| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | David Thomas Clement | ||
| Date of birth | 2 February 1948 | ||
| Place of birth | Battersea, England | ||
| Date of death | 31 March 1982 (aged 34) | ||
| Place of death | England | ||
| Playing position | 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) | |
| National team | |||
| 1976-1977 | England | 5 | (0) |
| * Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. † Appearances (Goals). |
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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. Over the coming seasons he became a fixture in the team, missing only six league games from the 1970/71 to 1973/74 seasons.
By the 1975/76 season, Clement was an integral part of an exciting, attacking QPR team with stars such as Stan Bowles and Gerry Francis. QPR finished the season just one point shy of eventual champions Liverpool. It was during this season that Clement received international recognition, ten years after playing for the England Youth team. He made his full international debut against Wales in March 1976, coming on as a substitute at half-time in a game England won 2–1. He made four more appearances over the next year.[1]
In 1979, after fourteen years at the club and with QPR now relegated to the Second Division, Clement was sold to Bolton Wanderers for £170,000. He had made 472 appearances in all competitions for QPR, and scored 28 goals. He subsequently went on to play for Wimbledon and Fulham before his death in 1982, aged 34. Suffering from depression after badly breaking his leg, and believing his career was finished, 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.