Experience in the world of sport is usually gained by an individual who has endured a long-spanning career, perhaps participated in a high profile competition or world-class event, and if fortune has been on their side, they may have grasped a piece of silverware for the trophy cabinet.

Experienced is therefore a fitting adjective to describe In The Winning Zone’s ‘Past Master’ for December. Boasting almost fifty years’ participation at the highest level of sport in this country, John Clark has accumulated most of the rewards going in his chosen sport, and he played a major part in placing his team on the world footballing map.

His club office is a remarkable room. After an exchanging of handshakes, he abruptly apologises for the strong stench of leather that clogs up the air, wafting from the boxes of brand new footballs and columns of boots, which line the walls. Four colossal cupboards resemble the kind of high-security vaults that may be found in a bank. These cupboards are jammed full with what seems like an endless amount of shorts, socks, jerseys, jumpers and jackets.

After a quick guide of the surroundings, he offers a cup of tea. No longer than five minutes later a platter of tea and toast arrives at the door. As one of the best defenders in the country in his day, you can be sure that he hasn’t treated all the visitors who have come to his football club with the same hospitality throughout his football career.

A local lad hailing from North Lanarkshire, John Clark is best known as being one of the few Scottish owners of a European Cup medal, which he won as part of the legendary Celtic team who overcame Inter Milan in Lisbon on the 25th May 1967 to become the first British club to claim the trophy.

Following his retirement from football, Clark moved into the managerial side of the game, taking control of Cowdenbeath, Stranraer and Clyde, before returning to Celtic to take up his current role as kit man. Now at sixty-six years-old, he still bursts with as much energy at the club he supported as a youngster as he did when he was a player all those years ago, back in the heart of the action.Clark explains that football was his only vice as a youngster. Due to the fact that there was no frequent bus service from North Lanarkshire to Glasgow, Clark was unable to attend many first-class football matches, especially to watch Celtic, his boyhood team.

“When you were young in my time it was either boxing or football. I came from a mining village called Chapelhall. Football was at the centre of my life when I was growing up, I played for as many hours as daylight would allow. I started playing at my local school and then my local boys club Larkhall Thistle.”

At seventeen years of age, many teenagers have yet to begin planning their lives or career paths. In 1958, a seventeen-year-old John Clark was approached by the same club that employed his boyhood heroes to sign him as a player. “I was fortunate enough that Celtic approached me to sign for the club. I was seventeen at the time and I felt as though I had won the pools!” exclaims the living legend.

However, as is the case in life, signing on the dotted line did not mean Clark was ensured a place amongst the 11 men who emerged from the tunnel at Celtic park week-after-week. “At the beginning when I moved to a big club like Celtic it was hard. There were a lot of good players of my own age along with some professional players at international level, so I had to put the work in and eventually I made it into the team.”

Lucky enough to be taken under the wing of one of this country’s greatest ever managers, Jock Stein, Clark believes that the successes of arguably the most outstanding Celtic team of all time are down to the advanced tactical nature of his biggest influence. According to the kit man, it was special relationship that started at youth level, between Jock Stein and his players, which helped to bring about such unprecedented success.

“The person who influenced me most was Jock Stein. Before he left Celtic to go to Dunfermline and Hibs he was in charge of youth and reserve football at Celtic. He had a knowledge of the youth players in the team before he left and when he came back in 1965, we had experienced and progressed in first team football while he had progressed as a manager”Indeed, Clark believes that along with a sense of unity within a team who had originated from within a 30-mile radius of the club, the successes of the famous Celtic team were down to the coaching ability and awareness of Stein.

“Jock Stein was a thinking man.” Clark recollects, “He was miles ahead of the situation at the time. I see training situations out on the training pitch now; Jock Stein was doing the same thing forty years ago. They have broken it all down into programmes whereas we would do it in block. The man was ahead of himself.

He went to Italy to study some training methods and eventually people were coming to Celtic park to study Jock’s training techniques.”

Handed the role of sweeper by Stein, Clark played a pivotal role in the backbone of the Celtic line-up. A large amount of defensive responsibility lay on his shoulders in the lead up to their European Cup victory in 1967.

A tour to North America, the first of its kind for Celtic, in the summer of 1966 played a crucial role in the gelling of the team. Clark believes that the tour played a central role in the outstanding season the team had when they returned. “Naturally when you are away for 6 weeks, the team bonded. There was a sense of togetherness within the team. It was the start of big things for Celtic.”

