Brian Clark (footballer)

Football player infobox
playername = Brian Clark


fullname = Brian Donald Clark
nickname =
dateofbirth = birth date and age|1943|1|13
cityofbirth = Bristol
countryofbirth = England
currentclub = "Retired"
clubnumber =
position = Striker
youthyears =
youthclubs =
years = 1960–1967
1967–1967
1967–1972
1972–1973
1973–1975
1975–1976
1976–1979
clubs = Bristol City
Huddersfield Town
Cardiff City
Bournemouth
Millwall
Cardiff City
Newport County
caps(goals) = 195 (83)
032 (11)
182 (75)
030 (12)
071 (17)
021 0(1)
080 (18)
nationalyears =
nationalteam =
nationalcaps(goals) =
pcupdate = August 18, 2007
ntupdate =

Brian Donald Clark (born January 13, 1943 in Bristol) is a former English professional footballer. He is probably most famous for scoring the only goal in a 1-0 victory for Cardiff City against Real Madrid in the first leg of the European Cup Winners Cup in 1971.

The son of former Bristol City player Don Clark, Brian made his debut for the club in 1961 during a 3-0 victory over Brentford on the final day of the season. It was during the 1962-63 season that he established himself in the side, finishing as the clubs top scorer with 23 goals. He continued to score regularly for the side and helped the side gain promotion to Division Two during the 1964-65 season, again finishing as the clubs top scorer with 24 goals. In October 1966 he left Bristol City to sign for Huddersfield Town in exchange for John Quigley.

Clark failed to settle at the Yorkshire club and, after two years, was snapped up by Cardiff City manager Jimmy Scoular for £8,000. Scoring twice on his debut during a 4-3 win over Derby County, he went on to form a lethal partnership with John Toshack, ending the season with 17 goals and his first Welsh Cup winners medal. Clark finished as the clubs top scorer for the next two seasons, as well as scoring 5 times in a single match against Barmouth & Dyffryn, falling short of Derek Tapscott's club record of goals in a game by just one. It was during the 1970-71 season that he achieved probably the high point of his career when he headed in the only goal of the first leg against Real Madrid in a 1-0 win during the European Cup Winners Cup first leg. The following year he again finished as Cardiff's top scorer, the third successive year he had done so, before he and Ian Gibson were surprisingly sold to Bournemouth for a combined fee of £100,000.

Clark spent one year at Bournemouth, followed by a spell at Millwall, before he returned to Ninian Park to play for Cardiff again. His second spell at the club lasted just a single season but he still managed to help the club win promotion to Division Two. He left the club to sign for Newport County before finishing his career with a number of player-manager roles at several Welsh Premier League sides.

References

*Cite book
title = The Who's Who of Cardiff City
first = Dean
last = Hayes
publisher = Breedon Books
year = 2006
isbn= 1-8598-3462-0