Clarke's treachery should be punished
1:29pm Thursday 10th January 2008
THERE is a useful proverb in life which Black Cats defender Clive Clarke should take a look at - 'do not bite the hand that feeds you'.
However, the left-back took a massive mouthful this week when he made scathing comments about his boss Roy Keane.
The player - currently out of action while he recovers from a double heart attack he suffered last year while on loan to Leicester City - believes that Keane does not communicate with his players and that the new image of a calmer Keane is a myth.
He said in an interview: "He's going around booting chairs and throwing things. He's never going to give you confidence, he doesn't talk to lads.
"If the lads at Man Utd couldn't reach the standards he wanted, and they're some of the best players in the world, then it's going to be a lot harder for the lads at Sunderland to reach them."
Mee-ow. A saucer of cream for Mr Clarke, please.
Predictably, the Press have jumped on these two paragraphs of vitriol, and splashed big stories about 'Cats Star's Attack on Keano'.
But let's get things straight. The two parties involved in this story both have their reasons to be irked by the club.
Firstly, the interviewer. Step forward, Richard Sadlier, the former Millwall striker and Republic of Ireland international. His career cruelly cut short at the age of 24, he was brought to Sunderland by Mick McCarthy three years after that to work on the lad's fitness, and maybe, just maybe see if he could make a return to action.
McCarthy was sacked, Sadlier's chance of a return to the game, in which he showed so much early promise, came and went.
Now Clive Clarke. Brought in by Niall Quinn last season in a swap deal for George McCartney, Clarke's first piece of action was to concede a penalty to Birmingham in the Blues' 1-0 win at the Stadium of Light.
Not the most glittering start to his Sunderland career.
He has been less than convincing in the left-back role, and Keane farmed him out to Leicester City after Clarke was deemed not up to the job after an assessment during the tour of Ireland.
If Clarke is to retire following his near-death-experience, Sunderland need only pay him for six months of the 18 months left on his deal.
But Niall Quinn has publicly said he would stand by Clarke and honour his contract.
And this is what Clarke calls gratitude?
Granted, Clarke has nothing but praise for Quinn, not that I've ever heard a bad word said against the man, save for Keane's comments post-Saipan in 2002.
But such treachery has brought the club into disrepute, and, compassion or no compassion, I would be looking again at Clarke's contract if I was Sir Niall.
This rant has left me with very little space for mention of the debacle on Saturday.
I am a child of the 'Sky Generation.' I'd rather see us do well in the league than have a cup run. With that in mind, I was one of the 20,000 stayaway fans. I had better things to do, like trawl through B&Q for a new lock for my front door.
I didn't even listen to the match. The shame. But before I left for B&Q, my girlfriend chirpily told me that Sunderland were 1-0 ahead.
I left happily, but returned grumpy when I found out she was fibbing.
"Oh, sorry," she said to me. "I forgot to tell you I was joking."
But after that display of so-called football, nobody's laughing.
On Sunday, we've got an Africans-free Portsmouth coming to town. They've been hit hardest by the exodus to the African Cup of Nations, while we've just lost Dickson Etuhu, which, to be honest, is more of a blessing than a curse.
Let's hope we can take advantage of their depleted ranks.
I see we've bought nobody yet. While I thought Niall Quinn's gift of £20m to go shopping would burn a hole in Keane's large pocket, it's sat there gaining interest.
Interest, there's a word not attributed to Sunderland. By all accounts, target Matt Taylor has intimated that he would not be interested in a move to Sunderland, while Robbie Savage's move to Derby County this week slammed the door shut on any speculation linking the shaggy-haired play actor, who previously moved from Birmingham City to Blackburn in order to be closer to his parents in Wrexham.
Blackburn is 74 miles from Wrexham. Birmingham is 70.
With Savage's logic, a move to Sunderland would have been even closer. But I'm not bitter.
I'm just left with a little more space now, so I guess I should spare a thought for poor old Newcastle United, who sacked Sam Allardyce this week.
I was listening to the radio last night, and there was an advert for a comedy night in the city selling tickets for an upcoming show.
With Newcastle United such a laughing stock, I doubt that there would be much demand for another comedy club in the city centre.