Clarke: Premiership Is Poor League

Last updated : 04 January 2004 By Kevin Markey

Clarke said in the Sunday Mirror: "I remember scoring that goal, and the Queen presenting me with my medal, like it was yesterday. It was a very tight game but over the 90 minutes we deserved it. Wembley in those days was a beautiful surface to play on and I always enjoyed my games there.

"I've watched every home match this season and, before Eddie took over, there were a lot of players who weren't playing for that famous white shirt.

"But they were picking up a lot of money. There's a lot of ordinary, average players in the Premiership who are multi-millionaires.

"Peter Reid brought in all these loan players. But that wasn't Reidy's fault, the club were, and still are, skint.

"I'd say the only thing that's in Leeds' favour at the moment is that the Premiership is a poor league. You've got 15 or 16 clubs all playing to stay up really.

"I thought Eddie should have been made manager after David O'Leary was sacked but instead they gave it to Terry Venables, a southerner with no feeling for Leeds United.

"And what happens? He's sacked after five or six months and we have to pay him £2m, which is absolutely unforgiveable.

"I think he was blinding the players with science. The players didn't seem to know what their jobs were. Terry tried to change the pattern of their play but they hadn't a clue what he was talking about."