Ben Clark (footballer, born 1983)

For other people named Ben Clark, see Ben Clark (disambiguation).

Ben Clark

Personal information
Full name	Benjamin Clark
Date of birth	(1983-01-24) 24 January 1983 (age 41)
Place of birth	Consett, England [1]
Height	6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)
Position(s)	Centre-back Centre midfielder
Team information
Current team	Gateshead (first team coach)
Youth career
1999	Manchester United
1999–2000	Sunderland
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
2000–2004	Sunderland	8	(0)
2004–2010	Hartlepool United	162	(6)
2010–2016	Gateshead	238	(5)
2016	South Shields	4	(0)
Total		412	(11)
Managerial career
2019	Gateshead
2024	Gateshead (caretaker)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Benjamin Clark (born 24 January 1983) is an English former professional footballer who played as a centre-back. During his career, he played for Sunderland, Hartlepool United, Gateshead and latterly South Shields. He has also been first-team manager and community officer at Gateshead. ^[2]

Club career

Manchester United

Clark began his career as a trainee for Manchester United, but became homesick and signed for Sunderland in August 1999.

Sunderland

He made his Sunderland debut in a 2–1 League Cup away win at Luton Town in September 2000. ^[3] However, Clark saw his opportunities at Sunderland limited and he only made 11 appearances in his first three seasons and mainly found himself playing for the reserves. Despite the lack of appearances for his league side, Clark represented England as a defender up until under-20 level and he captained the under-19s.

Mick McCarthy tipped Clark to play an important role in Sunderland's promotion campaign. However, he decided to let Clark look for new clubs to pursue his career. In the 2004–05 season, Clark was signed by Neale Cooper and moved to Hartlepool United.

Hartlepool United

Clark made his Hartlepool debut against Peterborough but a series of injuries disrupted his first season at the club and Clark found it difficult to gain a regular starting place in the team. He was commonly used as a utility player to cover injuries in defence and midfield. Despite this Clark went on to make 25 league appearances and 6 in cup competitions.

In the 2006–07 season, he played a key role in central defence alongside Michael Nelson as Hartlepool won promotion from League Two as runners-up. The pair played a major part in the club's 18-game unbeaten run. Clark made 35 appearances in the 2008–09 season but the arrival of Sam Collins meant that Clark was moved back into midfield. After losing his place in the side, Clark spent much of the 2009–10 season as a substitute and was released at the end of the season. ^[4]

Gateshead

On 14 June 2010, Clark signed for Conference National side Gateshead ^[5] and was named captain on 10 August 2010, replacing Kris Gate. ^[6] Clark made his debut for Gateshead on 14 August 2010 against Kettering Town. ^[7] Clark scored his first goal for Gateshead on 22 February 2011 in a 4–1 win against Kettering Town at Rockingham Road. ^[8] He made 53 appearances during his first season at the club, missing only 3 games, and won Gateshead's Player of the Year award. ^[9]

He agreed a new one-year contract with the club in May 2012 to cover the 2012–13 season. ^[10]

On 23 November 2015, Clark was named co-caretaker manager of Gateshead alongside Micky Cummins following the departure of manager Malcolm Crosby. ^[11]

At the beginning of the 2016–17 season, Clark became a dual registered player for both Gateshead and Northern League South Shields. He played four times for the Mariners, before retiring after suffering a groin injury in September 2016.

Coaching career

On 1 October 2024, following the departure of Rob Elliot as first-team coach, it was announced that Clark would take charge of first team matters at Gateshead on an interim basis. ^[12]

