Lee Robert Clark (born 27 October 1972) is an English football manager and former professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

, who was most recently the manager of Al-Merrikh in the

Sudan Premier League Sudan Premier League ( ar, الدوري السوداني الممتاز) is the top division of the Sudan Football Association, it was created in 1965. It starts on August 1 and ends May 31. Sudan Premier League Clubs 2022-23 Championship hist ...

. As a player, he was a midfielder and played in the Premier League for

Newcastle United Newcastle United Football Club is an English professional football club, based in Newcastle upon Tyne, that plays in the Premier League – the top flight of English football. The club was founded in 1892 by the merger of Newcastle East End ...

Sunderland Sunderland () is a port city in Tyne and Wear, England. It is the City of Sunderland's administrative centre and in the Historic counties of England, historic county of County of Durham, Durham. The city is from Newcastle-upon-Tyne and is on t ...

and

Fulham Fulham () is an area of the London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham in West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It lies on the north bank of the River Thames, bordering Hammersmith, Kensington and Chelsea. The area faces Wandsworth ...

. He won promotion to the top flight with all three clubs he played for, winning out right the

Football League First Division The Football League First Division was a division of the Football League in England from 1888 until 2004. It was the top division in the English football league system from the season 1888–89 until 1991–92, a century in which the First ...

title in 1993, 1999 and 2001. He was also part of the Magpies squad under Kevin Keegan that finished runners-up in the top flight in consecutive seasons. He was capped 11 times by the England under-21 team and was called up to the full England squad for the World Cup warm up tournament the

1997 Tournoi de France The 1997 Tournoi de France (; French, 'Tournament of France'), often referred to as Le Tournoi, was an international football tournament held in France in early June 1997 as a warm-up to the 1998 FIFA World Cup. The four national teams participati ...

, but he was only named a substitute and never went on to earn a full international cap. Following his retirement from playing in 2006, he later returned to Newcastle as reserve team manager, before becoming a first team coach at Norwich City. He later became first team manager at Huddersfield Town and had similar spells in charge of Birmingham City,

Blackpool Blackpool is a seaside resort in Lancashire, England. Located on the North West England, northwest coast of England, it is the main settlement within the Borough of Blackpool, borough also called Blackpool. The town is by the Irish Sea, betw ...

Kilmarnock Kilmarnock (, sco, Kilmaurnock; gd, Cill Mheàrnaig (IPA: ʰʲɪʎˈveaːɾnəkʲ, "Marnock's church") is a large town and former burgh in East Ayrshire, Scotland and is the administrative centre of East Ayrshire, East Ayrshire Council. ...

Bury Bury may refer to: *The burial of human remains *-bury, a suffix in English placenames Places England * Bury, Cambridgeshire, a village * Bury, Greater Manchester, a town, historically in Lancashire ** Bury (UK Parliament constituency) (1832–19 ...

and Blyth Spartans. In 2020 he joined non-league side

Newcastle Blue Star Newcastle Blue Star F.C. is a football club based in Newcastle upon Tyne, England. It was established in 1930 and joined the Wearside League in 1973. In 1978, it won the FA Vase. Having won promotion to the Northern Premier League Premier Divi ...

as director of football, before moving to

Sudan Sudan ( or ; ar, السودان, as-Sūdān, officially the Republic of the Sudan ( ar, جمهورية السودان, link=no, Jumhūriyyat as-Sūdān), is a country in Northeast Africa. It shares borders with the Central African Republic t ...

to manage Al-Merrikh.

Club career

Newcastle United

Born in Wallsend, Northumberland, Clark started his career at the club he supported as a boy,

coming up through the youth system at the club. In 1993, he was part of the Newcastle side promoted to the Premier League as champions and then helped them finish runners-up two seasons in a row. During the 1995-96 Premier League season Newcastle United were pipped to the title by

Manchester United Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of City of Salford, Salford to ...

