Lee Robert Clark (born 26 October 1972 in Wallsend, Tyne and Wear), is an English former professional footballer and coach. On 11 December 2008, he was confirmed as the new manager of Football League One side Huddersfield Town, having previously been the assistant manager at Norwich City, and took charge on 15 December.

As a player, Clark had two spells at Newcastle United, and was their reserve team manager and coach after he retired. He also played for Sunderland and Fulham.

[edit] Career

Clark started his career at the club he supported as a boy, Newcastle United. He scored a hat-trick for England schoolboys at Wembley Stadium in 1988. In 1993 he was part of the Newcastle side promoted to the Premiership and helped them finish runners-up two seasons in a row. At Newcastle he was known as "jigsaw" because he seemed to fall apart whenever he went into the box, this was a reference to his poor form in front of goal.

He moved to Sunderland in 1997, and was part of the side promoted to the Premiership in 1999 with a (then) professional league record of 105 points. A year earlier, he had been a key player in the side that reached the 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 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, moving to Fulham the same year. He collected another Division One title medal with Fulham in 2001, 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 memorably beat Manchester United 3-1 at Old Trafford in October 2003.^[1]

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.^[2] 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.

On 1 June 2006, the newly appointed Newcastle manager Glenn Roeder appointed Clark as a first team coach and as reserve team manager following Tommy Craig's departure. In November 2007 he left his post at Newcastle to rejoin Roeder at Championship side Norwich City. Roeder, who had left Newcastle earlier that year and had recently been appointed Norwich manager, made Clark his assistant.^[3]

On 12 December 2008, Clark was unveiled as the new manager of League One side Huddersfield Town 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 previous boss Stan Ternent on 4 November. Clark's assistant is Terry McDermott.^[4]

[edit] Career statistics

^[5]

[edit] Managerial statistics

Team	Nat	From	To	Record
				G	W	L	D	Win %
Huddersfield Town		15 December 2008	Present	44	18	14	12	41

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Lee Clark career stats at Soccerbase
• Lee Clark management career stats at Soccerbase
• Newcastle United profile
• Guardian Unlimited profile
• BBC interview about becoming a coach