Clarke James Carlisle is an English former professional footballer who played as a defender and was chairman of the Professional Footballers' Association. Born in Preston, he began playing football at a young age, taking inspiration from his father who played semi-professionally. Carlisle represented his home county of Lancashire at youth level. The start of his professional career was his Football League debut for Blackpool in September 1997. He moved to Queens Park Rangers in May 2000. In the same year, Carlisle won three caps for the England under-21 national team. He missed a number of games for Queens Park Rangers due to a cruciate ligament injury which at one stage led doctors to believe that his career was over. He then missed one month of the 2003?04 season because of an alcohol-related problem, and left Queens Park Rangers at the end of that season. In the summer of 2004, he joined Leeds United on a free transfer. Carlisle spent just one season with Leeds United before signing for Championship side Watford in August 2005. In the 2005?06 season, his first with Watford, the team finished third in the division and achieved promotion to the Premier League via the play-offs. 

October 14th, 1979 in Preston (Age 45)