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Scottish footballer
the Scottish law lord

John Wark (born 4 August 1957) is a Scottish former footballer who spent most of his playing time with Ipswich Town. He won a record four Player of the Year awards before becoming one of the four inaugural members of the club's Hall of Fame. Wark had long spells at the club, which bookended his career, and a third, brief interlude dividing his briefer periods at Liverpool and Middlesbrough. A versatile player, Wark played most of his professional games as a midfielder, although he sometimes played as a central defender and on occasion as a striker. Born in Glasgow, Wark represented Scotland in international football, winning 29 caps and scoring seven goals. This included selection for Scotland in the 1982 FIFA World Cup in which he made three appearances and scored twice. During his playing career, Wark appeared in the film Escape to Victory. Since retiring as a professional player in 1996, he has continued to work for Ipswich Town—since September 2008 in the corporate hospitality department. His autobiography, Wark On, was published in 2009.

Wark was born on 4 August 1957, in Glasgow Royal Maternity Hospital to parents Alex and Helen. The third of four children, he has an older sister Wilma, older brother Alex and younger brother Andrew. The family lived in a four storey tenement block in Partick. The family was impoverished: Wark's parents could not afford a cot and as a small child, he slept in a drawer from a sideboard. Although christened John, Wark was soon referred to by his family as Johnny, a diminutive that stuck throughout his footballing career. In the early 1960s, the family moved to another tenement block, this time in Scotstoun, and Wark's father secured employment at nearby Albion Motors. The new home accommodated a back yard in which Wark played football from the age of six. He said "[f]ootball seemed to occupy 99 per cent of my time as a youngster" as he tried to emulate his brother Alex, who had become a professional at St Mirren. Wark attended Scotstoun Primary School, where he became captain of the football team. On moving to secondary school, he was selected for the Glasgow Schools representative team. He also played for Drumchapel Amateurs at the under 14 level, where he was, for a period, managed by David Moyes' father, also named David. During Wark's time at Drumchapel, he attracted the attention of Celtic. He trained with the club at their Parkhead ground, before receiving an invitation to sign schoolboy forms for the club. As a lifelong Rangers fan with whom Celtic have a notable rivalry and with interest from "several English clubs", including Bristol City, Manchester City and Ipswich Town, Wark stalled on the offer. He trialled with both Ipswich Town and Manchester City, and selected Ipswich when the latter remained non committal. On arrival at Portman Road, Town manager Bobby Robson, later described by Wark as the person in football "who had the single biggest influence on [him]", personally welcomed him and Wark signed with the club as an apprentice.

Wark signed for Middlesbrough, the first club to show "a definite interest" in him, on a two year contract, moving back to play in the centre of defence. He made regular appearances and helped the team to seventh place by the end of the season and qualification for the Second Division play offs. Following a 1–1 draw with Notts County at Ayresome Park, Wark was informed by manager Colin Todd that he would not be selected for the second leg. Wark was outraged; Middlesbrough lost the second leg 1–0. Todd departed from the club and was replaced by Lennie Lawrence, who insisted that all players live "within an hour of Ayresome Park". Wark was still living in Ipswich at the time and following a "sensible agreement" with Lawrence, Wark's contract was terminated and he became a free agent again.

