John Clark (born 13 March 1941) is a Scottish former

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly ...

player and coach. He has been employed by

Celtic Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to: Language and ethnicity *pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia **Celts (modern) *Celtic languages **Proto-Celtic language *Celtic music *Celtic nations Sports Foo ...

for more than forty years over eight decades, since signing as a player in 1958, then having spells as a coach, assistant manager and currently kit controller. He was a member of the Celtic team which won the

European Cup The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competit ...

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, nicknamed the ''

Lisbon Lions The Lisbon Lions is the nickname given to the Celtic team that won the European Cup at the Estádio Nacional in Lisbon, Portugal on 25 May 1967, defeating Inter Milan 2–1. The name is likely due to the fact that the Lisbon-based Sporting foo ...

''. He was inducted into the

Scottish Football Hall of Fame The Scottish Football Hall of Fame is located at the Scottish Football Museum. Nominations are made each year by fans and a committee selects the inductees. The first inductions to the Hall of Fame were in November 2004 in a ceremony at Hampden Pa ...

in 2017.

Playing career

John Clark was born in

Chapelhall Chapelhall (from the Gaelic Seipeal Allt - Chapel by a burn) is a village outside the town of Airdrie in North Lanarkshire, Scotland. With house building, the distinction between Airdrie and Chapelhall is being eroded. Established as a small m ...

Lanarkshire Lanarkshire, also called the County of Lanark ( gd, Siorrachd Lannraig; sco, Lanrikshire), is a historic county, lieutenancy area and registration county in the central Lowlands of Scotland. Lanarkshire is the most populous county in Scotl ...

. His father died in a railway accident when Clark was 10 years old. As a 15-year-old, Clark worked in a mine, before he joined

in 1958, aged 17. Clark soon established himself as a regular in the Celtic team. The arrival of Jock Stein as manager in 1965 saw Clark moved from left half to a sweeper position behind

Billy McNeill William McNeill (2 March 1940 – 22 April 2019) was a Scottish football player and manager. He had a long association with Celtic, spanning more than sixty years as a player, manager and club ambassador. McNeill captained Celtic's 'Lisbon Lio ...

. His undramatic style of play beside fellow centre back McNeill was integral to the success of the team; his role as Celtic's sweeper earned him the nickname "The Brush." Between April 1965 and September 1967, the club's most successful period, he played in 140 consecutive matches. He was part of the Celtic team that won the

, defeating

Inter Milan Football Club Internazionale Milano, commonly referred to as Internazionale () or simply Inter, and colloquially known as Inter Milan in English-speaking countries, is an Italian professional football club based in Milan, Lombardy. Inter i ...

2–1 in Lisbon. As a player with Celtic, he won three league championships, three Scottish Cups, four League Cups and the European Cup. He left Celtic for Morton in 1971, where he retired from playing two years later. Clark earned four international

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for

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to ...

, all during his time with Celtic.

Coaching and management career

Clark became a coach with Celtic in 1973, working with the reserve team. He left in 1977 to become

's assistant manager at

Aberdeen Aberdeen (; sco, Aiberdeen ; gd, Obar Dheathain ; la, Aberdonia) is a city in North East Scotland, and is the third most populous city in the country. Aberdeen is one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas (as Aberdeen City), a ...

, before returning to Celtic in the same role with McNeill from 1978 to 1983. During McNeill's tenure, Celtic won three League championships, in 1978–79, 1980–81 and 1981–82, the Scottish Cup in

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and the League Cup in 1982–83. Clark then worked as manager of

Cowdenbeath Cowdenbeath (; sco, Coudenbeith) is a town and burgh in west Fife, Scotland. It is north-east of Dunfermline and north of the capital, Edinburgh. The town grew up around the extensive coalfields of the area and became a police burgh in 189 ...

Stranraer Stranraer ( , in Scotland also ; gd, An t-Sròn Reamhar ), also known as The Toon, is a town in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland. It is located in the historical parish of Inch in the historic county of Wigtownshire. It lies on the shores of ...

and

Clyde Clyde may refer to: People * Clyde (given name) * Clyde (surname) Places For townships see also Clyde Township Australia * Clyde, New South Wales * Clyde, Victoria * Clyde River, New South Wales Canada * Clyde, Alberta * Clyde, Ontario, a tow ...

, as well as junior club Shotts Bon Accord, in the 1980s and early 90s. He became Celtic's kit controller in 1997, a position he has held for more than twenty years. As of 2021, he has spent 46 years with Celtic across eight decades, making him the second-longest serving Celtic man ever, after

Willie Maley William Patrick Maley (25 April 1868 – 2 April 1958) was an Irish-born Scottish international football player and manager. He was the first manager of Celtic Football Club, and one of the most successful managers in Scottish football histor ...

. His son

Martin Martin may refer to: Places * Martin City (disambiguation) * Martin County (disambiguation) * Martin Township (disambiguation) Antarctica * Martin Peninsula, Marie Byrd Land * Port Martin, Adelie Land * Point Martin, South Orkney Islands Austr ...

also became a professional footballer, playing with Clyde, Nottingham Forest and

Partick Thistle Partick Thistle Football Club are a professional football club from Glasgow, Scotland. Despite their name, the club are based at Firhill Stadium in the Maryhill area of the city, and have not played in Partick since 1908. The club have been m ...

in the 1990s.

Career statistics

International appearances

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Clark, John 1941 births Living people Scottish footballers Scotland international footballers Celtic F.C. players Greenock Morton F.C. players Scottish football managers Celtic F.C. non-playing staff Cowdenbeath F.C. managers Stranraer F.C. managers Clyde F.C. managers Sportspeople from Larkhall Larkhall Thistle F.C. players Association football wing halves Scottish Football League players Scottish Football League representative players Scottish Football League managers Scottish Roman Catholics Footballers from South Lanarkshire Scottish Football Hall of Fame inductees UEFA Champions League winning players