Lee Clark believes Kevin Keegan made a big mistake when dropping him for Newcastle United’s crucial title run-in during the 1995/96 season.
In his new book Black or White, No Grey Areas, Clark opens up on his devastation at the way things turned out for the Entertainers 20 years ago.
And he thinks that Keegan’s decision to bring in David Batty to replace him affected the dynamics of United’s attacking machine that season.
Clark said: “The debate, conspiracy theories and arguments over how we didn’t clinch that elusive Premier League title in 1996 will go on forever.
“We all have our opinions or reasons why we didn’t land the hallowed trophy of champions.
“I’ve heard them all and have my own, of course, but it goes without saying, it still hurts to this day that I don’t have a Premier League winner’s medal in my collection.
“Our style of play captured the imagination of the nation and installed us as the country’s second favourite team.
“The gaffer wasn’t one for the traditional pragmatic approach and we relished being part of that.
“It was a breathtaking paradigm of fluent, eloquent, one-touch football where attack became the best form of defence.
“With Ginola branding his unique style of wing wizardry on the left; Keith Gillespie providing a more traditional pacey role on the opposite flank; Peter Beardsley applying vision, awareness and ammunition in the hole and Robert Lee supporting a bludgeoning Ferdinand through the middle, we destroyed just about everyone who crossed our path in swashbuckling style.
“We led the Premier League table from the curtain-raiser until March and then it all went horribly wrong.”
And looking back on some of the reasons why Newcastle people feel the Magpies crumbled under pressure, Clark reflected: “There are several theories as to why we blew our 12-point lead.
“The main catalyst for destruction, seen by many, was Keegan’s decision to splash £7m on Colombian international Faustino Asprilla from Parma.
“Another popular dynamic was the capture of David Batty.
“The boss believed we needed some defensive cover to protect the rich vein of attacking wealth and invested £4m in Blackburn’s midfield enforcer as a consequence.”
Batty’s arrival cost Clark his place in the team at United, and for the first time, the Geordie has offered his opinions.
He said: “What do I think?
“I, obviously, believe Keegan shouldn’t have changed anything up to that point.
“The stats back me up.
“They tell you I shouldn’t have been dropped.
“There are various theories and I certainly believe the boss should have just left Big Les and Beardsley up front and used Tino like he did at Middlesbrough that day as an impact player. He came on and changed the game when we were flat and needed a spark.
“Subsequently, we beat Boro 2-1.
“I’m guessing Keegan looked at the Man City game, where we drew 3-3, and thought we weren’t solid enough defensively.
“And that’s why he brought in Batts.
“If you look at the fixtures prior to the former Leeds spoiler coming in, from the beginning of January, we won five, drew one, lost one, scored 12 and conceded five.
“In the 11 games that followed without me: we won five, drew two, lost four, scored 14 and conceded 12.
“We’d only lost four in the previous 27 Premier League games so why try to change something that isn’t broken?”