Clements came through as a centre half initially but was our regular right back for about two years in the seasons we finished second and fourth under Tony Book in the late seventies. Right back had been a problem for us ever since Book himself had retired. First Glyn Pardoe got a crack at the position but was clearly not the same player after his broken leg caused by George Best's tackle. After that, we bought Geoff Hammond then Mick Docherty to fill the position but neither was a success.
I always felt that Clements was a slight weak link in that late seventies side, though it may simply have been down to the fact that I was only a kid without much understanding of the game. He was one of only a few players we had around that time who wasn't an international, which perhaps coloured my view of him. In retrospect, though, he couldn't have been a mug if he managed to be a first choice in that team of Book's, because it was a very good side.
Anyway, he broke his leg against Ipswich and when he got back to fitness, he couldn't get the shirt back off Ray Ranson so left for Oldham. I remember Joe Royle in his early days at Oldham used to eulogise about Clements in the Pink Final and on local radio.
When he was brought back, it was in a cut price deal but he had a couple of good seasons forming a decent partnership with Mick McCarthy. The small fee Billy McNeill paid was a bargain, actually. However, without wanting to be uncharitable, maybe the fact that Clements was one of our more unheralded players in his first spell and one of our better ones in his second shows how we'd declined in the meantime.
Still, not a bad player and a "good servant" to the club, as the cliche goes. I wish him well.
