Leon Clarke

Leon Marvin Clarke (born 10 February 1985) is an English professional footballer who plays as a striker for League Two club Bristol Rovers.

Clarke began his career with Wolves but then played for eleven different clubs – in both permanent and loan deals – over the subsequent years after leaving Wolves for Sheffield Wednesday in 2007. He returned to Wolves in January 2014 having led the League One goalscoring charts while at Coventry City but only scored three goals during an eighteen-month stay before being released.

Club Career

Wolverhampton Wanderers

Having progressed through Wolves' youth academy, Clarke made his senior debut for his hometown club in a League Cup win over Darlington on 23 September 2003. Though he did not feature at all in the team's Premier League campaign of that season, he was awarded a two-year contract extension during it.

After a loan period at Kidderminster Harriers in Spring 2004, he made his breakthrough into the Wolves first team in the 2004–05 season, making his league debut as a substitute in their opening match at Stoke and going on to score his first goal in the following game against Preston. He ended the campaign with eight goals from 31 appearances.

During the 2005–06 season his fortunes were mixed, as he benefited from injuries to others in the early part of the season, before slipping down the pecking order later in the season, after new players were signed. He angered sections of the Wolves' support after making a "shhh"-ing gesture toward the crowd after he scored a goal against Plymouth in January 2006. Although his manager, Glenn Hoddle, was not critical of Clarke's gesture, the striker was only selected once more during the remainder of the season and was twice loaned out to other Championship sides; first to Queens Park Rangers, then to Plymouth Argyle, failing to score at either.

Clarke returned to feature regularly for Wolves during the first half of the 2006–07 season and set himself a target of 15 goa