[2] Born in Skegness, Lincolnshire, Clemence played eight matches on trial for Notts County, but was ultimately not signed by the Meadow Lane club.

[11] He was spotted by Scunthorpe United whilst playing in a county-cup final at their Old Showground ground for his local youth club Skegness Cosmos.

Prior to this debut, Clemence remembers a key behind-the-scenes intervention from two Scunthorpe coaches: "Jack Brownsword and Alan Bushby pulled me aside, gave me a pep talk and told me they thought I could play for England one day but 'you've got to work at it'".

[14] Clemence went on to make four appearances in total throughout his debut season,[15] including earning his first professional clean sheet in a 1–0 victory away at Southend United.

[18] After being reintroduced to the side after they had lost their opening three games in all competitions,[15] Clemence became Scunthorpe's undisputed first-choice goalkeeper in their following 1966–67 Third Division campaign,[15] in which they finished a disappointing 18th.

[19] After manager and ex-Busby Babe Freddie Goodwin departed mid-season for the New York Generals in the nascent North American Soccer League, Clemence spent the latter half of his season under the guidance of caretaker player-manager Keith Burkinshaw, who would later also sign the player for Tottenham Hotspur.

[15] This run took Clemence's figures to 50 appearances and 12 clean sheets in all competitions for Scunthorpe;[16] but unbeknownst to him, he had been scouted in 12 games by legendary Liverpool manager Bill Shankly and his coaching staff.

[21] This came to fruition later that summer, when Clemence was forced to leave a beachside deckchair-stacking shift early, with the news that an urgent telegram awaited him at home.

[22][23] He made his debut and kept his first clean sheet in a League Cup third round tie at Anfield on 25 September 1968,[24][25][26] Swansea Town were the visitors and were beaten 2–0.

The emergence of Bruce Grobbelaar put Clemence's place in the side under threat for the first time in eleven years (during which period he played in more than 650 matches and missed a mere six), and he decided to leave Liverpool to join Tottenham Hotspur for a fee of £300,000.

Clemence's first Tottenham appearance was in the 1981 FA Charity Shield against Aston Villa at Wembley on 22 August 1981, where Mark Falco and Peter Withe each scored twice in an entertaining 2–2 draw.

Clemence missed the final against Anderlecht through injury, but was on the bench as substitute goalkeeper in a match famously won when Tony Parks saved twice during the penalty shootout.

Clemence was a regular for England between 1972 and 1983, making his debut and keeping his first clean-sheet in the 1–0 World Cup qualifier win over Wales at Ninian Park on 15 November 1972.

[33] Clemence retired in 1988 and joined the coaching staff at Tottenham, working his way through to the first team, before leaving to become joint manager of Barnet (with fellow goalkeeper Gary Phillips) in January 1994.

He remained in that position under Steve McClaren, until he was replaced by Italian Franco Tancredi as goalkeeping coach in December 2007, as Fabio Capello took charge of the national team.

Clemence's daughter Sarah also has footballing connections, being the wife of former Crystal Palace and Nottingham Forest manager and Scotland striker Dougie Freedman.

[36][37] In February 2005, Clemence announced that he had been diagnosed with prostate cancer and that he would spend time away from the England squad whilst he received treatment.