‘I’m ready for the PSL’
KICKOFF: Where did you start in the game and were you a player before you moved to coaching?
Alan Clark: My passion for the game definitely came from my family, my father in particular. He was a very good sportsman and actually played volleyball for South Africa. Like me, he was a school teacher and very passionate about sport. From a young age I was always involved in cricket and soccer, and I did quite well in both. I played for my local club Old Benonians for a number of years and I think I still hold a record there! It was a junior record in the Under-9s in what is now the Ekurhuleni league for the most goals scored in a season. I think it was something like 22.
Sounds like you were a striker!
It’s funny actually, the older I got the further back in the formation I moved! I was a striker when I first started out, then as a teenager I was more of a central midfielder. I then had the opportunity to go on trial in England at Crystal Palace and Reading around 1998-99, and there, because of my build, they suggested I played as a right wing-back, so I switched to that and played there for a while.
But then your career came to a very abrupt end
Yes, I developed reactive arthritis in my right knee and that meant every time I
