QPR1st was deeply saddened to hear of the passing yesterday, of former Queen’s Park Rangers winger, Clive “Chippy” Clark at age 73: Clive had long been in poor health.
Clive was one of QPR’s finest players to play for the club in our pre-1967 era. Clive made his QPR debut in September 1958 away to Bournemouth and and played some 60 games for QPR before being sold in 1961 to West Bromwich Albion for an Albion-record 20,000 pounds. According to Manager, Alec Stock, he sold Clark to avoid him being kicked to pieces by Third Division defenders.
Clark spent almost a decade at Albion, playing over 300 games and scoring close to 100 goals (including scoring twice against QPR at Wembley in the 1967 League Cup Final!)
Clark briefly returned to QPR in 1969, in a part-exchange for QPR’s Alan Glover, before moving on to Preston North End a few months later. Clark marked his “Second” QPR Debut, scoring against Hull in the season opener at Loftus Road (a game in which Terry Venables also made his QPR debut and in which Rodney Marsh also played).
QPR1st sends it deepest sympathies to the Clark family who can be assured that Clive will always have a prominent place in QPR History.