Clarence Frederick Thomas "Clarrie" Bourton (30 September 1908 – 1981) was an English

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 ...

who played in

the Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional association football, football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in Association football around the wor ...

for

Bristol City Bristol City Football Club is a professional football club based in Bristol, England, which compete in the , the second tier of English football. They have played their home games at Ashton Gate since moving from St John's Lane in 1904. The ...

Blackburn Rovers Blackburn Rovers Football Club is a professional football club, based in Blackburn, Lancashire, England, which competes in the , the second tier of the English football league system. They have played home matches at Ewood Park since 1890. Th ...

Coventry City Coventry City Football Club is a professional association football club based in Coventry, West Midlands, England. The team currently compete in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. The club is nicknamed t ...

and Plymouth Argyle. He is Coventry City's all-time leading goalscorer with 182 goals.

Life and career

Born in

Paulton Paulton () is a large village and civil parish, with a population of 5,302, located to the north of the Mendip Hills, very close to Norton Radstock in the unitary authority of Bath and North East Somerset (BANES), England. Paulton is a forme ...

, Bourton was a primarily a centre forward, but could also play as an

inside forward Forwards (also known as attackers) are outfield positions in an association football team who play the furthest up the pitch and are therefore most responsible for scoring goals as well as assisting them. As with any attacking player, the role ...

. He played non-league football for Paulton United before being signed by

, making his debut in

in April 1928. He scored one goal in four appearances towards the end of the 1927–28 season. That summer he was transferred to

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...

holders

and scored on his debut in a 1–1 draw at home to Bury. Bourton scored six goals in his first four matches, including all four in a 4–1 win against Manchester United at Old Trafford, and finished the season with 15 goals in 34 league and cup games as the club finished seventh in the First Division, which was their best since the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. He lost his place in the team to Les Bruton at the start of the following campaign, however he returned on Christmas Day 1929 to score in a 5–3 win against Sunderland and finished the season with 23 goals in 26 games, including four in a 7–5 win against

Sheffield United Sheffield United Football Club is a professional football club in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, which compete in the . They are nicknamed "the Blades" due to Sheffield's history of cutlery production. The team have played home games at ...

at Bramall Lane. Rovers finished sixth in the league. In his last season at Ewood Park, he scored four goals in 11 matches. Harry Storer was appointed

manager in April 1931 and, having noticed him while Storer played for

Burnley Burnley () is a town and the administrative centre of the wider Borough of Burnley in Lancashire, England, with a 2001 population of 73,021. It is north of Manchester and east of Preston, Lancashire, Preston, at the confluence of the River C ...

, Bourton joined the club ahead of the 1931–32 season. He finished as the Football League's top goalscorer that season, having found the net 49 times in the

Third Division South The Third Division South of The Football League was a tier in the English football league system from 1921 to 1958. It ran in parallel with the Third Division North with clubs elected to the League or relegated from Division Two allocated to ...

, including seven

hat-trick A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three. Origin The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three wic ...

s. He scored 40 league goals the following season, and received honours in 1936 when Coventry were promoted to the

Second Division In sport, the Second Division, also called Division 2 or Division II is usually the second highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Following the rise of Premier League style compet ...

as Third Division South champions. During his six seasons with the club, Coventry scored 577 league goals and Bourton contributed 173 of them in 228 appearances. He was transferred to Second Division rivals Plymouth Argyle at the age of 29. His time with the club was brief. Bourton made his debut in October 1937 and scored three goals in nine league and cup appearances. He made the last of those appearances in January 1938 and then returned to Bristol City. He was appointed as the club's captain and in October filled in for Bob Hewison as

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business. Management includes the activities ...

. Hewison was accused of making illegal payments to amateur players and was suspended until the end of the season after an inquiry by

the Football Association The Football Association (also known as The FA) is the governing body of association football in England and the Crown Dependencies of Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man. Formed in 1863, it is the oldest football association in the world a ...

and the Football League. Bourton was manager for seven months and City finished eighth in Third Division South before Hewison returned in May 1939. He scored 14 league goals in 57 appearances before the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

brought his career to a premature end. He continued to work for the club after his retirement from playing and was employed in the pools office until shortly before his death in 1981.

Honours

* Coventry City F.C. Hall of Fame

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bourton, Clarrie 1908 births People from Paulton English men's footballers Men's association football forwards Bristol City F.C. players Blackburn Rovers F.C. players Coventry City F.C. players Plymouth Argyle F.C. players English Football League players English football managers Bristol City F.C. managers 1981 deaths