not play in the final (which Everton lost to Liverpool), following which Everton brought in Mike Newell from Leicester City in part exchange for Clarke and £500,000. Leicester City When Clarke moved to Leicester there was interest in him from Ron Atkinson at Sheffield Wednesday, Jim Smith at Newcastle United as well as David Pleat at Leicester. Despite scoring on his debut for the club, Clarke's return to the Second Division was brief. After just 11 league games and one goal, Clarke returned to the top flight with Manchester City, managed by Howard Kendall who had bought him for Everton three years earlier. He moved in a part-exchange deal valued at £650,000 which saw David Oldfield join Leicester. Manchester City Clarke was unable to claim a regular place in the Manchester City side. While at Maine Road he was loaned to Shrewsbury Town, where he scored six goals in seven games, then to Stoke City (three goals in nine matches), and then back to Wolves, where he was viewed as a potential partner for Steve Bull. However his first appearance for the club lasted just 20 minutes before he punctured a lung, returned to Manchester City, and on his return to fitness was not allowed out on loan again. Clarke recalls a particular incident playing for Manchester City with fondness involving Nigel Clough who was a family friend and had tried to sign Clarke as a schoolboy, then as a England youth. "Some years later, I went on as a half-time substitute for Manchester City at the City Ground and felt a sharp nudge in the back as I was making my way down the tunnel. It came with an unmistakable voice: ‘Young man, you’d have been a better player if you had come and signed for me.’ I smiled, made my way on to the pitch and, mid-way through the half, scored with a diving header to clinch victory. I turned towards the dug-outs and there was Cloughie giving me his distinctive thumbs-up as if to say ‘great goal, son.'” Walsall Clarke's next move came in the summer of 1992 when he joined Walsall in Division Three. He was the fourth of the brothers to play for Walsall, and the move meant he had played in all four divisions of the Football League. He was the club's top scorer in the 1992–93 season with 21 goals in 39 games,