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Tommy Clare

Clare in his playing days
Personal information
Full name	Thomas Clare
Date of birth	12 March 1865
Place of birth	Congleton, England
Date of death	27 December 1929(1929-12-27) (aged 64)
Place of death	Ladysmith, British Columbia, Canada
Height	6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)
Position(s)	Right back
Youth career
1880–1882	Talke Rangers
1882–1883	Goldenhill Wanderers
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1883	Burslem Port Vale	0	(0)
1883–1897	Stoke	220	(4)
1897	Burslem Port Vale	21	(0)
1897–1898	Manchester City	1	(0)
1898–1901	Burslem Port Vale	18	(0)
Total		260	(4)
International career
1889–1894	England	4	(0)
1891	Football Alliance XI	1	(0)
Managerial career
1905–1906	Burslem Port Vale
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Thomas Clare (12 March 1865 – 27 December 1929) was an English international footballer, who played at right-back, and football manager.

He began his playing career with Stoke in July 1884, having moved from Burslem Port Vale. He spent the next fourteen years with Stoke, playing 251 games in all competitions, helping them to the Football Alliance title in 1890–91. In 1897, he signed with Manchester City via Port Vale before returning to Vale for three years in 1898, helping them to the Staffordshire Senior Cup on his arrival. He also won four England caps between 1889 and 1894. He was appointed as manager-secretary of Burslem Port Vale in 1905, a position he held for the next six years.

Early and personal life

Thomas Clare was born on 12 March 1865 in Congleton, Cheshire. He was the sixth of eleven children to Thomas Charles and Elizabeth Leigh (née Cottrell); his father was an earthenware manufacturer. He worked as an encaustic tile maker and draughtsman in Wolstanton from at least 1881 to 1891. He married Welsh woman Beatrice Vaughan in 1891, and the couple had one daughter, May Vaughan, in 1893. He was working as a manager for tile spraying machines in 1901. Clare emigrated to Canada shortly before World War I and died in Vancouver in December 1929. The then 51-year-old lied about his age, saying he was 40, to gain entry into the Canadian Expeditionary Force and saw action in the Battle of Passchendaele. He returned home when his true age and his growing medical problems were discovered in November 1917. He later settled in the United States, working as a salesman in Seattle, and died of a myocarditis in Ladysmith, British Columbia, Canada on 27 December 1929.

Club career

Clare played his early football with Talke Rangers, Goldenhill Wanderers and Burslem Port Vale before becoming Stoke's first professional player in 1883.

He was captain of the Stoke side that were founder members of the English Football League in 1888. He made his league debut on 8 September 1888, at full-back for Stoke in a 2–0 defeat by West Bromwich Albion at the Victoria Ground, Stoke. He played 21 of Stoke's 22 Football League matches and was part of a defence line that achieved three clean sheets whilst restricting the opposition to a single goal on four occasions.

Stoke finished at the bottom of the table in both 1888–89 and 1889–90 and in 1890 dropped down to the Football Alliance. Clare was absolved of any blame, though, and referee Tom Bryan stated that "the backs and the goalkeeper are superior to any three men playing with one club". The following season, Stoke were champions of the Football Alliance and returned to the Football League, with Clare an ever-present. They then once again struggled, finishing second last in 1891–92, before finishing in mid-table in 1892–93. He claimed his first Football League goal on the opening day of the 1893–94 season, netting from a goalmouth scramble in a 4–1 defeat at Bolton Wanderers. From Christmas 1894 up until his departure in 1897 he played 82 consecutive league games. His final season with the club came in 1896–97. During his 12 seasons with Stoke, Clare made over 250 appearances and forged a decent defensive partnership with fellow full-back Alf Underwood.

Clare signed for Port Vale as a player-coach in 1897, before moving on to Manchester City later in the year. However, in 1898 he re-signed for Vale a second time. He helped the side lift the Staffordshire Senior Cup later in the year as he "inspired a confidence never before approached" in his teammates in the win over West Bromwich Albion. However, he broke his leg in October 1898, an injury which effectively ended his career. He retired in 1901.

International career

Clare earned his first England cap for the match against Ireland on 2 March 1889. The match was played at Anfield, then the home of Everton, and the selectors made eleven changes to the side that had beaten Wales a week before with nine new caps, including Clare's Stoke teammate, Bill Rowley in goal. England won the match "quite comfortably" 6–1, with John Yates scoring a hat-trick in his only international appearance.

