Ray Clarke

[Oldamber55]

Having said all about Ray Clarke... any one of us who were privileged to see him play..will remember that he did have the best strike partner in Terry Eccles .... and for me we had the best midfielder ever in Gordon Hodgson he was a genius
Truly great memories.

[Curry 9 Brace 7]

Oh , for another Hodgy.

[Curry 9 Brace 7]

I loved that 74/75 team. Brilliant. I just wish my grandsons could see a team like that one, theyve only ever seen non league rubbish and League 2

[one f in mansfield]

Having said all about Ray Clarke... any one of us who were privileged to see him play..will remember that he did have the best strike partner in Terry Eccles .... and for me we had the best midfielder ever in Gordon Hodgson he was a genius
Truly great memories.

Majority of the time Eccles would finish the game having been battered for the full 90 minutes , covered in mud and more than likely limping but not having scored , Clarke could go out on a Saturday night in his stags and he would have scored at least one probably more goals. . Eccles contribution to Clarkes goal tally was very often ignored .

[Tippy Tappy Football]

Just watched Big match revisited. Didnt know Clarke returned to play for Brighton after leaving us to play for Sparta. Good memories of the 70s.

15th December 1979: Travelled to Belle Vue to watch Donny Rovers v Stags in 2nd Rd of FA Cup. It absolutely chucked it down in the 2nd half and there was no shelter on the open terrace behind the goal. Nevertheless the Stags fans never stopped singing and we won 2-0 with goals from Bob Curtis and Terry Austin. We travelled back to Mansfield on a Skills or East Midlands double decker and I think they must have done the 3rd Rd FA Cup draw on the radio as when we got back to Mansfield we were told we had drawn former Division 3 rivals Brighton & Hove Albion at home who had been promoted to Division 1 with Crystal Palace the previous season. Ray Clarke was returning to Field Mill.

5th January 1980: Ray Clarke returned to Field Mill in front of a crowd of 8,204. It was a fairly tight game until Steve Taylor was sent off in the 2nd half and then Brighton scored twice against ten men with Ray Clarke scoring the second goal for the Seagulls.

The Stags under Mick Jones finished 23rd and were relegated to Division 4.

Team
Rod Arnold
Derek Dawkins, John McClelland, Kevin Bird, Barry Foster
Brian Thompson, Bob Curtis, Arthur Mann Russ Allen
Steve Taylor, Terry Austin

Sub: Aidy Burrows

[Old timer]

I have been on the Ajax stadium tour a few years ago and I'm pretty sure there was something in there about Clarke. I remember going to some of those games as a kid and thinking it felt like we would win every one although it was a long time ago. Then again it's probably the same kind of memory trick as it always being hot and sunny at Ingoldmells and Chapel St Leonards on my holidays there about the same time! I'm also pretty sure that my dad occasionally took me to stand in the 'away' end too as you could pretty much move around the ground as you wished providing we weren't playing someone like Sheff Wed.