Dave Clement

Dave Clement

Personal information
Full name	David Thomas Clement
Date of birth	(1948-02-02)2 February 1948
Place of birth	Battersea, England
Date of death
Place of death	England
Position(s)	Defender
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1965–1979	Queens Park Rangers	472	(28)
1979–1980	Bolton Wanderers	33	(0)
1980–1981	Fulham	18	(0)
1981–1982	Wimbledon	9	(2)
Total		532	(30)
International career
1976-1977	England	5	(0)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Dave Clement (2 February 1948 – 31 March 1982) was a football player. Clement was a right fullback who developed with Queens Park Rangers through the club's youth set-up. He signed professional terms in 1965 and made his first team debut in the 1966-67 season, which was memorable for QPR in that they won the Football League Third Division championship by twelve points and also became the first Third Division side to win a major trophy – the League Cup, beating first division side West Bromwich Albion 3–2 in the first ever final at Wembley Stadium.

The following season, Clement was a regular member of the side, making 34 appearances in another promotion season for QPR. He possessed great stamina and was strong in the tackle but his distribution for a defender was also excellent, as was his ability to come forward at speed to both create and score goals. Over the coming seasons he became a fixture in the team, missing only six league games from the 1970/71 to 1973/74 seasons.

He made his England debut in 1976, and won five caps in total.

In June 1979 he transferred to Bolton Wanderers. After playing 33 league games for them he joined Fulham in October 1980.

He died in March 1982 at the age of 34. Suffering from depression, he committed suicide by poisoning himself with weedkiller.

His son, Neil Clement, who was only three years old at the time, also became a professional footballer and spent the majority of his career playing for West Bromwich Albion. His elder son Paul became a football coach.