Welcome to the Yellows, Peter Clarke

Warrington Town can confirm the signing of vastly experienced Football League defender Peter Clarke ahead of the new season.

Clarke has made more than 900 appearances as a professional, including nine in the Premier League with Everton.

Last season he played in League Two with Walsall, as well as having a spell on loan in the National League at Oldham.

In 2021/22, he was named in the EFL League Two Team of the Season at the age of 40.

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Coming through the youth ranks at Everton, Clarke made eight appearances for England Under 21s and had loan spells at Blackpool, Port Vale and Coventry City.

His other former clubs include Huddersfield Town, Tranmere Rovers, Fleetwood Town and Bury.

Clarke said: “I’m looking forward to it – any new challenge is always good. I’ve played in games here and I’m aware of the recent history.

“The club and team have been close but have finally got over the line now which is fantastic. It’s new beginnings and a new era for everyone involved, so it’s going to be exciting times.

“As a new player coming in, it’s an exciting time to be coming on board.

“There’s a lot of new things going on with the club and as a group of players, we want to maintain what has gone before and improve upon it.”

Clarke becomes the third new signing of the summer, following the arrivals of attacking midfielder Matty Grivosti and goalkeeper Dan Atherton, who both returned to the club after a season away elsewhere.

There is now just a week to go until the start of the National League North season, with the Yellows travelling to Southport on August 5.

Yellows manager Mark Beesley added: “It’s testament to where the club is at to attract a signing of Peter’s calibre. We’ve built the club up steadily and us moving up a level has been the catalyst for us being able to bring Peter in.

“What he’ll give us in terms of his experience and leadership will be invaluable, but he’s just a quality player aside from that. I’ve known him a long time and it’s something we’ve been working on throughout the summer.

“He’s had that drive in him since he was a kid – you don’t play professionally for as long as he has if you don’t have that. Our kids are the same age, so we had some initial conversations while watching our kids play in tournaments.

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“He’s fit and strong so he probably would still be playing professionally, but he got the opportunity of a job within the PFA (Professional Footballer’s Association) that he couldn’t turn down. We’ve been the beneficiaries of that – he’s listened to everything we’ve had to say and he’s looking forward to it.

“It’s important we have competition for places, and we had it all over the pitch with the possible exception of centre-back. It’s something we were looking at throughout last season – nothing materialised but we got lucky with Evan and Tom being fit pretty much all season.

“With us stepping up a league, we needed that extra bit of quality and now we have three excellent centre-halves. There may be games where we play with a three at the back – it’s something we spoke about last summer and it’s definitely in our minds now.”

Clarke’s signing has been confirmed ahead of the club’s official Season Launch event on Wednesday 2 August at the Village Hotel.