is he son of graeme clinton who opened for surrey in 80s

Hope so, it will be nice to see Ryan finish his career off well for Yorkshire.

Wonder if we'll be reduced to "Third choice Tino" standards again, or if we can find someone who isn't either injured or needed for international duty?

There's so much international cricket played these days it's hard for any county to get a decent overseas player,and if they do the can only stay for a few weeks.Much better years ago when the likes of Lancs had a player of the calibre of Wasim Akram for the whole season.

I think the best bet for an overseas player these days is the likes of Chris Rogers. Someone who isn't going to get selected for their country so you get them all season but who is bringing undoubted quality into the squad.
I'd much rather have one lesser/less stellar player in for the full season than 2 or 3 bit-part players for chunks of the season.

Having said that, South Africa have a fairly light summer next year so maybe Lancs should look at getting Ashwell Prince in for a full season?

IIRC originally Yorkshire had Ryan Harris lined up, who would have been a cracking signing.

He then broke into the Australian side prior to the series against Pakistan this summer and was supposed to be replaced by Daryl Tuffey.

Tuffey then broke his hand ruling him out of the start of the season, so Yorkshire went further into the bargain bin and dredged up probably the least effective overseas signing they've had for quite some time.

He was getting consistently outbowled by every other seamer, even kids like Hannon-Dalby.