Former Leeds United Player Clark Carlisle: Transferred to Watford August 2005
Clark Carlisle
Clark Carlisle
Position: Central Defender
Squad Number: 4 International: England U-21
Preston-born Clark Carlisle was Kevin Blackwell's 2nd signing as Leeds United's new manager. His transfer to Watford on the eve of the 2005-06 season came as a shock to most Leeds United fans. Admittedly, despite the financial problems at Leeds United, we are well blessed with central defenders and so the constant need to keep the budget tight is probably the reason why Clark was released rather than any problems with the defender or his play. We also received a fee of £100,000 for Clark from Watford which is something of a novelty to the Leeds United bookkeepers, who have seen multi-million pound players walk away for free over the last three years as we desperately sought to get their "Ridsdale" wages off the books; indeed we had to pay other clubs to take them in some cases, and still do apparently (via subsidising their wages)!!
It's always difficult to sum up the season of a player in a sentence but here goes; his start was promising as was his relationship with Butler at the heart of the defence and we kept a tight ship at the beginning of the season 2004-05. But then we started to ship goals in a disappointing fashion and Clark made mistakes (as did other defenders). He was dismissed on a couple of occasions too. But in case that sounds negative he made a definite contribution up front with a big, powerful threat at corners and set pieces. He netted four times for us in the 2004-05 season and was the fifth top-scorer in the squad! Hopefully KB has decided who else is going to score those goals in the 2005-06 season. The lasting impression of Clark Carlisle in a Leeds United shirt? Probably during the away loss to lowly Rotherham, for which he takes no blame as he was taken off injured after about 15 minutes, on a miserably, cold night which he brightened considerably by hitting the woodwork three times in ten minutes!!! I'm sure Clark goes to Watford with the best wishes of Leeds fans and thanks for his efforts in his sole season with the Whites. Clark made his debut for Watford on 6/8/2005 in their 2-1 defeat to his home-town club, Preston North End
Here's Clark Carlisle's Leeds United record: 1/7/2005 - 5/8/2005
