Carlisle United chairman Andrew Jenkins has paid tribute to Frank Clarke, a former Blues forward who has died at the age of 79.
Clarke played 126 games for Carlisle between 1973 and 1978 and scored 30 goals.
He was a key member of the squad which took the club into the top-flight for the only time in their history, scoring 16 goals in their promotion season.
Jenkins said: “He’s what you would describe as an old-fashioned centre forward.
“Alan Ashman thought really highly of him and he was a striker who could finish with his left or right boot, and with his head.
“He held it up, he flicked it on, and he made a real nuisance of himself. He was our top scorer during the promotion season to Division One and he was a really good man to have around the place.
“I remember him being a real character, and he came to us at a time when having a moustache was the fashion.
“Out of nowhere he decided to shave it off one day, and nobody recognised him. He looked at least 10 years younger.
“Obviously he took a bit of a ribbing, but he enjoyed that kind of thing and it was probably why he decided to have it removed.
“We all new what a good player he was, and the pedigree he came from, and we felt that it was great that we managed to get him up to Carlisle.
“It’s a sad loss and our thoughts are with his family and friends at this time.”
Clarke had started his career in 1961 at Shrewsbury and scored 77 goals in 188 games, before moving to QPR where he netted 17 in 67 and then to Ipswich where 66 games produced 15 goals.
His final club was Carlisle United where he was a popular member of Ashman’s squad. After football he became a newsagent and worked in a sports centre in Wem near Shrewsbury.
His younger brothers Allan, Derek, Kelvin and Wayne all played in the Football League, and Frank is the only one of the five who did not play for Walsall.
