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SANDY CLARK was born in Airdrie in 1957, and signed for his heroes as a 13-year-old. He made his first-team debut in 1974 – and was named SPFA Player of the Year eight years later, despite Airdrie being relegated. Sandy then moved to West Ham, but returned to help Rangers win the 1984 League Cup Final against Celtic. Twelve months on, he left to join Hearts, where he suffered the heartbreak of losing the league on the final day of the season, then the Scottish Cup Final the following week. An Achilles tendon injury cut Sandy's career short – and, after a spell as St Johnstone boss, is now an SFA coach and part-time television pundit.
Interview MATTHEW LINDSAY It's always Airdrie FROM when I was a very small boy, I was an Airdrie supporter. I grew up idolising players like Roddy McKenzie, Derek Whiteford, Davie Marshall and Billy McPheat. My obsession with football can be traced back to afternoons spent watching the Diamonds. The only way into the senior game at that time was through school teams. When I was around 10, I played in the Airdrie Schools Cup at Broomfield and my team won. I think that alerted my childhood heroes, who had scouts at the competition, at an early age. I signed an S-Form for them on October 1, 1970 – it's a date I always remember – when I was just 13. I attended Caldervale High School and we had an excellent side. We won the Scottish Schools Cup at under-14 and under-15 level and it was great to be involved in that. Norrie Anderson was in that successful team and we would play for Airdrie together. When I left school, aged 17 in 1974, I became a part-time professional with the Diamonds. My first manager was Ian McMillan, the Airdrie, Rangers and Scotland legend, and he was of the old school. I met him recently and he was just the same. Still the gentleman. The really unusual thing about Ian was that you never heard him swear. Not once. That is practically unheard of in football. Certainly, I can't say I've followed his lead in the years since. I got into the first team in my first season and established myself as a regular pretty soon after that. As a young footballer, I was always a creative midfielder. However, as I grew up and developed as a player and physically, I ended up as a striker. Bobby Watson took over from Ian fairly early on in my time there. He was not a coach as such and his management style concentrated on the motivational aspect of the game. He made me captain of the club when I was 21 and gave me a lot of responsibility. I responded to that. I worked part-time in the Bank of Scotland for just over a year to begin with, then got a job with Provincial Cheques and worked in Coatbridge, Dennistoun and Springburn. I ultimately became a manager. Looking back, that helped me when I eventually went into coaching. It taught me how to deal with people. I've been involved with a lot of clubs in Scotland and England since then. But my roots have remained in Airdrie and I've been very upset at recent events. This picture was taken outside Broomfield by a local photographer and friend of mine during my time at Airdrie. As a footballer, I've posed for some daft pictures in my time. This one must be the best of the lot – I've never ridden a motorbike in my life.
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Player of the Year AIRDRIE won promotion from the First Division in 1981. There were a lot of clubs that were interested in buying me at that time. Hibs certainly made an offer. Billy McNeill was the manager of Celtic and he wanted to sign me. Alex Ferguson, up at Aberdeen, did, too. But these were the days before the Bosman ruling and getting a move was not so simple. In fact, I only signed one contract in eight years at Airdrie – the first one back in 1974. They held onto my registration and increased my wages when they wanted to. At that point in their existence, Airdrie were a well-run club and their finances were not a major problem. They could afford to hold onto me. Sadly, we were relegated from the top flight that season, but I played well enough to be awarded the Scottish Professional Footballers' Association Player of the Year award in 1982. It was a real honour to be nominated by my fellow pros. I was up against some great players at clubs like Rangers, Celtic, Hearts and Hibs. This picture shows me receiving the trophy.
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Hammers calling BOBBY got the sack as Airdrie manager – more, I must say, as a result of the politics at the club than his managerial abilities – and that was the point when I decided it was time to try and fulfil my potential and go elsewhere. I had enjoyed great times at the club as a supporter, player and captain. But I was 25 by then and it was the right time to move on. In the last game of Airdrie's season in the top flight, West Ham manager John Lyall came up to watch me. The following week he offered £200,000 for me and the club accepted. I was delighted that one of the best clubs in England had come in for me. This pic shows me signing with John (left) and the new Airdrie manager, Bill Munro.
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But I still had to give it a lot of thought. I had a good career outwith football, but remember thinking: "If I don't do this now, I'll get to 35 and then wonder what might have been." I joined and it turned out to be the best decision I ever made. My one regret is that I only stayed there for one season. With hindsight, I would have liked to stay for two or three seasons longer. In my season in London, we spent a spell on top of the league, defeating Manchester United and Liverpool, and I finished our campaign as top scorer. Lyall introduced me to proper coaching and tactics for the first time in my career. It had such an affect on me that in my first summer off I went to Largs to complete my SFA 'B' Licence Coaching Certificate. West Ham was full of stars, as well. We had Trevor Brooking, Billy Bonds, Alan Devonshire, a young Tony Cottee and Belgian international Frankie van der Elst. Billy was captain and a consummate professional. Along with Davie Cooper, I think Alan has to be the most skilful player I ever worked with. This second picture shows me looking very thin in a warm-up before a game.