The tour also gave Jock Stein the chance to perfect his Celtic team, and the manager’s thinking paid off. During the 1966-1967 season, Celtic won the League championship, Scottish Cup, League Cup, Glasgow Cup, and of course the European Cup in a distinctive year for the Glasgow club. Not only did they have a clean-sweep of victories on home soil, they also won the most sought-after trophy in European club football.

“I remember it was a really warm day. The whole setting was ideal, it was just as if a film was being made, we were going to win and everything was just right” Clark recollects of the infamous summers day in Lisbon.

“There was a fantastic crowd all around the stadium when we came out, the whole arena looked as if it was bedecked in green and white. Celtic played really well that day. If people are being honest about it, the Inter Milan goalkeeper saved them from getting a real punishment with regards to goals”

The 1966-67 season brought an abundance of silverware to John Clark, but it also brought his first International cap. In the early summer, before a Celtic tour to America, Clark pulled on the navy blue jersey for the first time in his career. Aged 25, Clark was arguably at the peak of his career.

And it was a special occasion for the defender, against one of the best teams in the world, featuring one of the most outstanding footballers of all time “My first international was against a Brazil team which featured Pelé – he was the king. The fact I was playing against him almost took my mind off the game, but I managed to stay focused and we drew 1-1” he recalls.

The pinnacle of a somewhat outstanding playing career for Clark obviously involves lifting the European Cup in 1967, but while reminiscing, he places his life into perspective. Although he may have achieved the pinnacle of European football, he stands by the elation of being accepted into top-flight football as a teenager as an overwhelming feeling.

“If the highlight of your career when you’re a footballer is to win, then it was the 1967 European Cup victory. But when you’re a young boy and the opportunity arises to play for a club you have always supported then that’s a big thing as well.”

John Clark has played against the best, worked alongside the best, and been managed by the best. But how does a sportsperson with so many years of experience and success translate winning? “The drive to be successful,” he ponders. “If you want to be a success at any level you need to strive towards goals. You need to make sacrifices”

His passion for the sport is evident from his occupations, which have all been based around football. “Next year, if all goes to plan, I will have been 50 years in football. In some way or another it has been connected with Celtic”

It has connotations of a romantic tale. A boy who was approached to sign for the club he adored. He was a teenager who matured into a Celtic team that has been carved into the annals of Scottish and European football.

Forty years later he is a man with fond memories of a euphoric playing career, and he is still infatuated with the sport.

Having experienced one of Scotland’s greatest sporting club successes, John Clark progressed from a boy with an ambition, to a man, one of only eleven, who can call himself a Lisbon Lion.

© Copyright In The Winning Zone, MMVII, All Rights Reserved

Mar 14 2009 Gordon Parks
Daily Record

JOHN CLARK claimed yesterday was Black Friday it was his 68th birthday and almost 50 years since he first walked into Parkhead.

It may have been March 13 but the omens ahead of tomorrow's Co-operative Insurance Cup Final should have Rangers fans dialling 999 for murder as they get the 20-year itch.

The former Lisbon Lion celebrated Scottish Cup triumphs over the Ibrox side in 1969 and 1989 and is now gearing up for a Super Sunday he number nine comes back to haunt their Old Firm rivals once again coach, After half a century as a player, coach, assistant boss and now kitman at the club, few have been closer to the men in charge of the East End giants.

Since starting off as a player Under Jock Stein, Clark has been employed as a valued member of the backroom team under the likes of Martin O'Neill and Gordon Strachan.

His reputation as an astute football observer has provided an educated ear to them all and he says those critical of his current gaffer will change their tune in future.

Stein and O'Neill enjoy legendary status among the Parkhead followers but Clark insists Strachan is cut from the same cloth but will only receive praise in years to come.

He said: "Every player has their superstitions but we beat Rangers in the Scottish Cup Final in1969 when I played for Jock and Billy won the same trophy in 1989. The signs are we should win the League Cup this year under Gordon.

"Big Billy was the same as Jock in that they were both winners who demanded that quality from their players.

"Billy wanted to be the best and his players to do their best. His record will show he was a leader both as a player and a manager.

