Darrell Clarke

Darrell James Clarke (born 16 December 1977) is an English professional football manager and former player who played in the English Football League.

He is now the manager of club Cheltenham Town.

A box-to-box midfielder, Clarke began his career with Mansfield Town in 1995, where he spent the first six years of his career, making 173 league and cup appearances.

He made his way through the ranks and was offered a professional contract at Field Mill by Andy King in 1995.

The "Stags" struggled near the foot of the Third Division in 1995–96, rising to mid-table in 1996–97 and 1997–98, before finishing one place outside the play-offs in 1998–99.

Clarke made his first team debut on 21 December 1996, coming on as a half-time substitute for Ben Sedgemore in a 2–1 defeat at Cardiff City.

He marked his home debut at Field Mill with a goal in a 2–0 victory over Doncaster Rovers.

They then dropped back into the lower half of the table in 1999–2000 and 2000–01 after manager Steve Parkin was replaced by Bill Dearden.

While at Mansfield he became a fan favourite, due in part to his high work rate; he made 173 league and cup appearances for the club, scoring 27 goals.

In 2001, he transferred to Hartlepool United, where he spent another six years, making a further 136 appearances.

He was sent out on loan to Stockport County, Port Vale, and Rochdale in the final years of his spell.

Clarke was signed to Hartlepool United by Chris Turner in July 2001 on a free transfer, courtesy of the Bosman ruling, but Hartlepool still had to pay £70,000 as he was under 24.

He was seen by many as the replacement for Tommy Miller.

Clarke originally failed to cement his place in the starting 11 and found himself in and out of the team, making 26 league starts and 9 substitute appearances.

However, he still managed to score seven league goals, including a hat-trick in a 7–1 win over Swansea City.

The following season was much more successful for Clarke as he played in nearly all of Hartlepool's matches and added another seven goals to his tally in Hartlepool's promotion winning campaign.

The arrival of manager Neale Cooper saw Clarke's opportunities in the first team in 2003–04 limited, as Eifion Williams was preferred on the right wing.

Clarke only started 23 league matches, but he still managed to make a further 12 substitute appearances.

In the 2004–05 season, Clarke suffered a knee injury that prevented him from taking part in any of Hartlepool's league games.

He was loaned out to Stockport County — managed by former Hartlepool boss Chris Turner — in order to gain fitness in January, but this was cut short as Clarke picked up another knee problem after just one game.

His knee injury caused him to miss the second half of the campaign.

In September 2005 Clarke was loaned to Port Vale, but played just two minutes after being utilised as a late substitute by manager Martin Foyle.

Despite his return to full fitness being described by manager Martin Scott as a 'massive boost', his appearances were again limited once he returned to Victoria Park.

In July 2006 he was loaned to Rochdale, where he made 12 appearances, scoring one goal.

In 2007, he left the professional game to sign for Salisbury City, before taking up the management position at the club in 2010.

He led the club to promotion into the Conference Premier from the Southern League with two play-off final victories in three seasons.

He was released by Hartlepool manager Danny Wilson in May 2007.

On 3 July 2007, he signed for newly-promoted Conference Premier club Salisbury City.

He was appointed manager of Bristol Rovers in March 2014, but could not prevent the club from dropping out of the English Football League.

However, one year later, Clarke successfully guided Bristol Rovers back into the Football League after winning the 2015 Conference Premier play-off final, and then went on to take the club into League One with promotion out of League Two in 2015–16.

At the time of his departure in December 2018, he was the fourth-longest serving manager in the EFL.

He was appointed manager at Walsall in May 2019 and left the club in February 2021 to manage League Two rivals Port Vale.

He led the club to promotion with victory in the 2022 play-off final, before being sacked in April 2023.

He took charge at Cheltenham Town in October 2023.

Born in Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, Clarke stated that he was "brought up on a rough estate" in Ladybrook.

His mother died in a car crash when Clarke was aged two and he and his brother, Wayne, were raised by his grandparents as his father was an alcoholic.

His grandfather was a steward at Mansfield Town.

His eldest daughter, Ellie, died on Valentine's Day 2022 in what was ruled as a suicide by an inquest, though Clarke maintains was "a cry for help that went drastically wrong".

Clarke was an energetic box-to-box midfielder who had an eye for goal, though defending was his weakness.

He started his career at Mansfield Town when he joined their youth set up at the age of just 10.