Clare's next England appearance came three years later, also against Ireland, at the Solitude Ground, Belfast, when he was joined by his Stoke teammates, goalkeeper Bill Rowley and left-back Alf Underwood. Harry Daft of Notts County was awarded the captaincy for the last of his five England appearances and marked the occasion by scoring twice, either side of half-time, in an "unconvincing victory".

Clare played twice more for England, against Wales on 13 March 1893 (won 6–0, with Fred Spiksley scoring twice on his debut) and Scotland on 7 April 1894 (2–2 draw).

Style of play

Clare stood at 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) tall and weighed 12 stone 10 pounds (81 kg), giving him a physical edge over opposition forwards. He was good in the air and was described as "quick and resolute" with "capital style". He was known to endanger opposition players with his harsh and sometimes wild tackling, and helped to give Stoke a reputation as an overly physical side. Another source described Tommy Clare as an inspirational player; he was a splendid header of the ball, was quick off the mark, strong and purposeful in the tackle and ever-reliable, always working for his team.

Management career

Clare was appointed Port Vale's manager-secretary in July 1905 and stepped down the following year after the club could no longer afford his wages.

Career statistics

Playing statistics

Source:

International statistics

Managerial statistics

Honours

Port Vale

• Staffordshire Senior Cup: 1898

Stoke

• Football Alliance: 1890–91

References

1. Joyce, Michael (2004). Football League Players' Records 1888 – 1939. Tony Brown. p. 54. ISBN 1-899468-67-6.
2. ^ "England Players - Tommy Clare". www.englandfootballonline.com. Retrieved 6 March 2023.
3. Football Alliance v Football League, 20 April 1891, 11v11.com
4. ^ Stoke City 101 Golden Greats. Desert Islands Books. 2002. pp. 11–12. ISBN 1-874287-55-4.
5. ^ Betts, Graham (2006). England: Player by player. Green Umbrella Publishing. p. 67. ISBN 1-905009-63-1.
6. ^ Sherwin, Phil (12 May 2012). "Vale ace helped reduce famous keeper to tears". The Way We Were.
7. "Thomas Clare | Service Record". Football and the First World War. Retrieved 4 December 2017.
8. ^ Matthews, Tony (2005). The Who's Who of Stoke City. Breedon Books. p. 48. ISBN 1-85983-473-6.
9. ^ Matthews, Tony (1994). The Encyclopaedia of Stoke City. Lion Press. ISBN 0-9524151-0-0.
10. "English National Football Archive". Retrieved 21 March 2018. (registration & fee required)
11. ^ Kent, Jeff (1996). Port Vale Personalities. Witan Books. p. 60. ISBN 0-9529152-0-0.
12. "England 6 – Ireland 1". englandstats.com. 2 March 1889. Retrieved 24 April 2009.
13. Association Football in Victorian England – A History of the Game from 1863 to 1900. pp. 120–121.
14. "Ireland 0 – England 2". englandstats.com. 5 March 1892. Retrieved 24 April 2009.
15. Association Football in Victorian England – A History of the Game from 1863 to 1900. p. 188.
16. "England 6 – Wales 0". englandstats.com. 13 March 1893. Retrieved 28 April 2009.
17. "Scotland 2 – England 2". englandstats.com. 7 April 1894. Retrieved 28 April 2009.
18. ^ Tommy Clare at the English National Football Archive (subscription required)
19. "Tommy Clare". National Football Teams. Benjamin Strack-Zimmermann. Retrieved 10 July 2016.
20. Matthews, Tony (18 December 2008). The Legends of Stoke City. Derby, United Kingdom: Breedon Books. pp. 46–7. ISBN 978-1-85983-653-8.

External links

• Tommy Clare at Englandstats.com
• England profile
• Player profile at the FA
• Tommy Clare management career statistics at Soccerbase

• 1865 births
• 1929 deaths
• Footballers from Congleton
• English men's footballers
• England men's international footballers
• Men's association football fullbacks
• Stoke City F.C. players
• Port Vale F.C. players
• Manchester City F.C. players
• English Football League players
• Football Alliance players
• English Football League representative players
• English football managers
• Port Vale F.C. managers
• English Football League managers
• English football coaches
• Port Vale F.C. non-playing staff
• Canadian Expeditionary Force soldiers
• Deaths from myocarditis
• Goldenhill Wanderers F.C. players