. After a game where Newcastle United drew 3–3 away at Manchester City, Newcastle United purchased defensive midfielder David Batty to shore up the team defensively and Clark, more of an attacking midfielder, lost his place in the side. Clark reasons that this was a mistake that hurt the team dynamic that was working, and that this decision may have cost Newcastle United the title. To back up his claim, Clark cited and compared the form of Newcastle United from January 1996 until he was dropped for defensive midfielder Batty; against the form of Newcastle United in the remaining 11 games when Clark was absent. Clark made nearly 200 appearances scoring 23 goals for Newcastle in his first spell at the club.

Sunderland

Clark moved to Newcastle's local rivals, First Division club

, in 1997, and was part of the side promoted to the Premier League in 1999 as champions with a (then) professional league record of 105 points. A year earlier, he had been a key player in the side that reached the First Division play-off final, only to suffer a penalty shoot-out defeat to Charlton Athletic after a 4–4 draw at Wembley. However, at the

1999 FA Cup Final The 1999 FA Cup Final was an association football match that took place on 22 May 1999 at the old Wembley Stadium in London to determine the winner of the 1998–99 FA Cup. It was contested between Manchester United and Newcastle United. Goals ...

he was spotted with the Newcastle fans wearing a T-shirt with the slogan "Sad Mackem Bastards". He was immediately dropped from the team, and never played for Sunderland again.

Fulham

Clark moved to

in 1999. He collected another Division One title medal with in

2001 The September 11 attacks against the United States by Al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror, were a defining event of 2001. The United States led a Participants in ...

, enabling him to experience Premier League football for the first time since the 1996–97 season. In 2004, he helped Fulham secure what was, at the time, their highest final position – ninth in the top flight. During that season he opened the scoring as Fulham beat

3–1 at

Old Trafford Old Trafford () is a football stadium in Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, England, and the home of Manchester United. With a capacity of 74,310 it is the largest club football stadium (and second-largest football stadium overall after Wemb ...

in October 2003. Clark left Fulham in 2005 to return to former club Newcastle United, after making 149 league appearances and scoring 20 goals for the West London club.

Return to Newcastle

Clark was allowed to leave Fulham after his contract expired in the summer of 2005 despite being club captain during the 2004–05 season. At the time of his departure, he was Fulham's longest-serving player. He subsequently returned to Newcastle, coaching and playing on a month-by-month contract. Clark scored one goal for Newcastle in the 2005–06 season, an equaliser in a 2–2 draw with Middlesbrough. He played his final professional game on 7 May 2006, coming on as a substitute at home to Chelsea. In total he played 265 times for Newcastle, scoring 28 goals.

International career

Clark scored a hat-trick for England schoolboys at Wembley Stadium in 1988 in a 4–1 win for England. He represented England at international level playing for the England under-21s, making 11 appearances between 1992 and 1993 during his time playing for Newcastle. In 1997, he was a member of England's squad for Le Tournoi de France but did not play.

Coaching career

On 1 June 2006, the newly appointed Newcastle manager Glenn Roeder installed Clark as a first team coach and reserve team manager following Tommy Craig's departure while Clark was still playing for Newcastle. He remained as first team coach and as reserve team manager after retiring in 2007 until Roeder parted company with the club and Clark followed shortly afterwards in November. In November 2007, Clark left his post at Newcastle to become assistant manager to Roeder at Championship club Norwich City. Clark joined

in July 2020 as director of football to temporarily oversee the youth section of the football club.

Managerial career

Huddersfield Town

After League One club Huddersfield Town had dismissed manager

Stan Ternent Francis Stanley Ternent (born 16 June 1946) is an English former footballer and manager. He managed Blackpool, Hull City, Bury, Burnley, Gillingham and Huddersfield Town. He was a scout for Hull City until January 2017. As a manager, he won thre ...

on 4 November 2008, The Terriers were reported to be interested in then Norwich assistant manager Clark. On 12 December 2008, Clark was officially unveiled as the new manager of Huddersfield, signing a three-and-a-half-year contract. Clark replaced Gerry Murphy, who had been caretaker manager for the League One side following the departure of Ternent. The first move made by Clark was to appoint

