Ray Clemence

Ray Clemence
MBE
Clemence with Tottenham Hotspur in 1981
Personal information
Full name Raymond Neal Clemence[1]
Date of birth (1948-08-05)5 August 1948[2]
Place of birth Skegness, Lincolnshire, England[2]
Date of death 15 November 2020(2020-11-15) (aged 72)
Place of death Corby, Northamptonshire, England
Height 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)[3]
Position(s) Goalkeeper
Youth career
Notts County
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1965–1967 Scunthorpe United 48 (0)
1967–1981 Liverpool 470 (0)
1981–1988 Tottenham Hotspur 240 (0)
Total 758 (0)
International career
1967–1971 England U23 4 (0)
1972–1983 England 61 (0)
Managerial career
1992–1993 Tottenham Hotspur (joint manager)
1994–1996 Barnet
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Raymond Neal Clemence MBE (5 August 1948 – 15 November 2020)[4] was an English professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. Regarded as one of the greatest goalkeepers of all time, he is one of few players to have made over 1,000 career appearances,[5][6][7] and holds the record for the most clean sheets in the history of football (460).[8]

As part of the Liverpool team of the 1970s,[9] Clemence won three European Cups, five League titles, two UEFA Cups, a European Super Cup, an FA Cup and a League Cup; the last of his 665 appearances for the club was the victorious 1981 European Cup final.[10] In 1981, after being phased out at Liverpool, Clemence joined Tottenham Hotspur, winning a UEFA Cup, an FA Cup, and a Charity Shield with them, before retiring from football in 1988. Clemence played internationally for England from 1972 to 1983, and represented the country at UEFA Euro 1980 and the 1982 FIFA World Cup.

After brief spells as joint-manager at Tottenham (alongside Doug Livermore) and sole manager at Barnet in the first half of the 90s, he acted as head of the FA Development Team, overseeing the development made by players in the England youth teams from under-16 to 21 level, having previously been part of the England senior team's backroom staff.[2]

  1. ^ "Ray Clemence". Barry Hugman's Footballers. Retrieved 14 March 2020.
  2. ^ a b c "Ray Clemence". The FA. Retrieved 4 November 2013.
  3. ^ "Ray Clemence". worldfootball.net. Retrieved 4 November 2013.
  4. ^ Mason, Peter (16 November 2020). "Ray Clemence obituary". The Guardian. Retrieved 16 November 2020.
  5. ^ Taylor, Louise (23 March 2017). "Gianluigi Buffon's 1,000th career game is testament to a beacon of stability". The Guardian. Retrieved 24 March 2017.
  6. ^ Horncastle, James (23 March 2017). "Gianluigi Buffon is far from finished after 1,000 games between the posts". ESPN FC. Retrieved 24 March 2017.
  7. ^ Moore, Glenn (27 May 2011). "Zanetti, Inter's captain and gentleman, joins the 1,000 matches club". The Independent. Retrieved 24 March 2017.
  8. ^ Wirunhchatapant, Naratorn. "World Football Historic Center: World Record and Statistics". Xtrahistory.blogspot.com. Retrieved 14 November 2021.
  9. ^ "Ray Clemence". Liverpool FC. Retrieved 5 September 2015.
  10. ^ "Liverpool FC deeply saddened by Ray Clemence passing". Liverpool F.C. Retrieved 15 November 2020.