Player #819 for Aston Villa, Ciaran Clark played as a centre back for the club between 2009-10 and 2015-16 making 163 appearances and scoring 10 goals.

Clark was born in Harrow, London on 26 September 1989 having been promoted from the Youth Team under Martin O’Neill.

O’Neill named Clark in four consecutive squads at the tail end of the 2008-09 campaign before handing Clark his debut appearance for Villa on Sunday, 30 August 2009 aged 19 in the Premier League win over Fulham.

That however would prove to be Clark’s only start of the 2009-10 season and he would feature only once more - as an 86’ substitute for Ashley Young in the FA Cup 4th Round win over Brighton & Hove Albion on Saturday, 23 January 2010.

Following O’Neill’s departure on the eve of the 2010-11 season Gérard Houllier eventually arrived as his replacement in late September however before that caretaker Kevin MacDonald had handed Clark two consecutive league starts in the first games of the season as Villa beat West Ham United 3-0 and went on to lose 0-6 to Newcastle United.

They would prove to be Clark’s only league appearances until Houllier’s fourth game in charge on Saturday, 16 October 2010 with Clark an early substitute for the injured Richard Dunne in Villa’s 0-0 draw with Chelsea.

That would trigger Clark’s longest run in the side to date as Houllier handed him 20 appearances in 25 games including 19 starts.

Villa and Houllier however were struggling conspicuously and from mid-March 2011 Clark was out of the team and an unused substitute. With Gary McAllister installed as caretaker following Houllier’s April exit, Clark remained out of the line up to the end of the campaign with uncertainty over his and Villa’s long term future.

Alex McLeish was appointed as Houllier’s replacement for the 2011-12 campaign and Villa’s new boss retained Clark in his matchday squads but used the defensive youngster mostly as a substitute with just one start - in the League Cup - through to October 2011.

A change in formation from McLeish in mid December 2011 led Villa to play centre backs Carlos Cuéllar, Richard Dunne, James Collins and Clark in the same team together with full backs Stephen Warnock and Alan Hutton.

That overtly defensive set up may have been challenging to watch and less than effective at picking up wins but it did afford Clark the opportunity of his longest run in the team - 10 consecutive starts - until injury ruled him out for 8 games.

McLeish recalled Clark on his recovery and handed the youngster a further 4 starts to help him register 20 appearances in a difficult season.

2012-13 saw another managerial change with Paul Lambert arriving with a large axe, removing experience from the squad - whether sold or banished - and preferring the recruitment of and playing lower league players.

As a result Collins, Warnock, Hutton and Dunne were gone, injured or ostracised and that opened the door for Clark to cement his place in the first team.

36 appearances under Lambert followed which meant 2012-13 was Clark’s highest profile season to date but the campaign was often an unhappy one.

Aside from Christian Benteke’s relegation saving goals, Villa suffered throughout and recorded their worst ever defeat in all competitions - a 0-8 loss to Chelsea on Sunday, 23 December 2012 with Clark a fixture in a porous back line.

Another managerial change was widely expected for 2013-14 but Lambert remained in post and the season, if anything, proved to be worse that 2012-13 just without a record defeat.

Clark was used by Lambert more sparingly at the start of the campaign and wouldn’t make consecutive league appearances until late September.

It would be November 2013 before Clark got a run of games in the side with 15 starts in 16 games before Lambert relegated him to the bench - making just 4 starts in the final 13 matches of another poor campaign.

Once again Lambert retained his position for 2014-15 and once again Clark found himself sparingly used by the out of depth Villa boss before once again from November he was afforded a run of 24 starts in 26 games.

By the end of that run the bewildering regime of Lambert was over and Tim Sherwood installed as interim manager with a more expansive, attacking approach to the game.

Clark played 9 times under Sherwood as part of that run before injury on the eve of Villa’s FA Cup semi final win over Liverpool at Wembley ruled Clark out for the remainder fo the season.

2015-16 saw Sherwood appointed permanent boss as Villa overhauled the squad with overseas talent and the weak squad saw Sherwood gone in 12 games as Villa looked odds on for relegation from very early in the campaign.

For his part Clark started the season in the team before losing his place through form and injury. It would be caretaker boss Kevin MacDonald who recalled Clark to the starting line up in October ahead of the appointment of Rémi Garde.

Garde would initially start Clark but soon relegated him to the bench with just 7 starts coming in 20 matches under the hapless Villa boss.

Garde would resign with Villa all but relegated in March 2016 and caretaker Eric Black would recall Clark to the starting line up as Villa set records of failure across the board.

Clark made a final four appearances under Black as Villa left the Premier League with a whimper and strong whiff of incompetence.

Clark had made 23 appearances during 2015-16 as Villa lost 29 of their 44 games conceding nearly 2 goals a game.

It came as a surprise therefore that Clark earned himself a move to fellow relegated side Newcastle United for £5,400,000 in August 2016 aged 26.