Remaining without a club before the start of the 1991–92 season, Wark trained with Ipswich to keep fit, and rejected interest in his services from Leyton Orient, Colchester United and Falkirk. When Ipswich suffered a succession of injuries among their defenders, they offered him a contract, initially on a week by week basis, before securing a year long deal. In the FA Cup, Ipswich progressed to a fifth round encounter against Liverpool; when the tie went to a replay at Anfield, Wark received a standing ovation from both sets of fans. Ipswich lost the match 3–2 after extra time, having led 2–1 in the first period. Ipswich went on to finish strongly in their league campaign and were crowned Second Division champions and promoted into the newly formed Premier League. Wark ended the season as the club's Player of the Year for the third time. Ipswich went fourth in February and there was talk of finally winning that title that had eluded them more than once during Wark's first spell there, but 13 consecutive games without a win resulted a 16th place finish in the table, just three points above the relegation zone, and only a win on the final day of the season made sure of their survival. Wark, now aged 37, secured yet another one year contract shortly before the end of the 1993–94 season. Ipswich were saved from relegation in the last round of matches (for the second season running, another good start had given way to a late season slump), courtesy of an injury time winning goal scored by Mark Stein of Chelsea at Stamford Bridge, which ensured that Ipswich's fellow strugglers Sheffield United went down. Wark went on to be voted the club's Player of the Year for a record fourth time. Wark made fewer than 20 appearances in the following season, primarily because of a persistent foot injury. eventually winning 29 caps for Scotland and scoring seven goals. Wark scored his first international goal a week later on 26 May, again in a British Home Championship game, this time against England at Wembley. Wark's opening effort was not enough, as Scotland were defeated 3–1. A week later Wark played for Scotland in a friendly against Argentina at Hampden Park. However, the game is best remembered for Diego Maradona scoring his first international goal in helping Argentina to a comfortable 3–1 win. After a 3–1 home defeat by Belgium in December 1979, Wark was not selected again for his country until February 1981 for the 1982 World Cup qualifying match away against Israel. Wark was included in the Scotland squad that went to the World Cup in Spain under Stein's leadership. Wark played three games and scored two goals, both of which were in Scotland's 5 2 opening match victory over New Zealand. Scotland were knocked out in the group stage. Wark's final appearance for Scotland came in September 1984, under Stein; he was replaced in favour of Paul McStay at halftime in a 6–1 victory over Yugoslavia. with whom he has a son, Andrew, born in June 1983.

In 1981, Wark was one of several Ipswich players who appeared alongside stars including Bobby Moore and Pelé in the Second World War football film Escape to Victory, which starred Sylvester Stallone, Michael Caine and Max von Sydow. Wark played a character called Arthur Hayes, but his only line of dialogue was dubbed due to his broad Glaswegian accent. Despite his retirement from the professional ranks, Wark continued playing football as an amateur, and signed for Woodbridge Town in 1999 alongside former Ipswich team mate Paul Mason. He also played veterans football for Windsor and Eton, and has represented the Liverpool veterans in the Sky Sports Masters series. In 2005, Wark was voted as the BBC television programme Football Focus "all time cult hero" by Ipswich Town fans. In 2008 Radio Suffolk announced that he would join their commentary team as a summariser, alongside former team mates Kevin Beattie and Bryan Hamilton. Wark was working in the corporate hospitality department at Ipswich Town in September 2008. As of March 2014, he remains in that job.

Wark's autobiography Wark On was published on 9 April 2009. The book contained material that gained media interest. Wark sold his [FA Cup Final] tickets for cash to a ticket tout.

Wark played as a central defender, midfielder and, occasionally, as a striker. Wark was not a "supremely talented" player, but, according to football journalist Jim White, one who espoused team work and team spirit: "There is no question that the 'one for all, all for one' mentality generated in the Anfield dressing room was the engine that drove the great team. With players such as Alan Kennedy, John Wark, Sammy Lee and Craig Johnston, nobody could claim this was a collection of top notch operators in the manner, say, of the current Real Madrid. Every week, they played as an entity greater than the sum of its parts." He has been described as "a defensive midfielder with an astonishing goalscoring record". Over the years, Wark has become closely associated with his moustache. Owen Slot described the player as "Ipswich's immortal moustache", while Wark himself notes "  it is something of a trademark, even if people are always calling me Bruce "

+ Appearances and goals by club, season and competitionNo. DateVenueOpponentScoreResultCompetition1 26 May 1979 Wembley Stadium, London, England 1–0 1–3 1978–79 British Home Championship2 25 March 1981 Hampden Park, Glasgow, Scotland 1–1 1–1 1982 FIFA World Cup qualification3 28 April 1982 Windsor Park, Belfast, Northern Ireland 1–0 1–1 1981–82 British Home Championship4 15 June 1982 Estadio La Rosaleda, Málaga, Spain 2–0 5–2 1982 FIFA World Cup5 3–06 13 October 1982 Hampden Park, Glasgow, Scotland 1–0 2–0 UEFA Euro 1984 qualification7 30 March 1983 Hampden Park, Glasgow, Scotland 1–2 2–2 UEFA Euro 1984 qualification