Robert Brown Clark (born 26 September 1945) is a Scottish
football
Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...
player and coach. Clark, who played as a
goalkeeper
In many team sports that involve scoring goal (sport), goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie, or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or i ...
, spent most of his playing career with
Aberdeen
Aberdeen ( ; ; ) is a port city in North East Scotland, and is the List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, third most populous Cities of Scotland, Scottish city. Historically, Aberdeen was within the historic county of Aberdeensh ...
Washington Whips
The Washington Whips were a soccer team based in Washington, D.C. that played in the United Soccer Association (United Soccer Association, USA). The league was made up of teams imported from foreign leagues. The Washington Whips were the Aberde ...
Scotland
Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...
and represented the Scottish League. He later became a coach, mainly working in New Zealand and the United States.
Playing career
Clark started his senior career in Scotland's second tier with
Queen's Park F.C.
Queen's Park Football Club is a Scottish professional football club based in Glasgow, which plays in the , the second tier of the Scottish football pyramid. Queen's Park is the oldest association football club in Scotland, having been founde ...
Aberdeen F.C.
Aberdeen Football Club is a Scottish professional Association football, football club based in Aberdeen, Scotland. They compete in the and have List of unrelegated association football clubs, never been relegated from the top division of th ...
, with whom he won the 1970
Scottish Cup
The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,League Cup and the 1980 Premier League Championship. During his time with the ''Dons'', Clark played some games as a defender, including against Rangers at
Ibrox Park
Ibrox Stadium is a football stadium on the south side of the River Clyde in the Ibrox area of Glasgow, Scotland. The home of Scottish Premiership team Rangers, Ibrox is the third-largest football stadium in Scotland, with an all-seated ca ...
, after losing his place in goal to Ernie McGarr. With 594 competitive appearances for Aberdeen between 1965 and 1980, he is ranked third in the club's all-time list.
Clark graduated from
Jordanhill College
Jordanhill College of Education was a higher education college in Jordanhill, Glasgow, Scotland. It opened as a teacher training college in 1921. The college merged with the University of Strathclyde in 1993, becoming its Faculty of Educati ...
in Glasgow, Scotland in 1967 with a degree in Physical Education. He was named first team all-star goalkeeper in the 1967
United Soccer Association
The United Soccer Association (USA) was a professional association football, soccer league featuring teams based in the United States and Canada. The league survived only one season before merging with the National Professional Soccer League ( ...
playing for the
Washington Whips
The Washington Whips were a soccer team based in Washington, D.C. that played in the United Soccer Association (United Soccer Association, USA). The league was made up of teams imported from foreign leagues. The Washington Whips were the Aberde ...
and making the USA All Star Team. He also spent the summer of 1976, on loan, in the NASL, playing for the San Antonio Thunder.
A fan of
Scottish First Division
The Scottish Football League First Division was the second tier in the Scottish football league system between 1975 and 2013. It was replaced by the Scottish Championship.
History
The First Division was introduced in 1975–76 in Scottish footb ...
side Clyde, Clark came out of retirement in 1983 to help Clyde when they had a goalkeeping injury crisis. His father, Tom, was once the chairman of Clyde. In autumn 1984 he once more came out of retirement to keep goal for Forres Mechanics in a 1–0 victory over Buckie Thistle in the Highland League Cup Final held at
Elgin
Elgin may refer to:
Places Canada
* Elgin County, Ontario
* Elgin Settlement, a 19th-century community for freed slaves located in present-day North Buxton and South Buxton, Ontario
* Elgin, a village in Rideau Lakes, Ontario
* Elgin, Manit ...
.
Clark set the British top-flight record for not conceding a goal in consecutive, all-competition matches (at 1,155 minutes) in the 1970–71 season, until
Edwin van der Sar
Edwin van der Sar (; born 29 October 1970) is a Dutch association football, football executive and former professional player who played as a Goalkeeper (association football), goalkeeper. He was most recently the chief executive of AFC Ajax, A ...
set a new mark on 8 February 2009. He also briefly held the world record, until Bulgarian goalkeeper
Stoyan Yordanov
Stoyan Ivanov Yordanov (; born 29 January 1944) is a Bulgarian former footballer who played as a goalkeeper.
At international level, Yordanov represented the Bulgaria national team on 25 occasions between 1968 and 1975, and participated at th ...
set a new record of 1202 minutes in May 1971.
Fraser Forster
Fraser Gerard Forster (born 17 March 1988) is an English professional Association football, footballer who plays as a Goalkeeper (association football), goalkeeper for Premier League club Tottenham Hotspur F.C., Tottenham Hotspur. He will becom ...
broke the Scottish league record in 2014 and was congratulated by Clark after the match in which it was surpassed. He still holds the Aberdeen club record, although this was threatened by the form of Scott Brown in early 2015.
He earned 17 caps for the Scotland national team, and was Scotland's backup goalkeeper at the
1978 FIFA World Cup
The 1978 FIFA World Cup was the 11th edition of the FIFA World Cup, a Anniversary#Latin-derived numerical names, quadrennial international Association football, football world championship tournament among the men's senior national teams. It wa ...
