I think Lee Clark is a very underrated player for many people when it comes to Newcastle United and the part he played back in the day.
Coming off the Wallsend Boys Club conveyor belt of talent, he made his NUFC first team debut as a 17-year-old under Jim Smith in the 1989/90 second tier season.
Making almost 200 appearances for Newcastle United, the football world was turned upside down when Lee Clark signed for Sunderland in 1997.
It was Kenny Dalglish who sold the lifelong United fan for £2.5m in June 1997 but if ever there was a player who you knew would never sign for the Mackems, it was Lee Clark.
When there is transfer speculation about any player, I always think back to Clarkie signing for Sunderland as the moment when I knew that nothing could ever be totally ruled out when it comes to where an individual might move to.
Lee Clark spent two second tier seasons with the Mackems and as they got promoted it coincided with the infamous SMB t-shirt incident at Wembley on the day Newcastle United lost to Man U in the 1999 FA Cup final.
The net result was the midfielder moving on to Fulham and across six years at Craven Cottage he reminded us of how good he was, helping them to get promoted and then become a very good Premier League side.
Lee Clark would later return to Newcastle United for the 2005/06 season during the ill-fated Graeme Souness era, the now veteran midfielder making another 22 NUFC appearances.
I wanted though to concentrate on his original emergence at Newcastle United and the amazing years under Kevin Keegan.
The club had ended up in a total mess in the late 1980s, on and off the pitch.
The 1980s had seen a massive opportunity wasted as a world class trio of local lads could have been the heart of a Newcastle United team that might have competed for all honours if a side had been built around them. Instead a case of what might have been as Chris Waddle, Peter Beardsley and Paul Gascoigne were allowed to slip away.
The late 1980s saw a new set of local talent begin to emerge, Lee Clark a stand out as the likes of Robbie Elliott, Steve Watson, Steve Howey, Alan Thompson and others also came through at St James’ Park.
The teenagers had great promise but the club in a total mess, Jim Smith eventually sacked although he almost got Newcastle promoted in 1989/90 when United finished third but lost out in the play-offs.
The club in a financial mess and Ossie Ardiles the new manager, the ‘Ossie’s Babes’ era showed real signs of promise when it came to the contributions at times of very young individual players but relegation to the third tier was looking inevitable.
Issue 21 – November 1990
A club takeover and the arrival of Kevin Keegan in February 1992 did of course herald a new brilliant era at St James’ Park.
Survival first, promotion as second tier champions next, then the Premier League years. Kevin Keegan worked his incredible magic and Lee Clark was at the heart of it all.
When the media talk about the stars of that era they will almost always focus on the key signings of players such as Andy Cole, Robert Lee, Philippe Albert, Les Ferdinand, David Ginola and others.
However, the Kevin Keegan revival and then entertainers era had Lee Clark with him all the way through.
Newcastle United played exhilarating brilliant high quality football and the local lad was a huge part of that in midfield.
Lee Clark was so comfortable on the ball, rarely lost it, always prepared to take passes in any situation, he wasn’t quick but his football intelligence and ability to carry the ball helped Newcastle United be so good. He was like the heartbeat of the team.
We will never know what would have happened otherwise but as Newcastle United surged towards the 1995/96 Premier League title, Kevin Keegan looked to make sure of that title win by signing Tino Asprilla in February 1996 and David Batty in March 1996.
The signing of Tino is often claimed as something that could be pointed to as to why NUFC then ended as runners-up but I have never agreed with that. He added far more than he took away that season.
However, I think if Lee Clark had been allowed to continue as first choice that season in midfield then things may have turned out different. David Batty was a very good player but Lee Clark gave far more than Batty when it came to helping the team drive forward and take the game to the opposition.
Issue 55 – October 1993
20 years later
Two decades after that almost title win, have Newcastle United now found the new Lee Clark?
Signed from Ajax for a reported £23m, Sean Steur has looked exceptional.
Easy to forget that this is an 18-year-old who had only made a handful of league starts in the weak Dutch league, who has come to a new club, a new league, a new country. To give it some context, at the age of 18 you have hundreds of thousands of them each year heading off to university, not playing in front of 52,000+ football fans for a club that has experienced such a huge summer of stress and transformation. With many outsiders forecasting certain disaster before a ball was kicked.
Watching Sean Steur on Saturday as he brilliantly orchestrated Newcastle United’s play for over an hour as they dominated Hull City, I could have been watching Lee Clark.
Whisper it quietly but Sean Steur could even turn out to be levels above Lee Clark.
It didn’t feel like any coincidence when the departure of Sean Steur as he cramped up after such an all action display then saw Hull City in the ascendancy, controlling play, instantly getting a goal back and Newcastle United then having to dig in and battle to keep the three points.
Difficult not to get excited about this teenager, thinking that if this is what he can do at the age of 18 with so few first team career starts behind him, what could he be capable of in the future?
I am very much looking forward to finding out.