John Clarke, one of Celtic’s greatest and best-loved players, has died at the age of 84. Scotland’s most successful team, which has won 55 league titles, paid tribute to the former defender in a post.
Clarke played over 300 matches for the club since joining in 1959. He spent over 40 years with the Glasgow outfit as a player, coach, assistant coach and equipment manager.
Clarke was part of the team that won the 1966-1967 European Champions Cup in Lisbon. It was his career highlight when Celtic became the first British club to win Europe’s biggest trophy, defeating Inter Milan. The then champions were nicknamed the Lisbon Lions.
‘Everyone at Celtic Football Club is deeply saddened to hear that the legendary Lisbon Lion, John Clarke, has died at the age of 84,’ the club said in a statement.
Footballer John Clarke with the European Champions Cup. Photo: Celtic/X
During his 13-year playing career with Glasgow, Clarke won four Scottish league titles, four League Cups and three Scottish Cups.
John Clarke’s biography
John Clarke was born on 13 March 1941 in Bellhill, Lanarkshire. In the 50s, he took his first steps in football. In 1959, he moved from Larkhall Thistle to Celtic in Glasgow.
He scored his first goal for the Scottish national team in a cup match against Hibernian Edinburgh. After that, he was appointed coach of Jock Stein. It was then that Clarke finally made his breakthrough at Celtic. With the team, he won the league six times, the cup four times and the league cup six times. The footballer won the European Champions Cup in 1967.
Thirteen years later, he left Celtic to join Greenock Morton. He played two more years in League One at Greenock, finishing thirteenth and fourteenth respectively, before retiring.
He also played four times for the Scottish national team.
As a coach
Eleven years after his playing career ended, he started working as a coach. John Clarke took charge of Cowdenbeath FC in the Third Division and led them to fourth place. The following season, he briefly took charge of Stranraer FC, but was unable to prevent their relegation to the Fourth Division.
Subsequently, Second Division side Clyde FC offered him a long-term contract. Clarke’s efforts helped to narrowly avoid relegation, but he could not prevent it in the 1990/91 season. The lack of direct promotion forced him to resign and ended his coaching career.
Earlier, Sport Bet published a biography of German midfielder Thomas Muller.
