Cliff Sear (22 September 1936 – 8 July 2000) was a Welsh football left back who played for Manchester City between 1956 and 1967. During this time he made 250 appearances for the team and scored 1 goal. He was captain of the Welsh under 23 team for which he made 2 appearances and also won one cap for

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the Bristol Channel to the south. It had a population in ...

in a game against

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 ...

in November 1962. Sear had joined City as a youngster from Oswestry Town.

Chester City

In 1968, Sear joined Chester, initially as a player. He scored on his debut against

York City York City Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of York, North Yorkshire, England. As of the 2022–23 season, the team compete in the National League, at the fifth tier of the English football league sys ...

in August 1968, doubling his tally of Football League goals in his 14-year career. However, the vast majority of his 19-year service to the club would be in coaching capacities. Between March 1982 and November 1982 he was manager of the club (initially as caretaker), but he did not enjoy this role and happily returned to working with the youth team and helping his successors in the manager's chair. He did though have another tenure as caretaker manager the helm in January 1984, after previous caretaker manager Trevor Storton stepped down as the club awaited the appointment of John McGrath. Sear is largely credited for helping discover

Ian Rush Ian James Rush (born 20 October 1961) is a Welsh former professional footballer who played as a forward. At club level Rush played for Liverpool from 1980–1987 and 1988–1996. He is the club's all-time leading goalscorer, having scored a t ...

, having helped guide him through Chester's youth set-up in the late 1970s. During much of his time at the club, Sear was the trusted right-hand man to

Alan Oakes Alan Arthur Oakes (born 7 September 1942) is an English former footballer who holds Manchester City's all-time record for appearances. A midfielder, in total he played 776 the Football League matches – the tenth most in history. He is a co ...

, who had coincidentally been a teammate at Manchester City. Other players to emerge from Sear's youth system and enjoy successful league careers include Brian Croft, twins

Paul Paul may refer to: *Paul (given name), a given name (includes a list of people with that name) * Paul (surname), a list of people People Christianity *Paul the Apostle (AD c.5–c.64/65), also known as Saul of Tarsus or Saint Paul, early Chri ...

and Ron Futcher, Chris Lightfoot, Robbie Painter, Mike Williams and Colin Woodthorpe.

Crossing the Border

After leaving Chester in acrimonious circumstances in 1987, Sear joined arch-rivals

Wrexham Wrexham ( ; cy, Wrecsam; ) is a city and the administrative centre of Wrexham County Borough in Wales. It is located between the Welsh mountains and the lower Dee Valley, near the border with Cheshire in England. Historically in the count ...

and helped revamp the club's youth policy. Many of the players he helped bring through the ranks with Wrexham went on to play in the club's numerous giantkilling acts in the 1990s. Sear enjoyed a testimonial between Wrexham and Manchester City in 1996. Sear died from a heart attack in 2000.

Notes

External links

List of Chester City managers
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sear, Cliff 1936 births 2000 deaths Welsh footballers Wales international footballers Wales under-23 international footballers Manchester City F.C. players Chester City F.C. players Oswestry Town F.C. players Chester City F.C. managers English Football League players Welsh football managers Association football fullbacks