Colin Clarke (footballer born 1962)

Colin Clarke ( born October 30, 1962 in Newry ) is a former Northern Irish football player and current coach of the Puerto Rico Islanders FC in the USSF D2 Pro League and coach of Puerto Rico.

Club career

At 18, the Northern Irishman started his career at Ipswich Town, but where he came to no use in the professional team. A year later he played at Peterborough United. In 3 years, he played 82 games, scoring 18 goals. Other clubs in which he played, were Gillingham FC, Tranmere Rovers, AFC Bournemouth, Portsmouth, Southampton FC and Queens Park Rangers. His most successful period had the striker at Southampton, where he scored 36 goals in 82 games. Overall, Clarke played 361 matches and scored 146 goals during his thirteen- year career, he had to quit due to a knee injury at the end of season 1992 /1993.

National

For the national team of Northern Ireland from 1986 to 1992, he was 38 times the square, scoring 13 goals. In 1986, he was in the squad of Northern Ireland at the World Cup in Mexico. Clarke held the record scorer of the Northern Ireland national team, was able to overtake him to David Healy.

Coaching career

Since 1998 he is a trainer in the USA. His first stop was the Richmond Kickers. In 2000 he took over briefly the Office in San Diego Flash, before which dissolved in 2001. Since 2003, he coached the team of FC Dallas in the MLS. In 2007 he took over before the new season as coach at the Virginia Beach Mariners.

After the Mariners have withdrawn from the current operation, Clarke took over as coach at the Puerto Rico Islanders FC and is at the same time since January 2008 National Coach of Puerto Rico.