John Clark – A Tribute
Club Historian Gordon Sydney has penned the following tribute to former Bully Wee boss John Clark following his recent passing.
John moved from Stranraer manager to Clyde manager in 1986, replacing Craig Brown, who left Clyde to become part of the Scotland international set-up, and just as the club were embarking on Scottish Football’s first – for many years – ground-sharing arrangement with Partick Thistle.
Craig Brown had established Clyde as a solid Division One side, so John didn’t have his challenges to seek, but let’s see how it really went…
Season 1986-87
In terms of footballing matters, in that first season, John brought in players such as Ronnie Coyle, Stevie Logan, Willie Watters, and Colin McGlashan, whilst during the course of the season regulars like Robert Reilly, Steve Evans, Jim Doherty and (at the end of the season) Brian Ahern all left the club.
In the league, John’s first competitive match in charge of Clyde came against Morton at Cappielow on the 9th August and ended in a 3-0 defeat, however we ended the league season with our league status intact, finishing fourth from bottom with an 8-point gap between ourselves and relegated Brechin City.
The Cups were a mixed bag though!
Premier League Falkirk came to Firhill, took a first half lead, but second half goals from Robert Reilly and Jimmy Murphy gave us our first victory at our new home over a Premier Division outfit. That earned us a trip to Pittodrie, where Jimmy Murphy’s goal had us leading 1-0 at half-time, a goal that apparently got the loudest cheer of the night at Parkhead, where Celtic were struggling to get past Dumbarton. They eventually managed that, as did Aberdeen, who came back with three second-half goals.
The Scottish Cup saw us crash by two goals to nil up at Highland League Peterhead, a result hardly softened by the news that Adrian Sprott’s goal had seen Hamilton victorious over Rangers at Ibrox.
The Glasgow Cup saw us progress to the semi-final by beating Queens Park on 3-2 penalties at Hampden. The semi-final, against Rangers at Firhill, was a tempestuous game, ending in a 1-1 draw after Willie Watters and Ally Dawson were sent-off. It took 14 penalties to split the teams, Rangers eventually going through 5-4 after all those penalties.
Season 1987-88
This season provided one of the most amazing starts to a season. A 5-0 opening day win over Dumbarton at Firhill was followed by a 5-3 away win at Station Park against Forfar, then there was a wee blip with a narrow 2-3 defeat from eventual champions Hamilton. Next up was an away League Cup tie away to Morton. The Greenock side might have been in the Premier Division, but they hardly knew what hit them that night – John Clark’s side were playing a mighty brand of flowing football, with guys like Des Walker pulling the strings in our 5-1 victory.
That victory brought us another visit to Premier League opposition, this time it was to Tynecastle to meet Hearts. Further whetting the appetite for this tie was that Clyde and Hearts were easily the top scorers thus far into the season. However, as so often happens, the game didn’t produce a glut of goals. Hearts scored twice, but if Des Walker had produced that rarest of finishes (for him) with his header from Andy Willock’s cross with the score at 0-0, who knows how it would have panned out…
Late November had us in second place in the league, a mere three points behind leaders Hamilton, but our league form faded, and in the end we retained our Division One place by finishing a mere two points ahead of both East Fife and Dumbarton, who were relegated.
This season’s Scottish Cup was everything the previous season’s wasn’t…
A goalless draw at Firhill against Second Division Cowdenbeath provided the opportunity to travel through to Central Park on a wet midweek night to witness Craig Napier’s header put us through to meet East Stirlingshire at Firs Park in the fourth round.
Second Division Shire, unbeaten in 11 matches, gave us a battle, and after a frenetic first-half the teams were level at two apiece. Colin McGlashan put Clyde in front after 12 minutes, then we found ourselves 2-1 behind, before an Andy Willock penalty levelled the scores. The second half gave us just one more goal, a second of the day for McGlashan taking us through.
Aberdeen at Pittodrie (again!) was our prize, unfortunately this time we went down to a 5-0 defeat.
Two signings during this season stick out. Firstly, in October, John asked Bill Munro to “run the rule” over Martin Clark, John’s son, to avoid any family bias! Martin, of course, left Clyde in January 1989 to sign for Nottingham Forest for £100,000. Secondly, in March 1988 John finally secured the signature of Keith Knox, who would be a mainstay of the playing staff at the club for the next nine seasons!
Another one of our debutants that season was Kenny Housley, who said of John:
”I’m really sorry to hear of the passing of the manager who gave me my experience of professional football. I’ll always be thankful to him and Clyde FC for that.”
Season 1988/89
Season 88/89 was pretty nondescript, without any real highlights, until we got well into April. Struggling at the foot of the table, John Clark predicted “we need 7 points from 8 in our last four games to stay up” – and he was spot-on!
The 22nd April brought a 2-1 win over Queen of the South at Firhill, then Morton were defeated by the same score at the same venue a week later.
So far so good, but the next trip was to East End Park, to play Champions-elect Dunfermline Athletic. Around 10000 turned up that day to see Clyde play at a level well above their league placing and grab a very significant point, thanks to Jim Rooney’s equalising goal.
