by Lee Clark’s move from his beloved Newcastle United to Sunderland took a while, as well as several bottles of champagne and long-term magic from manager Peter Reid.
But after two successful years at the Stadium of Light, it took the midfielder “less than a minute” to become one of the most divisive figures in the club’s history.
This is the story of a player who briefly approached the Tyne-Wear Derby split in an era when the toxicity between the two North East clubs was at its highest. Who managed to ruin it all in a moment of rage during a drunken evening in London.
As a Geordie who “lived the dream” of playing for Kevin Keegan, he rose from the youth team to play a key role in Newcastle’s narrowly missed promotion to the Premier League in 1993. they the title only three years. after that, Clark was about as black and white as they come.
He was on the scene when Keegan changed the club as a player between 1982-84 and shed tears of youth devastation when he left. To then play for his hero at St James’ Park, Clark did something every Geordie would love to do.
“It was the dream, it really was playing for Newcastle,” said Clark, who will return from holiday in time to watch his two former clubs renew one of British football’s fiercest rivals. in the third round of the FA Cup this weekend.
“Every day, it was special for me. To play not only for my club, but to be part of an era that is still classified as one of the most successful clubs. It was a great time.
“But as a local boy who has come through the system, it’s difficult when you see the manager bringing in players from all over the world, signed to replace them. That’s how it feels anyway. They’re coming in, but they don’t care about the club as much as you do, that sort of thing.
“But that’s football, you understand it as you get older. I was also the manager, so I know Kevin wanted to improve the squad.”
When Keegan arrived in February 1992, a managerial appointment that rocked the football world, he identified a group of local boys who would go on to form the core of the squad during a remarkable four-year spell. Clark was one, alongside the two Steves, Howey and Watson.
“Kevin immediately cheered me up,” Clark remembers. “He respected my work ethic. We were similar personalities, we both wear our hearts on our sleeves. We were very close. I loved him.
“Also because I was in the stands as a fan and saw what he had done for the club as a player as well. I was there for almost every game in 1982, the promotion season. I cried my heart out when he left in his helicopter after his last game, I thought the club was finished. So when he came back, completely out of the blue as manager, it was a huge moment. He is a very special man in the history of Newcastle United to pull the club up as a player and do it again as a manager.
However, all good things come to an end. As Newcastle tried to win the Premier League, they spent big. Clark was little more than a squad player by the time Manchester United won the title in 1996.
“It was really my decision to leave,” Clark explained. “I wasn’t playing regularly and I had to make the decision.
“I spoke to seven or eight different clubs and the last one was Peter Reid and Sunderland. I only went out of courtesy really. I liked Peter. He was a very charismatic man, very similar to Kevin in many ways. I didn’t think I was going to sign for Sunderland when I met him.
“I think he pissed me off, I was hesitant at first, but three bottles of champagne later I changed my mind.
“He told me how he was a Liverpool fan and played for Everton all those years. It was persuasive, let’s put it that way. I was still a really young lad, with a young family and being able to stay in the North East was a big part of me.
“I know a lot has been said about the way it ended, but I really enjoyed my two years at Sunderland. I loved playing for Reidy too, he did not disappoint. It was a great two years.
“There were a lot of positives. I like to think I was popular, I played good football. We lost in the play-off against Charlton in my first season. I broke my leg at the start of the second, but came back and we won promotion with more than 100 points.
“My focus was fine when I was there. They knew I was a huge Newcastle fan, there was no point trying to hide that. I knew I had to step up and perform for her, which I did.
“When I played for Sunderland I was a Sunderland player and I did my best. I like to think that I did well enough to deserve their respect during those two years…”
If he did, he lost it for the night. As Newcastle played Manchester United in the 1999 FA Cup final, Clark went to London as a fan. The drink was drunk but when someone put a T-shirt over his head and wore it, referring to Sunderland by their disparaging nickname “Sad Mackem B——-“, there was no turning back. . Even in an era before camera phones, plenty of people managed to get a picture.
“The issue was when Sunderland got promoted back to the Premier League I knew I would have to play against Newcastle,” admits Clark.
“That changes things, creates a dilemma. When I was thinking about playing for Sunderland against Newcastle, I didn’t think I could do that and be as focused as I should be. I didn’t think that was fair to anyone.
“I spoke to Reidy about it to explain things, but basically he told me not to worry and that I’m a Sunderland player next season. Then came the unfortunate incident that made it impossible for me to stay.”
So, was it all part of a deliberate ploy to move him? “No, I know people have said it and yes, I told Reidy I was concerned about the conflict of interest a few weeks before, but the T-shirt wasn’t intended.
“I didn’t do it to force a move. I was so stupid looking back but, as I said, I always tried to go to Newcastle’s big games and I went with some friends to the FA Cup final.
“People think I was walking around London that day with the T-shirt on. I was not. I got out of a cab near Vicar Street, where the Newcastle fans were based. The T-shirt gets whipped over my head…it was only for a few seconds, honestly. Camera phones weren’t even around in those days but some people got pictures of it. My friends were like, ‘that could be a bit of trouble for you then Lee…’ Yeah, you think so!”
Clark knew what was coming and when the pictures were sold to a national newspaper, the storm came to an end.
“I had to go and see Bob Murray, the chairman, because Peter was away on holiday,” Clark continued. “But it was pretty clear that I couldn’t represent the club anymore. We accepted that, it was over.
“Reidy was furious, there were more than a few expletives. I want to let it down badly. I knew it at the time. That hurt me, but when I became a manager I looked back on that incident with even more shame.
“He saw me as a key player. It’s hard enough to be a manager without players doing what I did for him. And we also bloody lost the cup final so it wasn’t a great day.
“The Sunderland fans were furious, as you would expect. I don’t think they have ever forgiven me.
“The pre-season was a bit uncomfortable to say the least. I think I did about a week. Reidy called a meeting and the lads knew I had made a mistake, which made it a bit of a mess, but they were fine. Peter, by then… was fine with it. I joined Fulham a few weeks later.”
Clark was neither the first nor the last player to play for both clubs, but he was the only one left standing. The fact that Newcastle fans still find it very funny adds a lot to the relationship between the two clubs.
