time to represent England at Junior level but the club replied declining the call up and sending their apologies with the player now on the fringes of the Wolves first team. Many people were keeping tabs on the young West Midlander. Following his first start at home to Ipswich which finished in a 1-0 defeat for Wolves, Ipswich manager Ron Atkinson met Clarke in the club boardroom to pass on some advice. Clarke recalls 'Big Ron' telling him “I thought you played really well today and I will look forward to watching your career. I know you were beaten today but don’t be too down-hearted. When I made my debut, we lost five." A month on from Clarkes 18th birthday with Wolves sat 20th in the table (of 22 teams), Clarke scored his first Wolves goal in a 3-3 draw versus QPR away at Loftus Road. In total the teenager would make 9 appearances that season with the club finishing 18th in the league. Clarke would feature 20 times with 2 goals during the 1979/80 season which would result in the club finishing 6th in the league and was a member of the 16-man travelling squad when Wolves won the League Cup in 1980, but did not play. Competing for starting places with Andy Gray and John Richards. Clarke made 22 starts and 10 appearances off the bench during the 1980/81 season including coming on as a 78th minute substitute in Eindhoven as Wolves faced PSV in UEFA Cup and was a member of the team that suffered relegation from the First Division in 1981/82 but reclaimed their top flight status the following season contributing with 42 starts and 13 goals. Clarke left the club at the end of the 1983 - 84 season following a second relegation from the top flight, contributing a further 10 goals in 36 appearances. "In my last season at Wolves (1983/84), I was on a monthly rolling contract. I would have gladly signed a new contract if they’d improved the squad, but they never did. We were relegated again at the end of the season and I realised I had to leave." Stated Clarke in a 2022 interview. He scored 33 goals in 170 appearances in all competitions before Ron Saunders took him to Second Division Birmingham City in 1984. The fee of £80,000 was set by tribunal and included a clause entitling Wolves