Ben Clark (footballer)

Football player infobox
playername= Ben Clark
fullname = Benjamin Clark


nickname =
dateofbirth = birth date and age|1983|1|24|df=y
cityofbirth = Shotley Bridge
countryofbirth = England
height = height|ft=6|in=2
currentclub = Hartlepool United
clubnumber = 12
countrynumber =
position = Centre back/Central Midfielder
youthyears = 1999
1999-2000
youthclubs = Manchester United
Sunderland
years = 2000-2004
2004-

clubs = Sunderland
Hartlepool United

caps(goals) = 08 (0)
97 (3)
nationalyears =
nationalteam =
nationalcaps(goals) =
pcupdate = 09:10, 08 July 2007(UTC)
ntupdate =

Benjamin "Ben" Clark (born 24 January 1983 in Shotley Bridge, England) is a professional footballer who currently plays as a defender/midfielder for Hartlepool United in League One. He is eligible to play for England.

Ben Clark started his career as a trainee for Manchester United. However, Ben Clark missed the north-east so he decided to sign for Sunderland. He made his Sunderland debut in the 2-1 Worthington Cup win against Luton Town in September 2000. However, Ben Clark saw his opportunities at Sunderland limited and he only made 11 appearances in his first three seasons and mainly found himself playing for the reserves. Despite the lack of appearances for his league side, Ben Clark represented England as a defender up until under 20 level and he captained the under 19s.

Mick McCarthy tipped Ben Clark to play an important role in Sunderland’s promotion campaign. However, he decided to let Ben Clark look for new clubs in order to pursue his career. In the 2004/05 season, Ben Clark was signed by Neale Cooper and moved to Hartlepool United. Shortly afterwards he made his debut against Peterborough. However, a series of injuries disrupted his first season at the club and Ben Clark found it difficult to gain a regular starting place in the team and was used a utility player to cover injuries in defence and midfield. Despite this Ben Clark went onto make more first team appearances for Hartlepool than he had done in his whole career, making 25 league appearances and 6 in the cup. He is now the favoured central defender alongside Michael Nelson and their partnership has been outstanding during the 2006/2007 campaign. They played a major part in the 18 game unbeaten run along with Dimitrious Konstantopolous in goal.

External links

* [http://www.hartlepoolunited.premiumtv.co.uk/page/ProfilesDetail/0,,10326~19034,00.html Clark's Official Hartlepool United F.C. profile ]
* [http://www.inthemadcrowd.co.uk/cgi-bin/itmc_view_person.asp?oid=992 Ben Clark profile] at [http://www.inthemadcrowd.co.uk/ In The Mad Crowd]
* [http://www.hartlepool.vitalfootball.co.uk/player.asp?p=361 Vital Hartlepool Profile: Ben Clark]