John Clark obituary

The Guardian

27-06-2025

John Clark, who has died aged 84, was a member of the Celtic team that won the European Cup in 1967, the first time the trophy was secured by a British club. Playing alongside the imperious centre-half Billy McNeill, Clark was the ultra-efficient sweeper at the heart of defence.
Clark and McNeill always shared a room, and a snap taken on the morning after the triumph in Lisbon showed the two men, both from working-class backgrounds in Lanarkshire, sleeping contentedly with the greatest prize in world club football perched between their beds.
It was an image that epitomised the character and camaraderie of the Celtic team, all of whom were drawn from within a 40-mile radius of the club's stadium, mostly from similar backgrounds. Throughout his life, Clark remained the same quiet, dignified figure, intensely proud of what they had achieved while unfailingly modest and understated.
A profile written after the Lisbon victory noted that 'John has kept his feet on the ground because he has shunned the temptations which can come with fame in the big city', preferring to live in his home village of Chapelhall.
At that time, his friend, Paddy Crerand, who had moved from Celtic to Manchester United, said: 'John Clark is a player's player because he's always thinking of the team and never plays for himself. If he's given the job, he does it without any fuss or fancy stuff.'
These same characteristics continued throughout a life built around the three pillars of family, faith and football. He was loved by the supporters as a man with whom they could so easily identify; one of their own who had risen to the heights but had never left them, or Celtic, behind.
His daughter, Marie, recalled an incident from childhood when her dad took her into Glasgow to buy a Christmas party dress but when she came home, it had gone. He explained there was a cleaner at Celtic Park who had no money to buy her daughter a dress. 'He told me: 'She had nothing. We can get another one.' He was doing things like that all his life. He was a kind man.'
When John was 10 years old, his father, also John, was killed in a railway accident while working on the track at Watford. He had gone south for work and planned for his family to follow. His wife, Lilly, was expecting their fourth child and they returned to her native Limerick, where John went to school for a time, before coming back to Lanarkshire.
In his teens, Clark signed for the semi-professional side Larkhall Thistle, a tough learning school that helped develop the physicality of his game. He soon caught the eye of Celtic, at that time developing a youth policy that was to yield such momentous results.
Jock Stein, his playing career cut short by injury, was in charge of youth coaching and, McNeill later recalled: 'Suddenly, the whole thing became much more than reading your name up on the list in the dressing room. John Clark, Jim Conway [later of Norwich City] and I were particularly lucky because, like him, we lived in Lanarkshire and we used to get [Stein's] company home, listening and talking about football.'
Clark made his debut against Arbroath in October 1959. It was a dismal period for Celtic and to the dismay of the young players, Stein departed from his coaching role to manage Dunfermline Athletic. His return as Celtic manager in 1965 was transformative, not least by building round the Clark-McNeill partnership.
Within weeks, they had won the Scottish Cup, the club's first trophy since 1957. Thereafter, the run of success was giddy, including nine league titles in a row. Clark played 140 consecutive games and was the only ever-present in the 1966-67 season when Celtic won a 'quadruple', which included the European Cup.
His career was affected thereafter by injury and he played his last Celtic game when the Lisbon Lions were reunited for a final bow in the last game of the 1970-71 season. Despite the club honours he assembled, Clark was capped only four times for Scotland; an under-representation which he shared with other Celtic players of the era.
He spent two seasons with Morton before retiring as a player and soon returned to a coaching role at Celtic. When McNeill went into management, Clark was his assistant first at Aberdeen and then at Celtic. There had been some expectation that Clark would succeed as manager when McNeill left in 1983 but this did not materialise.
However, he continued to serve Celtic in various roles and in 1997 became kit manager, a post he held for 20 years and addressed with characteristic diligence and efficiency. His daughter recalled: 'My dad always told us, if you are doing anything, do it properly – and that's the way he lived his life.'
Players arriving at Celtic were impressed to learn that the man in charge of their kit was also the possessor of a European Cup winners' medal. To a succession of Celtic managers including Martin O'Neill, Gordon Strachan and Neil Lennon, Clark remained a valued source of footballing wisdom and experience.
The current manager, Brendan Rodgers, said: 'John's continued presence at Celtic across the decades served as an absolute inspiration to so many players, managers and staff.' The Celtic chairman, Peter Lawwell, described him as 'a wonderful man who achieved so much and remained so humble'.
Clark is survived by his wife, Eileen (nee Martin), whom he married in 1963, their daughter, Mairi, and son, Martin, and three grandchildren.
John Clark, footballer and coach, born 13 March 1941; died 23 June 2025