Benjamin Clark (born 24 January 1983) is an English former professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

who played as a

centre-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

. During his career, he played for

Sunderland Sunderland () is a port city in Tyne and Wear, England. It is the City of Sunderland's administrative centre and in the Historic counties of England, historic county of County of Durham, Durham. The city is from Newcastle-upon-Tyne and is on t ...

Hartlepool United Hartlepool United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Hartlepool, County Durham, England. The team competes in League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. They were founded in 1908 as Hartle ...

Gateshead Gateshead () is a large town in northern England. It is on the River Tyne's southern bank, opposite Newcastle upon Tyne, Newcastle to which it is joined by seven bridges. The town contains the Gateshead Millennium Bridge, Millennium Bridge, Sage ...

and latterly

South Shields South Shields () is a coastal town in South Tyneside, Tyne and Wear, England. It is on the south bank of the mouth of the River Tyne. Historically, it was known in Roman times as Arbeia, and as Caer Urfa by Early Middle Ages. According to the 20 ...

. He has also been first-team manager and community officer at Gateshead.

Club career

Manchester United

Clark began his career as a trainee for

Manchester United Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of City of Salford, Salford to ...

, but became homesick and signed for

in August 1999.

Sunderland

He made his Sunderland debut in a 2–1 League Cup win away to Luton Town in September 2000. However, Clark saw his opportunities at Sunderland limited and he only made 11 appearances in his first three seasons and mainly found himself playing for the reserves. Despite the lack of appearances for his league side, Clark represented

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

as a defender up until under-20 level and he captained the under-19s. Mick McCarthy tipped Clark to play an important role in Sunderland's promotion campaign. However, he decided to let Clark look for new clubs to pursue his career. In the 2004–05 season, Clark was signed by

Neale Cooper Neale James Cooper (24 November 1963 – 28 May 2018) was a Scottish football player and coach. He played as a midfielder during the 1980s and 1990s, most prominently for the Aberdeen team managed by Alex Ferguson, and later played for Aston ...

and moved to

Hartlepool United

Clark made his Hartlepool debut against

Peterborough Peterborough () is a cathedral city in Cambridgeshire, east of England. It is the largest part of the City of Peterborough unitary authority district (which covers a larger area than Peterborough itself). It was part of Northamptonshire until ...

but a series of injuries disrupted his first season at the club and Clark found it difficult to gain a regular starting place in the team. He was commonly used as a utility player to cover injuries in defence and midfield. Despite this Clark went on to make 25

league League or The League may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Leagues'' (band), an American rock band * ''The League'', an American sitcom broadcast on FX and FXX about fantasy football Sports * Sports league * Rugby league, full contact footba ...

appearances and 6 in cup competitions. In the 06–07 season played a key role as Hartlepool won promotion from

League Two The English Football League Two (often referred to as League Two for short or Sky Bet League Two for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League Two from 2004 until 2016) is the third and lowest division of the English Football Lea ...

alongside Michael Nelson. The pair played a major part in an 18-game unbeaten run. Clark made 35 appearances in the 08/09 season but the arrival of Sam Collins meant that Clark was moved back into midfield. After losing his place in the side Clark spent much of the 09/10 as a substitute and was released at the end of the season.

Gateshead

On 14 June 2010, Clark signed for

Conference National The National League, known as the Vanarama National League for sponsorship reasons, is the highest level of the National League System and fifth-highest of the overall English football league system. It is the highest league that is semi-profes ...

side

and was named

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

on 10 August 2010, replacing Kris Gate. Clark made his debut for Gateshead on 14 August 2010 against

Kettering Town Kettering Town Football Club is a football club based in Burton Latimer, Northamptonshire, England. They are currently members of and play at Latimer Park in Burton Latimer. Kettering were the first club to wear sponsorship on their shirts in ...

. Clark scored his first goal for Gateshead on 22 February 2011 in a 4–1 win against

at Rockingham Road. He made 53 appearances during his first season at the club, missing only 3 games, and won Gateshead's Player of the Year award. He agreed a new one-year contract with the club in May 2012 to cover the 2012–13 season. On 23 November 2015, Clark was named co-caretaker manager of Gateshead alongside

Micky Cummins Michael Thomas Cummins (born 1 June 1978) is an Irish former professional footballer. As a player, he was a midfielder from 1996 to 2014. He started his career with Middlesbrough in 1996, where he stayed for four years. In 2000, he moved on to ...

following the departure of manager

Malcolm Crosby Malcolm Crosby (born 4 July 1954) is an English former professional footballer and manager. He is currently working for Exeter City as the club’s Chief Scout under former Wigan Athletic manager Gary Caldwell. Playing career Born in South Shie ...

. At the beginning of the 2016/17 season, Clark became a dual registered player for both Gateshead and Northern League South Shields. He played four times for the Mariners, and then retired after suffering a groin injury in September 2016.

Career statistics

Club

:A. The "League" column constitutes appearances and goals (including those as a substitute) in

The Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in the world. It was the top-level football league in Engla ...

and Football Conference. :B. The "Other" column constitutes appearances and goals (including those as a substitute) in the

FA Trophy The Football Association Challenge Trophy, commonly known as the FA Trophy, is a men's football knockout cup competition run by and named after the English Football Association and competed for primarily by semi-professional teams. The compet ...

Football League Trophy The English Football League Trophy, known for sponsorship purposes as the Papa Johns Trophy after restaurant chain Papa John's Pizza, is an annual English association football knockout competition open to all clubs in EFL League One and EFL Leag ...

and

play-offs The playoffs, play-offs, postseason or finals of a sports league are a competition played after the regular season by the top competitors to determine the league champion or a similar accolade. Depending on the league, the playoffs may be eithe ...

Managerial statistics

Honours

Club

Hartlepool United *

Football League Two The English Football League Two (often referred to as League Two for short or Sky Bet League Two for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League Two from 2004 until 2016) is the third and lowest division of the English Football Lea ...

runners-up: 2006–07

References

External links

*
Clark's Official Gateshead F.C. profile Ben Clark profile
a
Vital HartlepoolProfile
a
In The Mad Crowd
{{DEFAULTSORT:Clark, Ben 1983 births Living people English footballers Manchester United F.C. players Sunderland A.F.C. players Hartlepool United F.C. players Gateshead F.C. players Gateshead F.C. managers Premier League players English Football League players National League (English football) players Sportspeople from Consett Footballers from County Durham Association football central defenders English football managers