.
Managerial career
Clark coached
Highlanders F.C.
Highlanders Football Club, or more commonly Highlanders F.C., is a Zimbabwean football club based in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe that plays in the Zimbabwe Premier Soccer League. It is also known colloquially as iBosso, Amahlolanyama.
Founded in 1926 ...
, Bulawayo (1983–84),
Dartmouth College
Dartmouth College ( ) is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Hanover, New Hampshire, United States. Established in 1769 by Eleazar Wheelock, Dartmouth is one of the nine colonial colleges chartered before the America ...
(1985–93), the
New Zealand national football team
The New Zealand men's national football team () represents New Zealand in men's international Association football, football competitions. The team is governed by the governing body for football in New Zealand, New Zealand Football (NZF), whic ...
(1994–96),
Stanford University
Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...
(1996–2000) and the
University of Notre Dame
The University of Notre Dame du Lac (known simply as Notre Dame; ; ND) is a Private university, private Catholic research university in Notre Dame, Indiana, United States. Founded in 1842 by members of the Congregation of Holy Cross, a Cathol ...
men's soccer team (2001–2017), winning the national title in 2013 with the Irish.
In November 2018, Clark was one of four inductees into the Aberdeen ''Hall of Fame''.
Personal life
His son
Jamie
Jamie is a unisex name. Traditionally a masculine name, it can be diminutive form of James or, more rarely, other names and is of Scottish English origin. It is also given as a name in its own right. Since the mid-20th century it has been used a ...
has played in
Major League Soccer
Major League Soccer (MLS) is a professional Association football, soccer league in North America and the highest level of the United States soccer league system. It comprises 30 teams, with 27 in the United States and 3 in Canada, and is sanc ...
and is the head coach of the
Washington Huskies men's soccer
The Washington Huskies men's soccer team is an intercollegiate varsity sports team of the University of Washington. As of the upcoming 2024 season, the team is a member of the Big Ten Conference of the National Collegiate Athletic Association.
...
team. His son Tommy, a paediatrician, is the founder and executive director of the HIV prevention organisation Grassroot Soccer. His daughter, Jennifer Clark, is also a football coach and is the head women's coach at Claremont-McKenna in California.
Career statistics
Club
International
Honours
Player
Aberdeen
*
Scottish Premier Division
The Scottish Football League Premier Division was, from 1975 until 1998, the top division of the Scottish Football League and the entire Scottish football league system. It lay above the Scottish Football League First, Second and (from 1994) ...
Scottish League Cup
The Scottish League Cup, also known as the Premier Sports Cup for sponsorship reasons, is a football competition open to all Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL) clubs. First held in 1946–47, it is the oldest national League cup in ...
USA
The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 contiguous ...
Championship runner-up:
1967
Events January
* January 1 – Canada begins a year-long celebration of the 100th anniversary of Canadian Confederation, Confederation, featuring the Expo 67 World's Fair.
* January 6 – Vietnam War: United States Marine Corps and Army of ...
*
USA
The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 contiguous ...
British Home Championship
The British Home Championship (historically known as the British International Championship or simply the International Championship) was an annual football competition contested between the United Kingdom's four national teams: England, Scotlan ...
: 1971–72 (shared)
Individual
*Aberdeen Player of the Year: 1966–67
*''
Press and Journal
''The Press and Journal'' is a daily regional newspaper serving northern and Highland Scotland including the cities of Aberdeen and Inverness. Established in 1747, it is Scotland's oldest daily newspaper, and one of the longest-running newspape ...
'' Sports Personality of the Year: 1977–78
*Aberdeen FC Hall of Fame: Inducted, 2018
Manager
Dartmouth Big Green
*Ivy League Tournament: 1988, 1990, 1992
Stanford Cardinal
* NCAA Tournament Championship runner-up:
1998
1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''.
Events January
* January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for Lunar water, frozen water, in soil i ...
2013
2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years).
2013 was designated as:
*International Year of Water Cooperation
*International Year of Quinoa
Events
January
* January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...
*Conference Championship: 2003, 2012
*Conference Regular Season Title: 2004, 2007, 2008, 2013, 2014
Individual
* USC College Coach of the Year: 2013
* MPSF Mountain Division Coach of the Year: 1996, 1997
*
NSCAA
The United Soccer Coaches (formerly known as the National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA)) is an organization of American soccer coaches founded in 1941. It is the largest soccer coaches organization in the world, with more than ...
Far West Region Coach of the Year: 1997
*
NCAA
The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates College athletics in the United States, student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, and Simon Fraser University, 1 in Canada. ...
Region I Coach of the Year: ''Twice with Dartmouth''
*Jim McCullen Trophy: 1995
See also
*
List of footballers in Scotland by number of league appearances
The following is a list of footballers who have made at least 500 domestic league appearances in Scottish league football. This includes the appearances and goals of players, in the Scottish Professional Football League, or its predecessor competi ...