"Gordon Strachan is also thorough but lays things out simply for the players. I know he's not to everyone's fancy but there will always be an element of the support who will never take to him..

"Maybe it will take seven or eight years after he's gone for people to realise what he's achieved. People have a habit of only appreciating what they have after it's gone.

"If you ask fans 20 years from now what they think of Gordon they may well have a different opinion to the one they hold now."

Clark is careful not to be critical of the current playing staff at Parkhead but admits a degree of sympathy for Strachan who's been forced to operate with a quality of personnel which doesn't compare to talents of the past.

He added:"The managers I've worked with all have their own style but at the end of the day you need the material to work with.

"If you have the best players you can have the best team but sometimes you need to work with what you have and try to make a blend from that.

"If there is a Henrik Larsson, Lubomir Moravcik or Chris Sutton out there at the moment I wish Celtic would get a hold of him. We would be delighted to have that kind of player here again. "If the supporters thought the likes of Henrik would come back the stadium wouldn't be big enough.

"There is a diamond out there somewhere but someone needs to find him."

The previous two Old Firm games have been slammed as non-events but Clark is adamant that the sold-out signs outside Hampden are evidence of the unique attraction of a game that will never lose its appeal.

He said: "The Old Firm game is the most competitive game in the world of club football, which makes it unique.

"Nothing has ever compared to it and you can look at domestic games in Brazil, Spain, Italy or down south - there's nothing like it.

"I look at Manchester United's game with Liverpool this weekend and it doesn't even come close."

Despite having passionate beliefs about how the game should be played, there is no danger of Clark offering Strachan any advice as the clock ticks down to tomorrow's kick-off - he'll be too busy dreaming about pulling the boots back on.

He said: "At Hampden on Sunday I will be wishing I could switch the clock back and get that No.6 back on my shorts. I will just wish the players good luck and get on with my job.

"I assess things in my own way as I've been involved as a player and a manager in games like these but I would never make a comment on what my thoughts are on a game.

"That's the manager's area and I don't get involved in it.

"I've watched men like Stein who was a winner and a very thorough man.

He would have a run-down on the opposition's strengths and weaknesses and always demanded you gave your best.

"Jock was the man who kick-started this club and is rightly still regarded as a God among the support.

"He drummed it into us about the need to be focused before Old Firm games and couldn't be bothered with all the palaver before the game - he just wanted to hear the first whistle.

"All the talk in the world means nothing if a player listens to a manager minutes before the game and doesn't go out there and get switched on right away.

"It's vital to get the upper hand from the word go. It's so important to show who's boss and make an impression where it counts - in the middle of the park. "If the guys there can get control early on it gives the rest of the players a chance to get going.

"Even Walter Smith and the people who've gone before him will tell you that you must gain the upper hand right away.

"If we do, and I am allowed to be biased, I believe we will win by the odd goal in three."

Once concerned only with remembering to bring along 11 outfield kits and a goalie shirt, the role of the kit man has changed dramatically in modern football thanks to third strips, customised boots and snoods. We asked Lisbon Lion, John Clark, one of the world's most decorated kit men, to explain what his job involves.

"Most people think there's not much to being a kit man, but these days it's like running the men's department at Marks & Spencer, especially at a big club like Celtic.

I'm looking after the kit for around 50 players - senior players and youngsters – all of whom might need something from you at any point. You've got to be on the ball all the time and it can be stressful.

It's a seven days a week job – not for a young man with a family: it would end in divorce. I'm in at 8am and I leave when I'm finished.

My preparations begin the day after a game – getting the kit washed and ready, replacing shirts that have been given away or damaged, making sure every single player has everything they need, short or long sleeves, etc.

When we started it was all long sleeves – now the players choose what they prefer. The shirts we wore for Celtic when we won the 1967 European Cup were heavier, made of cotton.

Now the players are wearing shirts made out of special fabrics, with a lot of research going into the design. I suppose it seems like the dark ages compared to now, though we didn't see it that way at the time.

The boots these days are far more advanced too. It's night and day in terms of weight, as the ones we wore absorbed so much water.

The synthetic boots they wear now are a doddle to clean. You don't need to polish them – you just wipe them down with a damp cloth.

You've got separate kit for domestic and European games and it's not just the matchday kit; it's the training kit, the pre-match warm-up kit, everything..."