Lee Clark has been asked to attend the relegation shoot-out between Huddersfield Town and Birmingham City this weekend - but he isn’t sure he can face it.
The 51-year-old has managed both clubs and couldn’t pick a winner when he appeared on the Keep Right On Podcast recently. Clark presided over Huddersfield’s record-breaking 43-game unbeaten run in League One and masterminded Blues’ final day survival at Bolton in 2014.
He has been invited to the John Smith’s Stadium for the meeting between Huddersfield and Blues that could see both teams relegated. A defeat would relegate the Terriers, while Blues can go down if they lose and the three teams directly above them in the Championship record victories.
Clark likened the match to the Premier League contest between Liverpool and Newcastle United earlier this season. Clark is a lifelong supporter of Newcastle, but his 19-year-old son Bobby is now part of Liverpool’s first team set-up.
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“I have actually been asked about going,” said Clark. “It might be too tense for me. I was on holiday in Dubai over New Year and Liverpool were playing Newcastle at Anfield and I sat up and watched the game, because it was a midnight kick-off in Dubai, and it was absolutely horrible because my emotions were torn between Liverpool and Newcastle.
“And that would be very much the case at the John Smith’s. I’m thinking about it, I haven’t decided yet. I could be a bag of nerves. I just wish there was a scenario where both teams can stay up but I’m not sure if that’s still possible. That would be the ideal scenario for me. It’s going to be more difficult for Huddersfield to do it than Birmingham.”
Clark knows only too well the toll these matches can take on those involved. The outpouring of emotion and energy was there for all to see in Bolton 10 years ago when Clark legged it down the pitch at the final whistle. Paul Caddis’s 93rd minute equaliser ensured Blues stayed in the Championship on that occasion.
Reflecting on the events of that day, Clark said: “They never turned on the team during the game, they kept supporting, even at 2-0. The relief was for them and the great people behind the scenes. The relief was for the staff, backroom staff who had been there many years and are loyal supporters of the club as well.
“It was nothing to do with myself, it was just for all the great people involved in the club that it hadn’t gone down a level. I remember using the word Armageddon if the club had gone down because of its financial state at that time. If the club had gone into League One it would be horrible to think where it would be now.
“It wasn’t in a position to invest to try and get straight back up from a league that the club didn’t want to be in. I always get asked if I went out partying that night and had great celebrations. When I got back home to Birmingham I went out for a meal with my family and before we started the meal I ended up asking if we could go home because I was mentally and emotionally drained. I went to bed really early and slept. The next day we were still a Championship club, which was huge.”
