Archie Clark

Archie Clark

Born in Shoreham in 1902, Archie was playing for Grays when he was snapped up by Brentford, but after only one League game there he got a big move to Herbert Chapman’s Arsenal.

He failed to carve out a first team place at Highbury so moved to Luton for regular football in November 1928. After a slow start he became a mainstay in the Hatters defence and half-back line with his clever positional play and distribution skills.

Such was his form, he attracted a bid of £1000 from Everton in 1931 and he helped them win the League title in 1931/32. That was the highlight of his playing career as he could not maintain his form and became peripheral as Cliff Britton and Joe Mercer were difficult to displace.

After a swansong at Tranmere, who he helped to the championship of Division Three (North) in 1938, he became manager of Gillingham, a position he held for almost twenty years.

He finished his football career as chief scout at Joe Mercer’s Sheffield United and passed away in that city in 1967.