Leon Clarke is casting his mind back to Sheffield United’s enthralling, helter-skelter 4-2 victory over Sheffield Wednesday at a raucous Hillsborough in September, in a memorable first Steel City derby for five-and-a-half years. “When Sheffield Wednesday scored their second goal [to make it 2-2], it was literally like the whole ground was shaking,” Clarke says.
“Then Duff [Mark Duffy] goes straight up the other end and scores and all you could hear was our fans — the stadium went silent, apart from our fans.”
With 13 minutes left, Clarke bustled between two defenders and finished with aplomb to score his second of the afternoon and seal a memorable win. For United, so long in their neighbour’s shadow, it felt like a turning of the tide.
“It was one of the best atmospheres I’ve played in,” Clarke says. “It gave us an opportunity to show how far we have come, how good a team we are.”
The teams lock horns again tonight at Bramall Lane and, on reflection, Clarke’s first goals of the season at Hillsborough that day were the catalyst for something of a personal renaissance. A remarkable nine goals in November — including four against Hull City and a hat-trick against Fulham — earned Clarke the Sky Bet Championship player of the month award and, with 15 goals from 22 league starts, more than any other player in the division, he has equalled his best league tally for a season with one clubAt 32, representing the 17th club of a nomadic career, the striker is more content than he has ever been. “From the day I got here,” he says, “to be honest with you, it has felt like home.”
He is, of course, no stranger to the fierce rivalry in this part of Yorkshire, having played in four Sheffield derbies for the Owls between 2008 and 2010. His time at Hillsborough, however, like his other spells in the Championship with Wolverhampton Wanderers, Queens Park Rangers, Preston North End and Wigan Athletic, can be largely defined by frustration.
“It was a tough period [at Sheffield Wednesday],” he says. “It was good from a learning point of view. Maybe that time in my career I wasn’t doing things right. I probably wasn’t in the best shape when I initially went there. And then, when it clicked in my head, it was a little bit too late.
“Obviously going back [to Hillsborough], was an opportunity to prove to people that I wasn’t the same player, but also to prove to myself that I’m a completely different person.”
Of the 113 league goals Clarke scored prior to this season only 35 were scored in the second tier, with 11 loans and many miles on the motorway a familiar theme. “I’ve done OK at League One level,” he says.
“I’ve scored goals wherever I’ve been, but it’s never been for a whole season, it’s only been for a month, three months, six months, then I leave, go somewhere else and then I’m back to square one and sitting on the bench and not getting that run of games. Throughout my career, that has been the most disappointing thing: not being able to play consistently at Championship level.”
Why does he feel that he has not been afforded that opportunity? “It’s just maybe having that manager who believed in me, would play me week in week out, even when things aren’t going well goalscoring-wise, and who could see that my work ethic is helping the team,” he says.
CLARKE’S LEAGUE ROLL CALL
- 2003-07, 2014-15 Wolves 103 league apps
2004 Kidderminster Harriers 4 apps
2006, 2010-11 Queens Park Rangers 14 apps
2006 Plymouth Argyle 5 apps
2007-10Sheffield Wednesday 83 apps
2007 Oldham Athletic 5 apps
2007-08 Southend United 16 apps
2011 Preston North End 6 apps
2011-12 Swindon Town 2 apps
2011 Chesterfield 14 apps
2012-13 Charlton Athletic 7 apps
2012 Crawley Town 4 apps
2012 Scunthorpe United 15 apps
2013-14 Coventry City 35 apps
2015 Wigan Athletic 10 apps
2015-16 Bury 32 apps
2016- Sheffield United 46 apps
Clarke is renowned for his industry, his power and strength and competitive spirit. His talent, too, has rarely been called into question. There has always been a sense, though, that he is a player who perhaps needs to be handled with a degree of sensitivity.
He and I were team-mates at Chesterfield, briefly, in 2011 and Clarke joined on loan soon after a very public spat with the tempestuous Swindon Town manager Paolo Di Canio, for whom he had signed only a fortnight earlier. The pair, you may remember, had to be separated in the tunnel at the County Ground after a disagreement about some post-match running. It means that he has garnered a reputation over the years as a player with a mercurial, individualistic streak.
“I think I’ve changed a lot from the Di Canio incident, grown up, and I’m a lot more mature,” he says. “Yeah, in football, reputation, it kind of follows you. But, even though it’s late in my career, I’d like to think that people’s perceptions of me are changing slowly. Even if it’s just 1 or 2 per cent, then I’m happy with that.”
In Chris Wilder at United, though, Clarke has found a manager whose faith in him has been resolute. “It’s nice when you’ve got a manager who’s prepared to put you in the team and will back you. It gives you a confidence boost,” he says.
He appreciates Wilder’s clarity of vision, too. “He’s quite stern. But the way he sets out his team and what he wants from his team is very direct,” Clarke says. “I don’t think there’s any confusion about what he wants.
“If the team’s not doing well, you’re going to get a rollicking. If you do well, you know you’re going to be rewarded with congratulations or a pat on the back, but nothing over the top, because the focus is always on the next game. And he has got good staff behind him who don’t let the boys slack off.”
After reports of interest from Aston Villa last month, Clarke’s value to United was reinforced when he was offered and swiftly signed a new three-year contract on improved terms. “It never crossed my mind about going anywhere else,” he says.