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Back north again WHILE I always supported Airdrie, I also grew up in the west of Scotland and Rangers and Celtic are obviously a pretty big deal. To get the chance to play for one or other of them is too great an opportunity to turn down. John Greig was the manager at Ibrox at that time and he was going through a difficult spell. It was an unusual period in the club's history. But he picked me out as somebody who could help haul the club out of the trough they had fallen into. This first picture shows him greeting me as I arrived in Glasgow. The second photo shows me after I had signed. John resigned after about six months.
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He'd signed Ally McCoist just before that and we endured a pretty tough time as we battled through a bad patch. We've remained good friends to this day. I think the turning point came not long after Jock Wallace took over when we beat Celtic 3-2 to win the League Cup, with Ally scoring a hat-trick. That was the only trophy I won in my time there. Still, I thoroughly enjoyed my two years at Ibrox. It was a wonderful experience and I love going back. Some of the really old supporters even remember me! I had a good relationship with them in my time there.
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So close at Hearts I PICKED up a groin injury and tried to play through it, but I ended up losing my place. That was when Alex MacDonald, at Hearts, came in for me. I wanted to play football and so I jumped at the chance. It was a real gamble. I took a lot less money to move on, but ended up staying there for 10 years as a player and a coach. This first photograph shows me with wee Alex and his assistant, Sandy Jardine, on the day I signed, and the second shot shows me celebrating a goal. The following season, of course, we lost the chance to win the League Championship on the final day of the season with a 2-0 defeat at the hands of Dundee and, then, the next week we lost 3-0 to Aberdeen in the Scottish Cup Final. I was very, very low at the time.
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But, looking back on it now, that was an incredible achievement for Alex and Sandy – and chairman Wallace Mercer – to pull the club back from the brink of extinction and take them to such heights. They must have been absolutely gutted at the outcome of the season. Alex was an unbelievable man-manager. He could be quite volatile. To a certain extent, he suffered from small man syndrome – he thought he could take on the world. I had a few disagreements with him in my time. If you look at that team, we had young kids mixed in with some experienced players who were not exactly international quality. But he got us working as a unit.
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Robbo and me I FACED John Robertson when I was with Rangers and he was starting out with Hearts. He had this reputation of being brilliant, but I failed to see what all the hullabaloo was about. When I joined him at Tynecastle, it took some time for me to be convinced. On my Hearts debut against Morton, I was playing up front with Jimmy Bone, who was almost as old as me, and we were losing 2-1. We were sweating buckets trying to get back into the game and John was just strolling around. Then, quick as a flash, he pounced and the ball was in the back of the net. We won that game 3-2, and I thought: "Oh aye! So that's what all the fuss is about." He went on to become an absolute legend for that club. After that start, I was happy to take all the knocks while he scored all the goals and took all the money and glory. This picture shows us together at training.
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End of the road WHEN I was 31, I ruptured my Achilles tendon, effectively ending my career. I played for the reserves a little after that, but my time at the top level was finished. Then the managerial structure at Hearts changed and Alex MacDonald asked me to come in as a coach. I will be forever grateful to him for that. I was offered the post of Partick Thistle manager, but only spent a long weekend there. After a while, Alex MacDonald invited me back to Hearts. He was sacked in 1990 and I worked under Joe Jordan and Frank Connor for three years and learned from them, too. When Joe left, I felt capable of handling the top job and took it on when I was asked.
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I had very little money to work with and brought through a lot of good young players like Alan Johnston, Gary Locke and Kevin Thomas. When Chris Robinson took over the club and I moved on, it was frustrating as I felt I had a good base to build on. After a coaching stint at Motherwell, I joined Hamilton in the dual role of commercial manager and assistant manager under Iain Munro. In lots of ways, going there was like going back to Airdrie as it was a similar sized outfit. The four years I spent there have got to be among my happiest in football. The people at the club – chairman Davie Campbell, chief executive Alistair Duguid, secretary Scott Struthers and Margaret in the office – had the best interests of Hamilton at heart. They were there for the right reasons and helped the club through a difficult transitional period. Everybody just mucked in. This first picture shows me on sidelines during a match. I landed the Second Division Manager of the Year award in 1997. The second picture shows me with the other winners. We are (from left) Steve Paterson (Inverness Caledonian Thistle), myself, Paul Sturrock (St Johnstone) and Walter Smith (Rangers). I moved on to St Johnstone the following year and enjoyed great success, to start off with. We finished third in the SPL, got to the League Cup Final and played in the Uefa Cup. Going to play Monaco was a real highlight. I think if you ask any supporter of that club, they will remember it as one of the most successful seasons in their history. I'm now working as an SFA staff coach and do a lot of work with Coca-Cola, who spend an awful lot of money promoting children's football in this country. I also coach my youngest son's team. In my opinion, there is nothing better in football than coaching youngsters. I'm also working for the BBC as a co-commentator. I've always felt comfortable doing that sort of media work. So far, I don't think I have had any bad Colemanballs. I did pick Jean-Louis Valois as Man of the Match in the recent Edinburgh derby, just before Mark de Vries scored four goals! |
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