Stanley Finlay Thomas Clements

OBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

(25 June 1923 – 8 November 2018) was an English footballer who played most of his professional career for Southampton.

Playing career

He was a mechanical engineer in Portsmouth's naval dockyards and joined Southampton from

Gosport Borough Gosport Borough Football Club is a professional football club based in Gosport, Hampshire, England. The club is affiliated to the Hampshire Football Association and is an FA Charter Standard Community Club. They are currently members of the an ...

in July 1944. He made his league debut on 24 May 1947 in the 2–0 home victory over Fulham. He was a strong, powerful centre-half and replaced

Eric Webber Eric Victor Webber (22 December 1919 – 10 December 1996) was an English footballer, playing as a centre-half, and manager. Playing career Early days Although he was born at Shoreham in West Sussex, Webber's family moved into Hampshire w ...

for 13 games in the following season when Webber was rested. Once Webber regained his place in the team, Clements made no further first-team appearances until February 1951. For the following few seasons he alternated at centre-back with

Len Wilkins Leonard Wilkins (20 September 1925 – August 2003) was a professional footballer who played his entire career (at half-back) for Southampton from 1945 to 1958. In 1958, he emigrated to Canada and played in the National Soccer League The ...

and Henry Horton and had a spell as team captain in 1952–53. He scored once in 116 league games before becoming player-coach at Basingstoke Town in February 1955.

Later career

After leaving football, he qualified as a civil engineer and worked in Kenya, Uganda and

Sudan Sudan ( or ; ar, السودان, as-Sūdān, officially the Republic of the Sudan ( ar, جمهورية السودان, link=no, Jumhūriyyat as-Sūdān), is a country in Northeast Africa. It shares borders with the Central African Republic t ...

, before briefly helping to coach the Kenyan national team. In 1981, he was appointed

O.B.E. The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

for services to engineering in Africa. He returned to the UK in the mid-1980s and latterly lived in

Gosport Gosport ( ) is a town and non-metropolitan borough on the south coast of Hampshire, South East England. At the 2011 Census, its population was 82,662. Gosport is situated on a peninsula on the western side of Portsmouth Harbour, opposite t ...

. He died in November 2018 at the age of 95.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Clements, Stan 1923 births 2018 deaths Men's association football midfielders English men's footballers Officers of the Order of the British Empire Southampton F.C. players Footballers from Portsmouth English mechanical engineers English Football League players