Clarky And The Truth About Sting

Last updated : 14 November 2005 By Footy Mad - Editor

Lee Clark says, one day, he wants to be manager of Newcastle United. Hardly a big surprise is it? 99% of the season ticket holders in St James' Park want the same.

Lee Clark: "Eventually I want to be a manager, and my ultimate goal is to one day be the manager here. I have always set myself targets as a player, and I am setting them as a would-be manager. This club has been part of my life from the age of nine and I want that to continue.

"I'm also living in the real world - I know a lot of players are coming to the end of their careers with similar ideas, so there will be plenty of competition simply to get a good coaching job. But that is why I'm really cracking on with my UEFA coaching badges while still playing."

"I don't know what his thoughts are in terms of a timescale for doing it, but in the long term Alan Shearer would like to try management. And he definitely has what it takes to do the job."

So what about that other guy from Wallsend ... Sting ... who finds it fashionable to be a Newcastle fan these days. A far cry from his semi-punk (was he EVER a proper punk?) when he said: "I have no regrets about leaving Tyneside, in fact it was the best thing I ever did. I have never played on the Geordie part of me"

Well, not until now, that is.

"I remember as kid seeing the newsreaders on TV and understood at an early age that the only way to get ahead in this world was to lose the Geordie accent."

Yep ... a man proud of his roots.