Terry McDermott Terence McDermott (born 8 December 1951) is an English former football midfielder who was a member of the Liverpool team of the 1970s and early 1980s, in which he won three European Cups and five First Division titles. He was capped 25 times ...

as his assistant as well as bringing in

Derek Fazackerley Derek William Fazackerley (born 5 November 1951) is an English former footballer who is currently employed as the assistant manager at Oxford United, and managed the club on a caretaker basis for two months in 2018. He spent the majority of his ...

in as first team coach and Steve Black as performance coach, all of whom had previously worked with Newcastle United. Clark officially took over on 15 December; his first game in charge of the club was a 2–0 win over

Hereford United Hereford United Football Club was an association football club based in Hereford, England. They played at Edgar Street for their entire history. They were nicknamed 'The Whites' or 'The Lilywhites', after their predominantly white kit, or 'The ...

on 20 December. In his first season at the club he helped them to a ninth-placed finish in League One. They also only lost two home league games under Clark in the 2008–09 season. In his second season in charge, Clark helped Huddersfield to secure a play-off spot and became the first manager to win three Manager of the Month awards in a single season since Roberto Martínez in 2007–08. Huddersfield were defeated by Millwall in the 2009–10 play-off semi-final. In the 2010–11 season, Clark guided Huddersfield to a third-placed finish in the league, earning them a place in the play-offs after a club-record 25-game unbeaten run in the league. They reached the final after beating

AFC Bournemouth AFC Bournemouth () is a professional association football club based in Kings Park, Boscombe, a suburb of Bournemouth, Dorset, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the highest division of English club football. Formed in 1899 as B ...

4–2 on penalties, but lost 3–0 to Peterborough United in the

final. In July 2011, he agreed a new rolling contract with the club. Clark continued breaking records at the beginning of the 2011–12 season, extending the unbeaten run in domestic regular-season league games to a Football League record 43 games. Clark was dismissed as manager of Huddersfield on 15 February 2012 following a 1–0 home defeat to Sheffield United.

Birmingham City

On 26 June 2012, Clark was confirmed as manager of Birmingham City, with

as his Assistant Manager and

and

Steve Watson Steven Craig Watson (born 1 April 1974) is an English football manager and former professional player. He was formerly the manager of club Chester. As a player, he was a right-back or midfielder. He played in the Premier League and Football ...

as his First Team Coaches. John Vaughan was brought in as his Goalkeeping Coach and

Malcolm Crosby Malcolm Crosby (born 4 July 1954) is an English former professional footballer and manager. He is currently working for Exeter City as the club’s Chief Scout under former Wigan Athletic manager Gary Caldwell. Playing career Born in South Shie ...

was appointed Chief Scout. Clark signed Peter Lovenkrands, David Lucas,

Hayden Mullins Hayden Ian Mullins (born 27 March 1979) is an English former professional footballer and current manager. He played primarily as a defensive midfielder, but he also played as a sweeper and at right-back. He was most recently the head coach at ...

and Darren Ambrose in the summer of 2012, as well as

Ravel Morrison Ravel Ryan Morrison (born 2 February 1993) is a professional association football, footballer who plays as a midfielder for Major League Soccer club D.C. United. Born in England, he represents the Jamaica national football team, Jamaica national ...

, Ben Gordon, James Hurst,

Leroy Lita Leroy Halirou Bohari Lita (born 28 December 1984) is an English footballer who plays for Nuneaton Borough. Lita was a product of the Chelsea youth system but never made a first-team appearance for the club; in 2002, he moved to Bristol City and ...

, Paul Caddis, Paul Robinson,

Rob Hall Robert Edwin Hall (14 January 1961 – 11 May 1996) was a New Zealand mountaineer. He was the head guide of a 1996 Mount Everest expedition during which he, a fellow guide, and two clients died. A best-selling account of the expedition was g ...

