it had become thirty-nine for and forty-seven conceded. Just thirty-four goals were scored in thirty-seven games but while there were seven goalless draws there were ten 1-0 wins. Boring but effective. Clarke tried to solve the excitement problem by paying £930,000 for Peter Barnes from West Bromwich Albion in the close season and bought Frank Gray back from Nottingham Forest for £300,000 in May 1981 but that apart he had to rely on the same basic squad but bolstered his squad during the season as he bought Kenny Burns from Nottingham Forest in October 1981 for £400,000 and Frank Worthington from Birmingham City in exchange for defender Byron Stevenson in March 1982 and blooded Aidan Butterworth. While Frank Worthington did get nine goals after his arrival in March, it was too late as while scoring thirty-nine once more, sixty-one were conceded and with just two points less than the previous season they were relegated in twentieth position, just two points behind four teams on forty-four points. It was the first season of three points for a win, but the sad truth was they had won just ten games and drawn twelve, eleven of which were at Elland Road. Clarke fell on his sword and Leeds looked to another old boy to save them in the form of Eddie Gray. He joined to Scunthorpe United as Manager in February 1983 and led them out of the Fourth Division in fourth place at the end of his first season with them. He had the satisfaction of seeing his new charges eliminate Leeds from the FA Cup the next season, but they struggled and were relegated back to Division Four and after a power struggle Clarke and his Chairman found themselves out of a job at the start of the next season. It was a great shock to supporters who were unprepared for the sudden departures. He was out of football for a year before replacing Bobby Collins at Barnsley in July 1985. He started with an eleventh place finish in the Second Division in 1985/86 and repeated the achievement in the following season. There was a fourteenth place in 1987/88 but a seventh place in 1988/89 gave visions of better things. It did not happen and Barnsley could not sustain the push and in November 1989 there was a parting of the ways. He came back with Lincoln City in June 1990 but at the end of November 1990 he left after a string of poor results. The Sincil Bank position was his last in football, but he still lives with his family in the Scunthorpe area.