Leon Clarke

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Leon Clarke
Leon Clarke May 2007.jpg
Personal information
Full name Leon Marvin Clarke
Date of birth 10 February 1985 (1985-02-10) (age 27)
Place of birth Wolverhampton, England
Height 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)
Playing position Striker
Club information
Current club Charlton Athletic
Number 40
Senior career*
Years Team Apps† (Gls)†
2003–2007 Wolverhampton Wanderers 74 (13)
2004 → Kidderminster Harriers (loan) 4 (0)
2006 → Queens Park Rangers (loan) 1 (0)
2006 → Plymouth Argyle (loan) 5 (0)
2007–2010 Sheffield Wednesday 83 (18)
2007 → Oldham Athletic (loan) 5 (3)
2007–2008 → Southend United (loan) 16 (8)
2010–2011 Queens Park Rangers 13 (0)
2011 → Preston North End (loan) 6 (1)
2011–2012 Swindon Town 2 (0)
2011 → Chesterfield (loan) 14 (9)
2012– Charlton Athletic 7 (0)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 20:11, 7 March 2012 (UTC).
† Appearances (Goals).

Leon Marvin Clarke (born 10 February 1985) is an English footballer who plays for Charlton Athletic having signed for them on 1st January 2012. During the 2011/12 season he has previously played for Chesterfield on loan from Swindon Town as a striker.

Contents

[edit] Career

[edit] Wolverhampton Wanderers

Clarke is a product of Wolves' youth academy, where he worked his way up to making his first team debut in a League Cup win over Darlington on 23 September 2003. However, he did not feature at all in the team's Premier League campaign of that season.

After a loan period at Kidderminster Harriers in Spring 2004, he made his breakthrough into the Wolves first team in the 2004–05 season, and made 31 appearances, scoring 8 times.

During the 2005–06 season his fortunes were mixed, as he benefited from injuries to others in the early part of the season, before slipping down the pecking order later in the season, after new players were signed. He went out on loan twice; first to Queens Park Rangers, then to Plymouth Argyle.

He played regularly in the first half of the 2006–07 season but, in January he was transfer-listed when manager Mick McCarthy said he wanted to "freshen up" the strike force.[1]

[edit] Sheffield Wednesday

On 15 January 2007, then Sheffield Wednesday manager Brian Laws announced that the Owls had completed the signing of Clarke for an undisclosed fee, thought to be around £300,000 signing a contract until 2009.[2] He wore the number 18 shirt, for the remainder of the 2006–07 season. However, only two months later it was announced that Clarke would be going out on loan to League One promotion chasing side Oldham Athletic without even making a starting appearance for Wednesday.[3] Clarke proceeded to score his first goal for Oldham against League One rivals Doncaster Rovers in a 4–0 victory on 11 March 2007. In total, Clarke played five games and scored three goals for Oldham. After returning to Hillsborough, he was immediately placed in the first team and scored on his first start in a 2–1 victory against Cardiff City.[4] After only one goal and one start in the early stages of the 2007–08 season, he was sent on loan to Southend United until January on the last day of the 2007 summer transfer window. He made a great impression on his debut, scoring one goal and setting up two others in a 3–0 victory against Gillingham.[5][6]

After returning to his parent club Sheffield Wednesday he was restricted to one start and five substitute appearances for the rest of the 2007–08 season, but made three important contributions. This included providing the flick on for Marcus Tudgay to score the second goal of a derby win against Sheffield United on 19 January 2008, scoring the third goal as Sheffield Wednesday beat Leicester City 3–1 in the vital relegation clash between the clubs on 26 April 2008 and following this up with another goal in the Owls' final game of the season, a 4–1 win over Norwich City at Hillsborough on 4 May 2008.

Since he has come back to the Wednesday first team in the 2008–09 season he has scored against Barnsley, and also against Doncaster Rovers in a 1–0 win. Clarke later helped a Wednesday comeback against Norwich with a goal in a 3–2 victory, and then two games later he scored at home against QPR in a 1–0 victory in the 75th minute.

Clarke scored the first of Wednesday's two goals in the end of the season relegation battle against Crystal Palace, which could have seen either team relegated from the Championship on 2 May 2010. However in celebrating the goal, he kicked the advertising boarding, dislocating his toe and forcing the striker to be carried off the pitch and subsequently substituted (his replacement being former Palace player Tom Soares). The game finished 2–2, which saw Wednesday relegated to League One. Three days later it was announced he would not be offered a new contract.[7]

[edit] Queens Park Rangers

Clarke signed for Queens Park Rangers on 21 May 2010 on a 2 year contract, with manager Neil Warnock stating "he's worth a gamble." After struggling to keep a first-team place at QPR he was loaned to Preston North End on 28 January 2011 until the end of the season.[8] Clarke scored his only goal for Preston on 15 February 2011 against Watford. On the 19 August 2011 QPR confirmed that Clarke's contract had been terminated by mutual consent.[9]

[edit] Swindon Town

Clarke signed for Swindon Town on 19 August 2011 on a two-year contract,[10] dropping from the Premier League to League Two to link up with Swindon boss Paolo Di Canio. Clarke went on to make 2 appearance for Swindon in the League against Oxford United and Shrewsbury Town.