, Shane Ferguson and

Wes Thomas Wes or WES may refer to: * Westmorland, county in England, Chapman code __NOTOC__ People and fictional characters * Wes (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters with the name * Wes Madiko (1964–2021), Cameroonian musici ...

later on throughout the 2012–13 season. Clark endured a difficult start to his managerial reign, with a draw and two losses in a row for his first three games in the Championship. His first win came against Peterborough but Birmingham suffered a 5–0 home defeat against Barnsley in September. During the January 2013 transfer window, Clark sold Jake Jervis, David Lucas and Jack Butland, who returned on loan for the remainder of the season. Clark struggled to get Birmingham out of the bottom half of the league until back to back wins against Derby County and Middlesbrough took them up to 12th place in March. Despite receiving criticism from fans for alleged poor management skills regarding public fallouts with Nikola Zigic, Clark has been praised for introducing academy players into the first team squad, players including Jack Butland, Will Packwood, Mitch Hancox,

Callum Reilly Callum Anthony Reilly (born 3 October 1993) is a professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for club Banbury United. A midfielder who has also played at full back, Reilly began his career as a youngster with Birmingham City. He made h ...

Koby Arthur Koby Owusu Arthur (born 31 January 1996) is a Ghanaian professional footballer who plays for National League club Maidenhead United. A midfielder who can also play as a forward, Arthur made his Football League debut in the Championship with Bir ...

and

Reece Hales Reece Brett Hales (born 12 February 1995) is an English footballer who plays for Kidderminster Harriers. A forward, Hales made his first-team debut for Birmingham City in the third-round FA Cup draw at Leeds United in January 2013, but that wa ...

. Clark continued the start of 2013 with his team producing good form, including a 4–0 away win at Crystal Palace and back to back 1–0 wins against Bristol City and Leeds. After finishing the season in 12th place, 7 points off the play-offs, Clark made his first signings for the 2013–14 Championship season with

Darren Randolph Darren Edward Andrew Randolph (born 12 May 1987) is an Irish professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for Premier League club AFC Bournemouth and the Republic of Ireland national team. He has previously played for the Republic of Ir ...

, Andrew Shinnie and

Lee Novak Lee Paul Novak (born 28 September 1988) is an English professional footballer who plays as a striker. A former youth team player for Wallsend Boys Club, he began his senior career with Scottish club Gretna, before returning to his hometown wi ...

all signing on free transfers, whilst Olly Lee's loan was made permanent. The 2013–14 season started poorly again for Clark, with Birmingham winning a single game in the league against Yeovil Town as the Blues made their worst start to a league season for 25 years. Despite poor results in the league (including an 18 home match run without a league win) and the removal from the coaching staff of Clark's right hand men

and

, Clark managed to keep Birmingham City in the Championship with an injury time equaliser from Paul Caddis in the final game of the 2013–14 season against Bolton, the 2–2 result being enough to keep the team up on goal difference. On 20 October 2014, with Birmingham 21st in the table and having won at home in the league only once in more than a year, Clark and assistant

were dismissed. At the time of his dismissal, Clark had won 33 of his 116 games – the lowest win ratio for a quarter of a century from a Birmingham manager – and left the club one point above the relegation zone.

Blackpool

On 30 October 2014, Clark was appointed manager of

on a one-year rolling deal. Having been bottom of the Championship since October 2014 and having won only four games all season, Blackpool were relegated to League One on 6 April 2015 with six games left to play. On 9 May 2015, Clark resigned as manager of Blackpool following their relegation from the Championship. Blackpool won only three games from 33 played under Clark's tenure.

Kilmarnock

Clark was appointed manager of Scottish Premiership club

on 15 February 2016 while they were in the relegation zone. He went on to help Kilmarnock keep their 23-year long Scottish Premiership status by defeating

Falkirk Falkirk ( gd, An Eaglais Bhreac, sco, Fawkirk) is a large town in the Central Lowlands of Scotland, historically within the county of Stirlingshire. It lies in the Forth Valley, northwest of Edinburgh and northeast of Glasgow. Falkirk had a ...

4–1 in the play off final with the latter of the two legs being a 4–0 thrashing with goals from Greg Kiltie (2), Miles Addison and Kris Boyd. He left the club in February 2017, exactly a year after joining and with the club in the top six.

