Peter Clarke On Reaching 1000 Career Games & Everton Memories

In an interview that first appeared in the Official Matchday Programme, Peter Clarke talks about reaching 1,000 career appearances, making his debut for Everton at Coventry, his relationship with Blues legends and more...

It is 7.15pm on a mild, Autumnal evening in Prescot. At Valerie Park, the home of Northern Premier League side Prescot Cables, experienced centre-back Peter Clarke takes to the pitch ahead of a crunch FA Trophy clash against Lancaster for the usual pre-match warm-ups.

It is not just any match this evening for Clarke – by starting this FA Trophy clash against Lancaster City, Clarke will make the 1,000th appearance of his career.

As his teammates stretch and sprint around him, the 43-year-old is concentrated solely on the game, until he is approached by manager Ste Daley.

“The manager mentioned part-way through the warm-up that I was going to come out at the back of the line when the teams come out,” Clarke told the Official Matchday Programme. “But I’m always the last one out anyway.

“That’s when he told me. ‘The lads are going to clap you out.’ I remember saying ‘no, please!’”

Watching the footage of the guard of honour, Clarke does look sheepish as he walks out of the tunnel and onto the pitch, returning the applause being issued by his teammates, opponents and officials before turning to applaud the supporters at Valerie Park. 

Clarke then looks to make his way back to the line-up but is instead called over for a presentation – a fine bottle of champagne is the gift from Club Chairman Graham Black – before handing the gift over to his family and quickly heading back to rejoin his teammates.

You very much get the impression Clarke would sooner be hearing the whistle to kick the game off than have all the attention on him and, indeed, Clarke admits to an awkward, but certainly no less grateful, feeling.

“Both sets of players and staff were stood around giving me a clap before the game, which was lovely and it’s nice to be appreciated, but it did feel uncomfortable and a little embarrassing,” Clarke said.

“Maybe when I look back in years to come, I’ll say it was nice. The footage is there online for everyone to see, but I was just preoccupied with the game.

“If you’d offered me a 2-0 win on the day I’d have been delighted – to win and keep a clean sheet is always nice!”

Clarke has enjoyed a fantastic career, forging a reputation as one of the most consistent centre-halves in the EFL over a 24-year – and growing – career, one that started in Everton’s youth team.

It is a career that has seen promotions, relegations, seven player of the season awards and now, after receiving that guard of honour and hearing that first whistle against Lancaster, Clarke has joined an elite list of footballers to have amassed 1,000 games. His name now sits alongside the likes of Roberto Carlos, Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, not to mention Toffees legends like Neville Southall and Alan Ball.

But it was another Everton Giant who first gave Clarke, as he puts it, “the tools” to become a true millennium man.

“Our youth team coach was Colin Harvey, who needs no introduction,” Clarke recalls. “I’ve seen him occasionally since and he was a great fella, a great coach and gave players a really good grounding in terms of what it meant and took to play for Everton. 

“He gave the lads the tools to play for Everton or go on and have careers further down the pyramid.

“You had the A & B teams, then the reserves, then the first team. There’d be times where you’d be playing with players that haven’t got minutes on the Saturday and need some in preparation if they were called upon for the following week.”

Having come up through the youth teams and then the reserves, Clarke found himself in and around the first team picture at the turn of the millennium but it was not until 20 January 2001 in an away game at Coventry City that Clarke, aged just 17 years and 17 days, was brought on by Walter Smith for an injured Alec Cleland, making his senior debut at a hostile Highfield Road moments after Kevin Campbell had put the Blues 3-0 up.

“I’d been on the bench at various points – the first time was in a different millennium, back in 1999,” said Clarke. “The week leading up to that Coventry game there had been a few injuries, and after 30 minutes, Alec went down injured.

“The kitman, Jimmy Martin, stuck his head out of the dugout and called me back – and I’ve never got back so quick! I came on and in that moment you want to do yourself justice and help the team get a good result for the travelling supporters. 

“It was just play 20 minutes then get in at half-time and you can gather your thoughts. The game had gone quite well, we were 3-0 up at half-time, so it was just ‘right, let’s get the points and then you can enjoy it afterwards’.

“Walter was a tough man to please, he was demanding. But he was another to give a young player a grounding and an understanding to go out there and play and compete on a regular basis. 

“I’ll be eternally grateful because he’s the man who ultimately gave me that opportunity.

“Being around people like Walter and Archie (Knox, Smith’s assistant), and some of the players around the time – Darren Ferguson, Richard Gough, David Weir and Kevin Campbell, god rest him – they were players that helped young players. 

“They gave advice and they were only too willing to give up their time to help a young player progress. I’ve a massive debt of gratitude to the tools that I was given, the grounding I was given. 

“Those formative years as a young player were massive in shaping me to have the career I had. Without that, you look back and things could have been different.”

Clarke would go on to make 14 appearances for our first team, including a Player of the Match performance in a Merseyside derby at Anfield in 2002, before joining League One side Blackpool on a permanent basis in 2004 following a successful loan spell at Bloomfield Road years prior.

Switching to Southend United in 2006, Clarke spent three years at Roots Hall before moving to Huddersfield Town, where he was named club captain in a season that culminated in a League One play-off final ,Clarke leading his side out at Wembley and fulfilling a childhood dream.

“Every player will look back on their debut with a level of fondness, and being named man of the match in a Merseyside derby is something I’m proud of,” said Clarke. “But as a kid, whether it was in the backyard or on the streets, it was always the FA Cup final in my head. 

“That day wasn’t the FA Cup final ultimately, but to captain a team at Wembley in a promotion play-off final and come out victorious, it’s probably quite close to realising the schoolkid’s dream. 

“That’s the one I look back on and think ‘that’s the probably the one’.”

Clarke would make close to 200 appearances for Huddersfield before returning to Blackpool and continuing his career predominantly in the North West, taking in spells at Bury, Oldham, Fleetwood, Tranmere and slightly further south at Walsall before moving into non-league, joining Warrington Town in 2023 and moving to Cables at the start of this season.

What is remarkable about Clarke is not just his ability but his availability – consistently making at least 40 league appearances over the course of the last 20 seasons. 

“At various points I’ve been asked ‘what’s the aim for the season?’ and my aim was always to have the best pre-season I could and be available for selection as often as I could,” Clarke said. 

“I always had the confidence and self-belief that if I was available, I had the ability and other attributes that would mean I played more game than I didn’t. You’ve got to have a level of consistency but being fit and available on a regular basis is key.

“That mindset has been the same at the beginning of each season. For seven or eight years now, people have been asking ‘are you still playing?’ then it’s ‘how long are you going to play for?’ 

“But I’m not going to set an age or a time limit on it. I just want to be as fit and as ready as I can be. Off the back of that, it’s ‘does the body still feel okay, do I still enjoy being out there, training and competing?’ 

“They’re the thought processes leading into a season, then coming into the back-end of a season. This season initially was no different and as it wears on, will probably be no different again. 

“Depending on how I feel, I’ll make a decision in due course. 

“As a kid growing up, all I wanted to do was play footie and be a footballer. Going out on a Saturday and playing has always been the best bit, the most enjoyable bit.”