Frank Clark (footballer)

For the Shrewsbury Town and Carlisle United footballer, see Frank Clarke (footballer).
Frank Clark
Personal information
Date of birth (1943-09-09) 9 September 1943
Place of birth Rowlands Gill, County Durham, England
Playing position Full-back
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1961–1962 Crook Town
1962–1975 Newcastle United 389 (0)
1975–1979 Nottingham Forest 117 (1)
Teams managed
1983–1991 Leyton Orient
1993–1996 Nottingham Forest
1996–1998 Manchester City

* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only.


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 Newcastle United, and played a total of 464 games for them between 1962 and 1975.[2]

He then joined Nottingham Forest, and helped them win promotion in 1977, and he played for them in the 1979 European Cup Final, where they beat Malmö FF.[3]

Managerial career

After his playing career he was Assistant Manager of Sunderland from 1979 to 1982 and then became manager of Leyton Orient, later becoming managing director of the Brisbane Road club. In 1993 he was appointed as Nottingham Forest manager, as a replacement for the retiring Brian Clough.[4] Some sources have said that Clough selected Clark for the job in 1993,[5] however Clark's name was submitted far earlier, and by the time of Clough's retirement in 1993 his preference was Ron Fenton.[6]

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.[7] Forest reached the UEFA Cup quarter finals in 1996 under Clark.[8]

In December 1996, with Forest struggling in the 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.[9] Clark left the club in December.[10]

Clark made some shrewd signings as Forest manager, including Stan Collymore and Lars Bohinen. Collymore was sold to Liverpool in 1995 for a then British transfer fee record of £8.5M.[4]

Nottingham Forest chairman

Clark took over from Nigel Doughty as chairman of Nottingham Forest football club on 12 October 2011.[11] Forest were managerless at the time, following the resignation of Steve McClaren.[12]

Clark was sacked from his role as club ambassador on 17 January 2013.[13]

Career statistics

As a manager

Team[14] From To Record
PWDLWin %
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 690 267 187 236 38.7

Honours

As a Player

Crook Town[15]
Newcastle United
Nottingham Forest

As a Manager

Nottingham Forest
Personal

References

  1. ↑ Harry Pearson (March 1997). "Amateur dramatics". When Saturday Comes. Retrieved 29 December 2013.
  2. ↑ Fearon, Matthew (20 May 2009). "Dream Teams: Newcastle". London: The Independent. Retrieved 11 September 2010.
  3. 1 2 "The European Cup Team 1979". Nottingham Forest FC. Archived from the original on 6 February 2010. Retrieved 29 December 2013.
  4. 1 2 3 "Frank Clark". Profile. u-reds.com. Retrieved 23 September 2011.
  5. ↑ "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.
  6. ↑ Turner, Georgina (22 January 2014). "Which managers have chosen their successor?". theguardian.com. Guardian Media Group. Retrieved 23 April 2014.
  7. ↑ "FA Premiership League Table at 24 September 1994". nottinghamforest-mad.co.uk. Retrieved 14 October 2010.
  8. ↑ Soar, Phil (abridged by Roger Litawski). "History of Nottingham Forest". The Official History of Nottingham Forest. Nottingham Forest. Retrieved 16 February 2013.
  9. ↑ "Clark's anxiety leads to City speculation: Football". London: The Independent. 16 November 1996. Retrieved 23 September 2011.
  10. ↑ "Winless Forest lose manager Clark". The Nation. Bangkok: Nation Multimedia Group. Agence France-Presse. 20 December 1996. Retrieved 23 April 2014.
  11. ↑ "Frank Clark appointed Nottingham Forest chairman". BBC. Retrieved 12 October 2011.
  12. ↑ Heath, Neil (4 October 2011). "Dave Bassett backs Frank Clark to help stabilise Forest". BBC. Retrieved 17 July 2012.
  13. ↑ "Nottingham Forest: Mark Arthur, Keith Burt and Frank Clark leave". BBC. 17 January 2013. Retrieved 17 January 2013.
  14. ↑ Frank Clark profile at the English National Football Archive (subscription required)
  15. ↑ "Past Players (C)". Durham County Schools Football Association. Retrieved 29 December 2013.
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