Bury

Clark was appointed manager of League One club

on 15 February 2017. With the club in the relegation zone, he was tasked with keeping them in the league and succeeded in doing so. After eight months in charge of Bury, Clark was sacked on 30 October 2017. Four consecutive losses before his dismissal saw Bury second from bottom in League One, at the conclusion of October 2017.

Blyth Spartans

On 1 June 2019, National League North club Blyth Spartans unveiled Clark as their new manager. He left by mutual consent on 4 March 2020.

Al-Merrikh

On 7 March 2021, Clark was appointed as the new manager of

ese club Al-Merrikh and described the opportunity as an 'exciting' and 'different' experience. He took charge of his first game - a 2–1 win over Hilal Al-Fasher in the

on 9 March 2021. Clark's first experience of the

CAF Champions League The CAF Champions League, known for sponsorship purposes as the TotalEnergies CAF Champions League and formerly the African Cup of Champions Clubs, is an annual football club competition organized by the Confederation of African Football and co ...

was a 3–0 away defeat to Simba of Tanzania on 16 March 2021 after which he blamed the loss on 'sabotage'. On 19 June 2021, Al-Merrikh announced Clark had resigned as manager.

Al-Ittihad

In November 2021, Clark was appointed manager of

Al-Ittihad Al-Ittihad (Arabic: الاتحاد "The Union"), sometimes transliterated as Al-Etihad or Al-Ettihad may refer to: Sports Football Libya *Al-Ittihad Club (Tripoli), a football club based in Bab Ben Gashier * Al Ittihad Gheryan, a football club bas ...

of the

Oman Professional League The Oman Professional League ( ar, دوري المحترفين عمان; known as the ''Omantel Professional League'' for sponsorship reasons), previously known as the Omantel Elite League, is the top division of the Oman Football Association, an ...

and drew 0-0 with Al-Nahda during his first game in charge.

Return to Al-Merrikh

On 29 January 2022, Al-Merrikh announced the return of Clark as their manager. However, Clark was sacked just 51 days later following a 3-1 defeat to

Al Ahly AL, Al, Ål or al may stand for: Arts and entertainment Fictional characters * Al (''Aladdin'') or Aladdin, the main character in Disney's ''Aladdin'' media * Al (''EastEnders''), a minor character in the British soap opera * Al (''Fullmetal ...

in the

Personal life

Clark's son, Bobby, plays as a forward for Liverpool Academy, and featured for the first team on their 2022 pre-season tour of Asia.

Career statistics

Managerial statistics

Honours

Player

Newcastle United *

: 1992–93 Sunderland *Football League First Division: 1998–99 Fulham *Football League First Division: 2000–01 Individual *

PFA Team of the Year The Professional Footballers' Association Team of the Year (often called the PFA Team of the Year, or simply the Team of the Year) is an annual award given to a set of 55 footballers across the top four tiers of men's English football; the Premie ...

: 1992–93 First Division, 1997–98 First Division, 1998–99 First Division, 2000–01 First Division

Manager

Kilmarnock * Scottish Premiership play-offs:

2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses during the 2016 Nagorno-Karabakh ...

Individual * League One Manager of the Month: November 2009, February 2010, April 2010, October 2011

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Clark, Lee 1972 births Living people Sportspeople from Wallsend Footballers from Tyne and Wear English footballers England under-21 international footballers Association football midfielders Wallsend Boys Club players Newcastle United F.C. players Sunderland A.F.C. players Fulham F.C. players Premier League players English Football League players English football managers Huddersfield Town A.F.C. managers Birmingham City F.C. managers Blackpool F.C. managers Kilmarnock F.C. managers Bury F.C. managers Blyth Spartans A.F.C. managers Al-Merrikh SC managers Al-Ittihad Club (Salalah) managers English Football League managers National League (English football) managers Scottish Professional Football League managers Association football coaches Newcastle United F.C. non-playing staff Norwich City F.C. non-playing staff English expatriate football managers English expatriate sportspeople in Sudan English expatriate sportspeople in Oman Expatriate football managers in Sudan Expatriate football managers in Oman