Full name Robert Brown Clark 1962–1965 Queen's Park Position Goalkeeper Years Team | Playing position Role Coach Place of birth Glasgow, Scotland Name Bobby Clark | |
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Date of birth (1945-09-26) 26 September 1945 (age 70) | ||
Education University of Notre Dame | ||
Calling to coach bobby clark notre dame men s soccer
Robert Brown Clark (born 26 September 1945 in Glasgow) is a Scottish football player and coach. Clark, who played as a goalkeeper, spent most of his playing career with Aberdeen. He also played for Queen's Park, Washington Whips, San Antonio Thunder and Clyde. Clark played 17 times for Scotland and represented the Scottish League. He later became a coach, mainly working in New Zealand and the United States.
Contents
- Calling to coach bobby clark notre dame men s soccer
- Playing career
- Management career
- Family associations
- References
Playing career
Clark graduated from Jordanhill College in Glasgow, Scotland in 1967 with a degree in Physical Education. He started his senior career with Queen's Park F.C. and also played for Aberdeen F.C., with whom he won the 1970 Scottish Cup, the 1976 League Cup and the 1980 Premier League Championship. He earned 17 caps for the Scotland national football team, and was Scotland's backup goalkeeper at the 1978 FIFA World Cup. During his time at Aberdeen, Clark played some games as a defender after losing his place in goal to Ernie McGarr.
Clark was named first team all-star goalkeeper in the 1967 United Soccer Association playing for the Washington Whips. He also spent the summer of 1976, on loan, in the NASL, playing for the San Antonio Thunder.
A fan of Scottish First Division 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.
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 set a new mark on 8 February 2009. He also briefly held the world record, until Bulgarian goalkeeper Stoyan Yordanov set a new record of 1202 minutes in May 1971. Fraser Forster broke the Scottish league record in 2014 and was congratulated by Clark after the match in which it was surpassed.
Management career
Since 2001, he has been the head coach of the University of Notre Dame men's soccer team, having previously coached Highlanders F.C., Bulawayo (1983–84), Dartmouth College (1985–93), the New Zealand national football team (1994–96), and Stanford University (1996–2000).
Family associations
His son Jamie has played in Major League Soccer and is currently Head Soccer Coach at University of Washington. 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 soccer coach.