Allan Clarke (footballer)

Allan John Clarke (born 31 July 1946), nicknamed "Sniffer", is a former professional footballer who played in the Football League for Walsall, Fulham, Leicester City, Leeds United and Barnsley, and won 19 international caps for England.

Clarke was born in Short Heath, Willenhall, Staffordshire.

He is the third of seven children.

Clarke joined Walsall F.C. 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 moved to Fulham in March 1966 for a fee of £35,000, in a transfer deadline deal.

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.

He 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 he was man of the match, despite Leicester City losing 1–0 to Manchester City.

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 several Chelsea defenders in the replay to set up a goal for Jones again, but Leeds United still lost.

The title had already gone to Everton who had clinched the title several weeks before the end of the season, and the European Cup campaign ended with defeat to Celtic in the semi-final,(0–1 at Elland Road and 1–2 at Hampden Park).

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.

Clarke was in the Leeds United side that won its second Fairs Cup in 1971, scoring in the final against Juventus.

Leeds United reached the FA Cup Final again in the competition's centenary year, and at Wembley they faced the Cup holders, Arsenal.

Clarke scored the only goal of the game with a diving header from a Jones cross early in the second half.

He had hit the crossbar with another diving header earlier in the game.

Unfortunately for Clarke and Leeds, they lost the League title and the chance of emulating Arsenal's previous season "double" when they lost to Wolverhampton Wanderers two days after winning the FA Cup.

Clarke played again at Wembley – and lost – when Leeds United were beaten 1–0 by Sunderland in the 1973 FA Cup Final.

In 1973, he was in the England team which needed to beat 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.

Clarke was again Leeds United's top scorer as Leeds United won the league title in 1974, including a run of 29 opening matches without defeat.

After this match the Revie side began to break up; their manager had left in 1974 to take the England job, and Clarke himself left the club in 1978 after 351 appearances and 151 goals, with a knee injury curtailing his ability to play at top-flight level.

A 1–1 draw was not enough, and England did not go through to play in the 1974 World Cup.

Leeds United lost the 1975 European Cup Final to Bayern Munich 2–0 and were denied a clear penalty when Clarke was tackled from behind and felled by Franz Beckenbauer in the penalty area.

He scored in the 1977 FA Cup semi-final, but the game ended in a 2–1 win by Manchester United.

Clarke was appointed Barnsley player-manager on 1 June 1978, and under him they won promotion to the old third Division in May 1979, 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 took his players down 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.