[edit] Dispute with Di Canio

After a 3-1 loss to Southampton Clarke was involved in an altercation with Claudio Donatelli, the Swindon fitness coach. Di Canio intervened, the manager and player were shown on television cameras arguing and being separated by coaching staff.[11] Swindon Town chairman Jeremy Wray later confirmed that the club would be looking to offload Clarke on loan as a result of the incident and Di Canio himself stated that Clarke would never play for Swindon whilst he (Di Canio) is manager.[12] On 8 September, he signed a three-month loan deal at League One side Chesterfield. Manager John Sheridan was boss at Oldham when Clarke played five games on loan, scoring three goals. Following his loan move to Chesterfield, Clarke has denied comments by Swindon Town boss Paoli Di Canio that he is 'not very professional'.[13]

[edit] Chesterfield

On 9 September 2011, Clarke joined League One club Chesterfield on a three-month loan,[14] scoring on his debut. He has subsequently scored on his home debut, followed by a hat-trick against Carlisle, making that a five goals in his first three games for the Spireites. He also scored on his return to Sheffield Wednesday but despite this ended up on the losing side as Chesterfield fell to a 3-1 loss.

[edit] Charlton Athletic

Clarke played his first game for Charlton Athletic on 2 January 2012, coming on as a substitute against Brentford in a 2-0 win.

[edit] References

  1. ^ "Striker Made Available For Transfer". wolves.co.uk. 2007-01-08. http://www.wolves.premiumtv.co.uk/page/News/0,,10307~961722,00.html. Retrieved 2007-01-08. 
  2. ^ "Owls sign Wolves striker Clarke". bbc.co.uk. 15 January 2007. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/s/sheff_wed/6264869.stm. Retrieved 2008-02-09. 
  3. ^ "Lactics Snare Loan Striker". www.oldhamathletic.co.uk. 1 March 2007. http://www.oldhamathletic.premiumtv.co.uk/page/NewsUpdate/0,,10337~989250,00.html. Retrieved 2008-02-09. 
  4. ^ "Cardiff City v Sheff Weds". Sky Sports. 7 April 2007. http://home.skysports.com/matchreport.aspx?fxid=298996&cpid=10. Retrieved 2008-02-09. 
  5. ^ "Southend sign Clarke and Odhiambo". bbc.co.uk. 31 August 2007. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/s/southend_utd/6972685.stm. Retrieved 2007-09-29. 
  6. ^ "Southend 3–0 Gillingham". bbc.co.uk. 8 September 2007. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/eng_div_2/6973875.stm. Retrieved 2008-02-09. 
  7. ^ "Irvine reveals retained list". swfc.co.uk. 5 May 2010. http://www.swfc.co.uk/page/News/0,,10304~2044277,00.html. 
  8. ^ "QPR striker Leon Clarke makes Preston North End switch". BBC. 28 January 2011. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/teams/p/preston/9379998.stm. 
  9. ^ "Clarke contract terminated". QPR official website. 19 August 2011. http://www.qpr.co.uk/page/NewsDetail/0,,10373~2425720,00.html. Retrieved 22 August 2011. 
  10. ^ "Leon Clarke joins Swindon Town". Swindon Town F.C. official website. 19 August 2011. http://www.swindontownfc.co.uk/page/NewsDetail/0,,10341~2421796,00.html. Retrieved 22 August 2011. 
  11. ^ "Swindon boss Paolo Di Canio in bust-up with own player". BBC official website. 31 August 2011. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/14726229.stm. Retrieved 31 August 2011. 
  12. ^ "Leon Clarke to leave Swindon Town after Di Canio spat". BBC official website. 31 August 2011. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/14731714.stm. Retrieved 1 September 2011. 
  13. ^ "Clarke denies Di Canio comments". Sky Sports. 9 September 2011. http://www1.skysports.com/football/news/11095/7165345/. Retrieved 14 February 2012. 
  14. ^ "Chesterfield complete Clarke loan". BBC News. 9 September 2011. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/14820753.stm. 

[edit] External links

Charlton Athletic F.C. – current squad
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