http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/lee-clark-lifts-lid-blackpools-5803823
The renegade striker who complained of toothache in December and was never seen again all season.
The goalkeeper who played in an autographed shirt because the kitman had been sacked and no new jersey could be found.
The players suffering from cramp before half-time because they’d had no pre-season.
The dedicated professionals literally begging to leave to revive their careers.
The owner who had the statue of a club legend taken down and placed in a shed.
The supporters who became so enraged they invaded the pitch and forced an abandonment.
And the former England captain so upset by the chaos at his beloved club that the hurt in his eyes convinced the manager to resign.
Clark, who resigned two weeks ago, is a rare modern footballing man - a lifelong Newcastle United fan, with genuine concern for the way supporters feel increasingly disconnected from their clubs.
He said: “I’ll probably always side with supporters because I’m one of them. Players, managers and owners come and go but fans stay, it’s passed down from grandparents and great-grandparents.
“Nowadays players are often in a bubble, they don’t know the man in the street, they don’t understand how football affects supporters’ lives. Knowing all that is why Blackpool hurt so much.
“I’ve always tried to have a relationship with supporters but I got labelled as a good friend of the Blackpool chairman, who was backing what he was doing, when I wasn’t.
"I didn’t fall out with him, in fact he asked me to stay, but I’d wanted to do a job for the supporters.”
Clark took the job in late October with Blackpool rock-bottom and after relegation was sealed, the festering resentment towards chairman Karl Oyston reached toxic levels when a supporters’ pitch protest forced the abandonment of the home game against Huddersfield.
Clark admitted: “I think 99.9 per cent of people thought I shouldn’t take the job – but managers need an ego and I thought I could be the miracle worker.
“I did the due diligence, but I soon realised all those people warning me off were being proved right. I’d done due diligence but nothing prepares you for the reality.”
The striker in question was former Newcastle bad-lad Nile Ranger.
Clark explained: “Nile is an extremely talented footballer, with many issues away from football – in December, I told him he wouldn’t be in the squad against Birmingham, he said he was injured and didn’t train that day, then he had toothache and we didn’t see him again.
“Nile was getting paid, then fined every day he didn’t turn up. My advice was for the club not to take up the option of another season for him but they have done.”
Former Huddersfield and Birmingham boss Clark said: “In my first game, I had players with fatigue - one going down with cramp before half-time; they’d had no pre-season.
“They brought in a bucket-load of players at the last minute. It looked like they’d recruited players who thought ‘This our last choice, so we’ll sign for Blackpool’.
“In January, I had disenchanted players - good pros - begging me to leave to further their careers.
“There was always a negative story. The kitman left and the keeper, Joe Lewis, had to play in a signed jersey because we couldn’t find another. Even the pitch was an embarrassment.
“The atmosphere between the fans and chairman was so intense and it only became worse.
“They had intelligence that the supporters were planning a protest around the Stan Mortensen statue, then it was gone. Before the Huddersfield game, we knew a bigger than normal protest was planned.
“I’d had regular sitdowns with Jimmy Armfield, talking about the club’s great old days but I saw him while the referee and match commander were trying to decide whether we would go back on the pitch and could see the hurt in Jimmy’s eyes.
"That really hit me hard. That probably made my decision to leave.
“To achieve anything, all a club’s main stakeholders need to pull in the same direction. Hopefully that can happen at Blackpool – somehow I don’t think it will.”
He said: “A lot of people have told me there are similarities between Newcastle and Blackpool, but Mike Ashley presides over one of the best run clubs in the Premier League, judged on sound businesses principles alone - though in football that isn’t always possible.
“That football club dictates people’s lives in Newcastle, they will spend their last penny to go to the match. People say their expectations are too high, delusions of grandeur, but they just want a team that mirrors their passion.
“When I played under Kevin Keegan, he totally understood that. From what Mike Ashley said before the West Ham game, he accepts having exciting players and playing the Geordie way goes with the territory.
“It would be my dream to manage the club. People ask John Carver how he could take the job with the owner not spending, but if you’re a Geordie and you turn down being Newcastle manager, you’ll regret it for life.
“Having a relegation on my CV hurts but it hasn’t knocked my confidence. In hindsight, I regret taking the Blackpool job – but it will help in the future.”
