David Thomas Clement (2 February 1948 – 31 March 1982) was an English 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 ...

. Clement played as a right fullback who developed his career with

Queens Park Rangers Queens Park Rangers Football Club, commonly abbreviated to QPR, is a professional football club based in Shepherd's Bush, West London, England, which compete in the . After a nomadic early existence, they have played home matches at Loftus Ro ...

through the club's youth set-up. Clement signed professional terms in 1965 and made his first team debut in the 1966-67 season. This season was a particularly memorable one for QPR, as they won the Third Division championship by a substantial margin of twelve points and also became the first ever Third Division club to win a major national trophy – the

League Cup In several sports, most prominently association football, a league cup or secondary cup generally signifies a cup competition for which entry is restricted only to teams in a particular league. The first national association football tournament t ...

, defeating the First Division club

West Bromwich Albion West Bromwich Albion Football Club () is an English professional football club based in West Bromwich, West Midlands, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football. The club was formed in 1878 and has pla ...

3–2 at

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. The following season, Clement became an established starting member of the team, making 34 appearances in another successful season for QPR as they gained promotion to the First Division. He missed only six games in the four seasons between 1970 and 1974, and made a total of 472 first team appearances for QPR during his fourteen year career at the club. Clement was selected to represent

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 March 1976, making his international debut against Wales. He won five full England caps in total, including two games against Italy. In June 1979 Clement was transferred to

Bolton Wanderers Bolton Wanderers Football Club () is a professional football club based in Horwich, Bolton, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in . The club played at Burnden Park for 102 years from 1895 after moving from their original home at Pike's ...

for a fee of £170,000. After playing 33 league games for them he then returned to London, signing in October 1980 for

Fulham Fulham () is an area of the London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham in West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It lies on the north bank of the River Thames, bordering Hammersmith, Kensington and Chelsea. The area faces Wandsworth ...

, where he made 18 league appearances. Clement then joined

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in late August 1981. He played nine matches for the club, scoring twice, but broke his right leg during a match at Lincoln City in October 1981. Doctors feared that the injury was serious enough to end his career, although in an interview in early 1982, Clement stated that he hoped to continue playing for a few more years. On 31 March 1982, he died by suicide at his father-in-law's flat in

Battersea Battersea is a large district in south London, part of the London Borough of Wandsworth, England. It is centred southwest of Charing Cross and extends along the south bank of the River Thames. It includes the Battersea Park. History Batter ...

, having suffered from depression for several years. He killed himself by poisoning himself with weed killer and he also stabbed himself with a kitchen knife. The official verdict at the

coroner A coroner is a government or judicial official who is empowered to conduct or order an inquest into Manner of death, the manner or cause of death, and to investigate or confirm the identity of an unknown person who has been found dead within th ...

's inquest into Clement's death stated that a combination of his worries about his football career and the fact that he thought he was suffering from cancer caused him to take his own life. A special memorial match for Clement was arranged by QPR in order to raise funds for his family, and was held at

Loftus Road Loftus Road is a football stadium in White City, London, England, which is home to Queens Park Rangers. In 1981, it became the first stadium in British professional football to have an artificial pitch of Omniturf installed. This remained in ...

in the week prior to QPR's first ever

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 ...

Final appearance in May 1982. His younger son

Neil Neil is a masculine name of Gaelic and Irish origin. The name is an anglicisation of the Irish ''Niall'' which is of disputed derivation. The Irish name may be derived from words meaning "cloud", "passionate", "victory", "honour" or "champion".. A ...

, who was only three years old at the time of his father's death, later became a professional footballer himself and spent the majority of his career playing for

. His elder son

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became a noted football coach who worked with

Carlo Ancelotti Carlo Ancelotti , (born 10 June 1959) is an Italian professional football manager and former player who is the manager of La Liga club Real Madrid. Regarded as one of the greatest managers of all time, Ancelotti is the most decorated manager ...

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Paris Saint-Germain Paris Saint-Germain Football Club (), commonly referred to as Paris Saint-Germain, Paris, Paris SG or simply PSG is a professional football club based in Paris, France. They compete in Ligue 1, the top division of French football. As Fr ...

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 ...

and Bayern Munich, and was formerly manager at Swansea City,

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and Derby County.

References

* * Playfair football annuals {{DEFAULTSORT:Clement, Dave 1948 births 1982 deaths Footballers from Battersea English footballers England international footballers Queens Park Rangers F.C. players Bolton Wanderers F.C. players Fulham F.C. players Wimbledon F.C. players Suicides by poison Suicides in England Association football fullbacks 1982 suicides