Dunfermline Athletic striker Pat Clarke returns to his former Dens Park home this weekend for the first time following his summer move to East End Park and the 25-year-old, who has always put playing first, is enjoying having a run of starting games for Jim McIntyre’s side.
Clarke has made eight moves during his seven year career however, the first was as a result of being released, two were about career progression and five have been to simply just play football.
The first move in Clarke’s career was forced as he explained, “I am an Edinburgh lad and was a schoolboy signing with Hibs but was never called up by them so I moved to East End Park for the first time.
“I played a couple of first team games during that stay, making my debut against Dundee United in April 2004 and we drew 1-1. I then played about a month later as a substitute against Rangers and we lost that one 3-2.
“It was difficult at only 18 to be up against experienced defenders and I was nervous but I enjoyed the games all the same.”
Having had a taste of first team action, Clarke then made his first move to play regularly and the front man explained, “The following season, I was getting itchy feet for first team football and I moved to Berwick Rangers on loan. Sandy Clark had been a reserve team coach at Dunfermline and he was in charge there at that time so it was a good fit.
“I played about 10 games and got my first League goal against Morton. It was not a great goal, more of a tap in but it was my first one in the Second Division and I enjoyed it.
“I had scored the week before in the Scottish Cup and that was an important one as it was an equaliser against Dumbarton that set up a 3-1 win for Berwick.”
Clarke returned to Dunfermline however, he knew that despite his good form at Berwick, a chance of getting a game at East End Park was limited.
He explained, “There were seven strikers ahead of me in the queue for a game with Craig Brewster, Stevie Crawford, Billy Mehmet, Noel Hunt, Derek Young and two foreign lads all there.
“I could have stayed at East End Park but the loan spell at Berwick had given me a taste of first team football so I joined Raith Rovers.”
He made an impression straight away scoring twice against Clyde on his debut with Clarke saying, “Raith were in the First Division at that time and it was just after Claude Anelka had left so it was in a bit of turmoil.
“Gordon Dalziel was trying to piece together a team to play first team football and it would be fair to say that although it started off well, we were relegated.
“Over the summer, further new signings came in and I was back on the bench so I took the opportunity to move to Arbroath on loan to get playing again. Harry Cairney took me to Gayfield but he left the club shortly afterwards.
“John McGlashan came in as their new Manager and being a former striker, I enjoyed working with him. I played a few games there, scored a few goals and John helped a lot and I went back to Raith looking to get a regular game. However, before that happened, I played in a bounce game against Cowdenbeath.”
That game was to have an impact on Clarke’s career as he explained, “Mixu Paatelainen was the Manager at Central Park and he got in touch shortly afterwards to see if I wanted to join them. I was not going to be getting a regular game at Raith Rovers so I was delighted to join Cowdenbeath although it meant dropping down to the Second Division.
“It was a good move for me, I played regularly and scored a few goals. Mixu left and Brian Welsh came in with Danny Lennon as his coach and Danny has done quite well since.”
Clarke’s form at Central Park earned him a move back up a division to join Clyde with the front man saying, “Colin Hendry signed me however, family reasons saw him leave shortly afterwards. John Brown came in and took us away from the relegation spot and into the end of season Play-Offs.
“I scored in the Semi-Final against Alloa in quite an epic game that we won 5-3 to go through on a 6-5 aggregate,” said Clarke before adding, “I then scored twice against Airdrie in the Final as we kept Clyde in the First Division so it was a good start.”
The escape act could not be conjured up a second time with Clarke saying, “The next season was a difficult one where we seemed to struggle every week and ended up being relegated. After that it got worse with all of the players being released from their contracts at the end of that season.”
Clarke can empathise with this weekend’s opponents saying, “It was a hugely worrying time and very similar to what some of the Dundee boys are going through just now.”
The Dark Blues ironically were the saviours of Clarke last summer and he said, “Jocky Scott phoned me as soon as the situation at Clyde was known. He said he was keen on signing me and I was delighted to join up at Dens Park last summer.”
“At first, I thought it was going to be a great move with the investment that was being made and everything was getting geared up for promotion to the SPL. I was really up for it and when you saw the quality of players coming in, it was a really exciting time.”
An ALBA Challenge Cup winners’ medal was picked up after Inverness Caledonian Thistle were beaten 3-2 however, Clarke’s fleeting appearance as a substitute at McDiarmid Park summed up his time as a Dark Blue.
Again he put playing first advising, “On reflection, I never played enough football as I was on the bench most weeks and you can only bide your time like that for so long. By the time the summer came, I was looking for a move.”
First Division rivals and former club Dunfermline were on Clarke’s tail with the striker saying, “Moving back to East End Park appealed as it meant staying full-time and it is not too far from where I live.”
Early indications were again good as Clarke scored on the opening day of League duty as the Pars beat Falkirk 1-0.
“That was a great way to start the season and to score the winner in front of a crowd of nearly 7,000 was great,” said Clarke before adding, “That was a really big game to win.”
The striker is up to four goals now for the season and he enjoys playing in such an attack minded team saying, “Willie Gibson was brilliant against Ross County last weekend and we have other great wide players in Joe Cardle, David Graham and Paul Willis. It is good to have these guys bombing up the wings and crossing for the likes of me and Andy Kirk.”
Clarke has already struck against his former Tayside employers this season however, he puts this down more to good fortune than any desire for revenge saying, “I scored against Dundee and we did really well in the game and I popped up in the right place to make it 3-1.
“I do not know why it is but a number of ex-players seem to do that. I did it for Clyde against Dunfermline as well and I reckon it is just luck as opposed to anything else.”
Clarke will return to Dundee this weekend and he will have to put sentiment to one side during the visit saying, “This will be my first trip back to Dens Park since leaving in the summer.
“I imagine it will be a difficult game for people there as it the first one since nine players and the previous management team left but I have a job to do. I cannot concentrate on issues at another club once I cross the white line.”
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