Lee Clark: A Hero to Zero Story that reminds us of the dangers of crossing the divide

If you’ve ever listened to the single version of Niall Quinn’s disco pants, created in 1998, you might hear a line from the song saying “Lee Clark is a Mackem, talking with his feet.” Who of course is Lee Clark? He was a Newcastle born footballer who in the summer of 1997, crossed the divide from NUFC to join his arch rivals Sunderland in what was a very rare direct transfer between the two.

The move was astonishing because he’d spent six years at St. James’ Park and been a park of the high flying side under Kevin Keegan making over 200 appearances, but by 1997 had lost his place in the team. Despite this, he was arguably a talented player and the rivalry aside he seemed a quite signing for Sunderland.

His performance on the pitch quickly established himself as part of a rampaging SAFC side under Peter Reid and he went on to score 13 goals in his first season, unfortunately being part of the side which lost the memorable 4-4 playoff final against Charlton Athletic on penalties. The next season, Sunderland did even better as they took the league by storm in a record breaking promotion which seen them win the league with over 100 points. Clark again made a strong contribution, although he featured less prominently in this team.

Then, he made one mistake which blown it all. At the end of that season, Newcastle United reached the FA Cup final where they lost 2-0 to Manchester United. Clark, supporting his boyhood club, was in attendance but was wearing a t-shirt with the popular Newcastle fan acronym on it “SMB” which means “Sad Mackem B******“, something that has always been perceived as extremely insulting.

The incident was widely publicised and although he claimed it was just a joke, it turned the Sunderland fanbase against him to the point it was untenable he could ever feature again, poisoning his relationship with the club. Despite the fact that SAFC had just won promotion, Clark lost his place in the team permanently and never played for Sunderland again, being shipped off to Fulham that summer.

The Lee Clark story is just another reminder of how fatally dangerous it is for Newcastle supporting players to cross the divide and play for SAFC. In most incidences all it takes is just one incident to upset the fanbase and turn them against you, questioning your loyalty and turning you into a permanent hate figure which absconds whatever you may have achieved on the pitch. Other players who have fallen into this trap include Jack Colback and Michael Chopra.