Career statistics

Source: ^{[13] [14] [15]}

Club	Season	Division	League		FA Cup		League Cup		Other [B]		Total
			Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Sunderland	2000–01	Premier League	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	1	0
	2001–02	Premier League	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
	2002–03	Premier League	1	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	2	0
	2003–04	Division One	5	0	1	0	2	0	0	0	8	0
	2004–05	Championship	2	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	3	0
	Total		8	0	2	0	4	0	0	0	14	0
Hartlepool United	2004–05	League One	25	0	6	0	0	0	1	0	32	0
	2005–06	League One	32	0	1	0	0	0	1	0	34	0
	2006–07	League Two	40	3	3	0	1	0	2	0	46	3
	2007–08	League One	19	1	1	0	0	0	2	0	22	1
	2008–09	League One	35	2	5	0	0	0	0	0	40	2
	2009–10	League One	11	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	11	0
	Total		162	6	16	0	1	0	6	0	185	6
Gateshead	2010–11	Conference Premier	44	2	2	0	0	0	7	0	53	2
	2011–12	Conference Premier	40	0	3	0	0	0	5	0	48	0
	2012–13	Conference Premier	33	1	0	0	0	0	3	1	36	2
	2013–14	Conference Premier	44	0	3	0	0	0	5	0	52	0
	2014–15	Conference Premier	33	0	3	0	0	0	5	0	41	0
	2015–16	Conference Premier	44	2	1	0	0	0	5	0	50	2
	Total		238	5	12	0	0	0	30	1	280	6
Career total			408	11	30	0	5	0	36	1	479	12

B.  ^ The "Other" column constitutes appearances and goals (including those as a substitute) in the FA Trophy, Football League Trophy and play-offs.

Managerial statistics

As of match played 8 October 2024

Managerial record by team and tenure

Team	From	To	Record					Ref
			P	W	D	L	Win %
Gateshead	10 January 2019	30 April 2019	17	5	5	7	029.41	[16]
Gateshead (caretaker)	1 October 2024	15 October 2024	2	1	0	1	050.00
Total			19	6	5	8	031.58	—

Honours

Hartlepool United

• Football League Two second-place promotion: 2006–07

Individual

• Gateshead Player of the Year: 2010–11 ^[9]

References

1. Hugman, Barry J., ed. (2008). The PFA Footballers' Who's Who 2008–09. Mainstream. ISBN   978-1-84596-324-8.
2. "Gateshead defender Clark retires at 33". BBC Sport.
3. "Luton 1–2 Sunderland (Agg: 1–5)". BBC Sport. 26 September 2000. Retrieved 7 November 2008.
4. "Clark, Jones, Rowell Leave As Pools Release Seven". Vital Hartlepool. 12 May 2010. Retrieved 14 June 2010.
5. "Gateshead land Hartlepool United defender". Gateshead F.C. 14 June 2010. Archived from the original on 21 June 2010. Retrieved 14 June 2010.
6. "Dowson released / Clark new captain". Gateshead F.C. 10 August 2010. Archived from the original on 11 July 2011. Retrieved 10 August 2010.
7. "Gateshead 0–0 Kettering Town". Gateshead FC. 15 August 2010. Archived from the original on 5 September 2012. Retrieved 17 August 2010.
8. "Kettering Town 1–4 Gateshead". Gateshead FC. 23 February 2011. Archived from the original on 11 July 2011. Retrieved 23 February 2011.
9. "Gateshead FC 2010/11 Awards". Gateshead FC. 6 May 2011. Archived from the original on 24 September 2012. Retrieved 6 May 2011.
10. Bowron, Jeff (10 May 2012). "Ten on Board at Gateshead". BlueSq Premier. Archived from the original on 12 May 2012. Retrieved 10 May 2012.
11. "Clark and Cummins take caretaker charge". Gateshead FC. 23 November 2015. Archived from the original on 26 November 2015. Retrieved 25 November 2015.
12. McGraghan, Jack (1 October 2024). "Rob Elliot, Louis Storey & Antony Sweeney depart for Crawley Town". Gateshead FC. Retrieved 1 October 2024.
13. "Ben Clark Career Stats". Soccerbase. Retrieved 26 October 2010.
14. "Walsall vs Hartlepool". Hartlepool United FC. 3 May 2008. Archived from the original on 20 May 2008. Retrieved 6 June 2012.
15. "B. Clark". Soccerway. Retrieved 29 February 2016.
16. "Gateshead FC: Matches". Soccerway. Perform Group. Retrieved 2 May 2019.

External links

• Ben Clark at Soccerbase
• Clark's Official Gateshead F.C. profile
• Ben Clark profile at Vital Hartlepool
• Profile at [http://www.inthemadcrowd.co.uk/ In The Mad