OUR FORMER FA YOUTH CUP-WINNING STRIKER RAY CLARKE SPEAKS TO
ANDY GREEVES ABOUT HIS MEMORABLE SEASON WITH AJAX IN 1978/79
WHERE HE WON BOTH THE EREDIVISIE TITLE AND THE KNVB CUP
GOING DUTCH
The Spurs youth
^team 1969/70. Back row,
T Hü 'eft to right: Bill
Edwards, John Oliver, Ray
|Clarke, Barry Daines, Brian
Turner, Mike Dillon. Front
row (l-r): Maurice Embleton, i
Ron Gilson, Bobby Wiles,
■H Graeme Souness, Bobby j
[Almond. Insets: Phil Holder
j (left) and Steve Perryman
GOING DUTCH
Born in Hackney on September 25,1952, Ray Clarke
represented London, Middlesex and Islington
Schoolboys with distinction, which brought him to
the attention of both ourselves and Arsenal. Having
been offered apprentice contracts by the two clubs
at the age of 15, it was a meeting with our legendary
former manager Bill Nicholson that persuaded the young striker
that his immediate future lay with Spurs.
"The funny thing is, I grew up supporting Arsenal, as did
my father," smiles Clarke. "But one afternoon, Bill Nicholson
asked my headmaster for permission to come to my school
to speak to me. Bill asked if I could leave school at an early
age to sign for Spurs as he felt I had a chance of making it
as a professional footballer. The fact he took time out of
his busy schedule to talk to me swung my decision to join
Spurs over Arsenal."
Signing as an apprentice in May, 1968 - before putting
pen-to-paper on a professional deal in October, 1969 - Clarke
became a prolific goal scorer for our youth and reserve teams
during his time at White Hart Lane. He netted 35 times in 50
appearances for us outside of first-team level in his debut
season in 1968/69 and followed that up with 45 strikes in
53 matches as we won the FA Youth Cup, London Youth Cup
and Southern Junior Floodlit Cup in 1969/70.
"In my second season in the youth team, we swept the
board winning nearly every competition we were involved
in," comments Ray. "We had a fantastic youth team with the
likes of Graeme Souness, Steve Perryman, Mike Flanagan,
Barry Daines to name but a few."
Clarke scored five times in seven matches en route to the
FA Youth Cup Final that season. He also played in the four
matches against Coventry City in the final as we eventually
beat the Sky Blues 1-0 at White Hart Lane in the second
replay to win the competition for the first time in our history.
"We had played Coventry at Highfield Road earlier in the
season in another competition (the Southern Junior Floodlit
Cup) and we beat them 3-0," he recalls. "The FA Youth Cup
Final was a much tighter affair and I remember the intensity
of the four games. We won 1-0 at the Lane in the first leg and
then lost 1-0 at Highfield Road in the return. In those days you
tossed a coin to see where the replay was played. We went
back to Coventry and drew 2-2 with Steve Perryman scoring
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