The final game of the season witnessed us pulling off one of the greatest escapes of all-time, at least in Scottish football. Kilmarnock were away to already-relegated Queen of the South. Killie’s goal difference was -19, Clyde’s was -14, so we were five goals better off.
Kilmarnock went in at half-time 1-0 ahead, Clyde and St Johnstone were goalless. Kilmarnock then upped the tempo, ending up 6-0 winners, thanks to Willie Watters, who got five goals, and Robert Reilly, who got the other goal.
Meanwhile at Firhill, Clyde were winning 1-0, thanks to Gerry McCabe’s cracker in 84 minutes. However, in what seemed like an eternity of added-on time, Clyde were awarded a penalty, and Colin McGlashan’s coolness from the spot once again retained Division One status for Clyde.
There was one piece of history remaining to close the season out, when we met Partick Thistle in the Glasgow Cup Final, the last Glasgow Cup tournament played in its original format. Two players who would later play for Clyde, John Mitchell and Gerry McCoy, scored to deny John some silverware.
A significant signing of note this season was Tom Cowan. Making his debut in a televised match against Airdrie at Broomfield – where he scored – Tom never looked back, and after a mere 18 games for the Bully Wee he was off to Ibrox for £100000.
A couple of players who played for John around this time expressed their sadness…
Alan Mackin, who came in towards the end of the season, said…
“So sorry to hear about John, he was an absolute superstar. He and Big John Cushley complemented each other perfectly and against all odds kept us up that season (87/88).
As a manager, John was always in control, but he could top up the intensity with a few quiet words. My thoughts are with Martin and all the Clark family. RIP John”.
Meanwhile, the man whose goal went a long way to saving our league status, Gerry McCabe, echoed those sentiments…
“So sad to hear of the passing of my old Boss John Clark. I had a great two seasons working with John on my return to Clyde, and I especially remember staying up on the last game of the season against St. Johnstone. My thoughts and prayers are for John and his family, Rest In Peace Boss”.
Season 1989/90
After all the excitement of the previous three seasons, this season was tame by comparison. Very few highlights really jump out, although I’m sure the 3-0 “away” victory over Partick Thistle at Firhill would be welcomed. We also seemed to hold the “Indian sign” over Morton, with two victories at Cappielow and a draw at Firhill. Again though, we retained our Division One spot.
The less said about the Cups the better, with fairly emphatic exits to Dundee in the League Cup and Motherwell in the Scottish Cup.
John did, though, manage to get the signature of Stevie Clarke, who told us…
“John was a quiet unassuming man who got respect from every player, he was a legend to many, but was down to earth when you got to know him. It was a pleasure to play for him… God Bless”
Season 1990/91
The first game of the season saw Clyde catch Premier League St Johnstone cold and emerge with a 2-0 win to go through to the next round of the League Cup. A reversal of that score against another Premier League team, Motherwell, at Fir Park, saw us exit the League Cup.
When the league fixtures got under way, we just didn’t have enough to retain our Division One place, and we were relegated.
The Scottish Cup saw us at least match, if not outplay, Premier League Hibs at Firhill, however as so often happens, Hibs were just slightly better at putting the ball in the net and went through 2-1.
The newly-instigated B&Q Cup (now the Challenge Cup) brought some respite. Early rounds saw us dispose of Dumbarton, Airdrie and Cowdenbeath, however Ayr United at Somerset in the semi-finals was a step too far, and we went down 2-0.
Season 1991/92
Our first season in Division Two for a long time, and our failure to get immediate promotion ultimately led to John’s departure from the club. A good start saw us win 5 and draw 2 of the first seven league matches, but then the form dipped and although players like Frank McGarvey and a returning Steve Archibald played in the second half of the season, we still fell that bit short. Some good results, including 4-0 and a 3-0 scorelines against promoted Cowdenbeath, showed we could compete, but ultimately it wasn’t enough.
NB Interestingly, for the first game of the following season under Alex Smith, of the 13 players he listed for his first competitive match, only Graeme McCheyne wasn’t a John Clark signing!
One such player who was signed by John and who stayed when Alex Smith took over was Stevie Tennent…
“Sad, sad news. John gave me my opportunity to get back into the game after almost a year out from injury.
That 91/92 season, his final season at Clyde, was tough on him given how we struggled through that campaign.
He was a gem of man, honourable and passionate”.
Retrospective
Looking back, I think the general consensus amongst fans at the time was that the club shouldn’t be in a seemingly perpetual struggle to avoid relegation, which meant that, at the time, we didn’t fully appreciate the work done by John. Maybe we were spoiled a bit by Craig Brown’s time at the club, however, with the benefit of hindsight, we can see that John, working against the odds and the bank manager, done a good job in terms of results over his 273 games in charge, and the achievement of actually keeping us in Division One as long as he did cannot be underestimated – especially if we look back over the last few years!
Current Chairman John Taylor, newly appointed to the Board at the time of John’s arrival in 1986, admitted
“John’s achievements over his time at the club were vastly underrated. Succeeding Craig Brown while moving to a new ground sharing arrangement at Firhill was a massive challenge. That he kept the club in the First Division for so long, against all odds is testimony to a man with a great passion for, and knowledge of, the game.
John was a man of great humility, integrity and a valued servant to Clyde during those most difficult of times”