Brian Donald Clark (13 January 1943 – 10 August 2010) was an English professional footballer. He scored the only goal in a 1–0 victory for

Cardiff City Cardiff City Football Club ( cy, Clwb Pêl-droed Dinas Caerdydd) is a professional association football club based in Cardiff, Wales. It competes in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1899 as R ...

against

Real Madrid Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (, meaning ''Royal Madrid Football Club''), commonly referred to as Real Madrid, is a Spanish professional football club based in Madrid. Founded in 1902 as Madrid Football Club, the club has traditionally wor ...

in the first leg of the European Cup Winners Cup quarter-final in 1971.

Career

The son of former Bristol City player Don Clark, Clark captained Bristol Boys' before signing professional terms with Bristol City himself in March 1960, making his debut for the club in 1961 during a 3–0 victory over

Brentford Brentford is a suburban town in West London, England and part of the London Borough of Hounslow. It lies at the confluence of the River Brent and the Thames, west of Charing Cross. Its economy has diverse company headquarters buildings whi ...

on the final day of the season. After featuring regularly for the ''Robins'' reserve side, it was during the 1962–63 season that he established himself in the side, finishing as the club's top scorer with 23 goals. He continued to score regularly for the side and helped the side gain promotion to Division Two during the 1964–65 season, forming a formidable attacking partnership with John Atyeo and Bobby Williams, again finishing as the club's top scorer with 24 goals. In October 1966 he left Bristol City to sign for Huddersfield Town in exchange for John Quigley. Clark failed to settle at the Yorkshire club and, after two years, was snapped up by

manager Jimmy Scoular for £8,000. Scoring twice on his debut during a 4–3 win over Derby County, he went on to form a lethal partnership with John Toshack, ending the season with 17 goals and his first Welsh Cup winners medal. Clark finished as the club's top scorer for the next two seasons, as well as scoring 5 times in a single match against Barmouth & Dyffryn, falling short of Derek Tapscott's club record of goals in a game by just one. It was during the 1970–71 season that he achieved probably the high point of his career when he headed in the only goal of the first leg against

in a 1–0 win during the European Cup Winners Cup quarter-final. The following year he again finished as Cardiff's top scorer, the third successive year he had done so, before he and Ian Gibson were surprisingly sold to

AFC Bournemouth AFC Bournemouth () is a professional association football club based in Kings Park, Boscombe, a suburb of Bournemouth, Dorset, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the highest division of English club football. Formed in 1899 as B ...

for a combined fee of £100,000. Clark spent one year at Bournemouth, followed by a spell at Millwall. He soon returned to Ninian Park to play for Cardiff again. His second spell at the club lasted just a single season but he still managed to help the club win promotion to Division Two. He left the club to sign for Newport County before finishing his career with a number of player-manager roles at several Welsh Football League sides.

Death

Clark died on 10 August 2010 at the age of 67 from Lewy body dementia at Whitchurch Hospital in Cardiff.

Honours

;Cardiff City * Welsh Cup Winner: 4 :: 1968–69, 1969–70, 1970–71, 1975–76 * Welsh Cup Runner-up: 1 :: 1971–72 * Football League Third Division Runner-up: 1 :: 1975–76

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Clark, Brian 1943 births 2010 deaths Footballers from Bristol English footballers Association football forwards Bristol City F.C. players Huddersfield Town A.F.C. players Cardiff City F.C. players AFC Bournemouth players Millwall F.C. players Newport County A.F.C. players English Football League players