Wolverhampton Wanderers Clarke was born in
Short Heath, the fifth son of Frank Clarke Sr. He joined his home-town club
Wolverhampton Wanderers as an associate schoolboy on his 15th birthday in 1976, despite competition from leading clubs, and became an apprentice when he left school the following year. Clubs that were interested in taking Clarke at the time included
Arsenal and
Leeds where he had trials and both Merseysider teams were keen too. Clarke and his parents also went for a meal with
Brian Clough who was managing
Nottingham Forest and was to be told "look, I want you to come with us" but he preferred to stay at home and signed for the Wanderers. Before any professional debut, Clarke represented
England at schoolboy level. On his international schoolboys days, Clarke recalls "My first game as an England Schoolboy was at
Oxford United's old ground, we beat Northern Ireland 5-0. I scored a hat-trick playing on the wing. I scored my third goal directly from a corner kick. We played West Germany in
Koblenz and the Dutch in Holland. I also played at
Wembley twice, against France and Wales." Now in the 1978/79 season, Clarke, still aged 17, was next named on the bench for Wolves by
Sammy Chung for the visit of
Bristol City and the travel to
Southampton in September 1978 before starting games home to
Ipswich, away at
Everton, home to
Arsenal and away at
Middlesbrough by the end of October. Brian Clough, seemingly still an admirer, came calling for Clarke again that November, this time to represent England at Junior level but the club replied declining the call up and sending their apologies with the player now on the fringes of the Wolves first team. Many people were keeping tabs on the young West Midlander. Following his first start at home to Ipswich which finished in a 1–0 defeat for Wolves, Ipswich manager
Ron Atkinson met Clarke in the club boardroom to pass on some advice. Clarke recalls 'Big Ron' telling him "I thought you played really well today and I will look forward to watching your career. I know you were beaten today but don't be too down-hearted. When I made my debut, we lost five." A month on from Clarkes 18th birthday with Wolves sat 20th in the table (of 22 teams), Clarke scored his first Wolves goal in a 3–3 draw versus
QPR away at
Loftus Road. In total the teenager would make 9 appearances that season with the club finishing 18th in the league. Clarke would feature 20 times with 2 goals during the 1979/80 season which would result in the club finishing 6th in the league and was a member of the 16-man travelling squad when Wolves won the
League Cup in
1980, but did not play. Competing for starting places with
Andy Gray and
John Richards. Clarke made 22 starts and 10 appearances off the bench during the 1980/81 season including coming on as a 78th-minute substitute in
Eindhoven as Wolves faced
PSV in UEFA Cup and was a member of the team that suffered
relegation from the
First Division in
1981/82 but reclaimed their top flight status
the following season contributing with 42 starts and 13 goals. Clarke left the club at the end of the
1983 - 84 season following a second relegation from the top flight, contributing a further 10 goals in 36 appearances. "In my last season at Wolves (1983/84), I was on a monthly rolling contract. I would have gladly signed a new contract if they'd improved the squad, but they never did. We were relegated again at the end of the season and I realised I had to leave." Stated Clarke in a 2022 interview. He scored 33 goals in 170 appearances in all competitions before
Ron Saunders took him to
Second Division Birmingham City in 1984. The fee of £80,000 was set by tribunal and included a clause entitling Wolves to half of any profit made from a future sale of the player. Clarke believes that during this time there was interest from Italian Club Bari, the club accepted an offer from
Everton who were in need of an emergency replacement for the injured
Graeme Sharp. and earning himself a championship medal. However, with Graeme Sharp and
Adrian Heath being Everton's main striking partnership, Clarke's appearances for Everton in the
1987–88 and
1988–89 seasons were largely limited to coming on from the substitute's bench or covering for Sharp or Heath when they were injured. He helped Everton reach the
FA Cup final but did not play in the final (which Everton lost to Liverpool), following which Everton brought in
Mike Newell from
Leicester City in part exchange for Clarke and £500,000.
Leicester City When Clarke moved to Leicester there was interest in him from
Ron Atkinson at
Sheffield Wednesday,
Jim Smith at
Newcastle United as well as
David Pleat at Leicester.
Manchester City Clarke was unable to claim a regular place in the Manchester City side. While at
Maine Road he was loaned to
Shrewsbury Town, where he scored six goals in seven games, then to
Stoke City (three goals in nine matches), and then back to Wolves, where he was viewed as a potential partner for
Steve Bull. However his first appearance for the club lasted just 20 minutes before he punctured a lung, returned to Manchester City, and on his return to fitness was not allowed out on loan again.
Shrewsbury Town Clarke spent two seasons at
Gay Meadow having previously had a successful loan period at the club several years earlier. Clarke joined Shrewsbury from Walsall on the eve of The
1993–94 season. Clarke had a successful season finishing second top scorer with 18 goals, helping to bring the Division Three title and promotion to Division Two. Clarke was the youngest brother of
Frank Clarke whom had also played for
Shrewsbury Town as a striker. The club released him at the end of the
1994–95 season, he had scored 22 goals in 59 games. ==Managerial career==