death_date nationalcaps manageryears birth_date years death_place youthyears caps goals image_size nationalyears image name fullname birth_place nationalteam nationalgoals youthclubs clubs position managerclubs article_title
13 march 2006 22 1963 -- 1964 1 june 1925 000 -- 1942 1947 -- 1958 1958 -- 1959 sale , england 000 -- 1942 39 349 25 11 73 5 200px 1948 -- 1956 rclarke1.jpg roy clarke royston james clarke newport , wales wales 5 albion rovers albion rovers manchester city stockport county winger northwich victoria roy clarke -lrb- footballer -rrb-

roy clarke -lrb- footballer -rrb-

royston james clarke -lrb- 1 june 1925 -- 13 march 2006 -rrb- was a welsh footballer who played for cardiff city , manchester city , stockport county and wales as a winger .
an outstanding schoolboy sportsman , clarke became a miner during the second world war , playing amateur football in his spare time .
he signed amateur forms with cardiff city in 1942 , becoming a professional when league football resumed after the war .
part of the cardiff side which won promotion from division three -lrb- south -rrb- in 1946 -- 47 , he signed for second division manchester city in may 1947 , cardiff receiving # 12,000 for the player .
manchester city had just secured promotion with matches to spare , resulting in clarke achieving an unusual feat of playing in three different divisions in consecutive matches .
clarke was a manchester city regular for the next decade , making 349 league appearances .
he was part of the manchester city team which reached consecutive fa cup finals in the 1950s , winning in 1956 .
in 1958 clarke moved to stockport county , and later had a spell as manager of northwich victoria .
after retiring from football he ran a sports shop , and subsequently returned to manchester city , where he ran the social club for nearly 25 years .
he died in 2006 , after a long illness with alzheimer 's disease .
