Clarke Carlisle

The following season, he played 43 matches as Blackpool achieved a 14th-placed finish in the Second Division.

His single goal of the campaign came in a 3–1 victory over Stoke City at the Victoria Ground.

Clarke James Carlisle (born 14 October 1979) is an English former professional footballer who played as a defender and was chairman of the Professional Footballers' Association.

Born in Preston, he began playing football at a young age, taking inspiration from his father who played semi-professionally.

Carlisle represented his home county of Lancashire at youth level.

He scored his first goal as a professional footballer with the 90th-minute winner in the following match, a 2–1 win against Carlisle United at Blackpool's home ground, Bloomfield Road.

He scored on his 93rd and final league appearance for the club in a 1–1 draw with Oldham Athletic at Boundary Park.

Despite the team's relegation, Carlisle's strong defensive performances during his three years at Blackpool attracted the attention of Iain Dowie, who at the time was a scout for Queens Park Rangers.

The start of his professional career was his Football League debut for Blackpool in September 1997.

Carlisle signed a professional contract with the club on 13 August 1997 and moved into the first-team squad.

On 2 September 1997, he made his debut for Blackpool in the team's 4–3 victory over Wrexham in the Second Division.

He was shown the first red card of his career in Blackpool's 1–0 victory against Wigan Athletic in the quarter-final of the Football League Trophy on 27 January 1998.

He played 12 matches in his first season, scoring two goals.

In the 1999–2000 season, he played 51 times and scored five goals as Blackpool finished 22nd and were relegated to the Third Division.

He moved to Queens Park Rangers in May 2000.

In the same year, Carlisle won three caps for the England under-21 national team.

He missed a number of matches for Queens Park Rangers due to a posterior cruciate ligament injury which at one stage led doctors to believe that his career was over.

Dowie recommended Carlisle to Queens Park Rangers manager Gerry Francis, who paid a transfer fee of £250,000 to sign him on 25 May 2000.

He played his first match for the team on 12 August 2000 in the 0–0 draw with Birmingham City at Loftus Road.

He made a further 31 appearances in the 2000–01 season and scored three times, earning himself a call-up to the England national under-21 team.

He attended Balshaw's Church of England High School where he attained 10 A-grades at GCSE and studied mathematics and politics at A-level, and in 2002 was awarded the title of "Britain's Brainiest Footballer" in a TV game show.

He has been an ambassador for the Kick It Out campaign and is a former Chairman of the Management Committee of the Professional Footballers' Association.

Carlisle has suffered from recurring problems with alcohol and depression.

Carlisle was born in Preston, Lancashire.

He grew up in the city with his parents, Mervin and Rose (née Edgar).

He went on to study A-level mathematics and politics at Ealing, Hammersmith and West London College while he was unable to play football due to an injury.

Carlisle has a degree in Professional Sports Writing and Broadcasting from Staffordshire University, and has expressed interest in taking up teaching work following his football career.

Carlisle was inspired to become a footballer by his father, Mervin, who played semi-professionally for Morecambe and Southport.

Carlisle started playing at a young age and represented Lancashire at under-15 level, before being signed by Blackpool where he became a trainee with the youth team.

He then missed one month of the 2003–04 season because of an alcohol-related problem, and left Queens Park Rangers at the end of that season.

In the summer of 2004, he joined Leeds United on a free transfer.

Carlisle spent just one season with Leeds United before signing for Championship club Watford in August 2005.

In the 2005–06 season, his first with Watford, the team finished third in the division and achieved promotion to the Premier League via the play-offs.

However, a thigh injury caused Carlisle to miss the majority of the team's season in the top flight.

In March 2007 he had a one-month loan spell at Luton Town.

In August 2007, Burnley manager Steve Cotterill bought Carlisle from Watford for a transfer fee of £200,000.

In the 2008–09 season he played over 40 matches as Burnley reached the semi-finals of the League Cup and finished fifth in the league, earning a place in the play-offs.

Carlisle was named man of the match for his performance in the play-off final as Burnley beat Sheffield United 1–0 to return to the top tier of English football for the first time in 33 years.

An imposing figure in the centre of defence thanks to his stature, Carlisle also provided an attacking threat from set pieces.

He is a practising Christian and regularly attends church.