Axed Clark’s open for a coach return
STEVE Clark’s acrimonious exit from Southport has done nothing to dampen his passion for football, with the Gold Coast’s reigning Coach of the Year open to a return as early as this season.
Three months after telling the Bulletin club politics were behind his shock sacking as Southport’s Coast League One coach, Clark is ready to reignite his career.
The 61-year-old Warriors legend returned to coaching last season after watching the club’s Coast League side finish seventh in 2016 and sixth in 2017, steering them to within one win of Premier League promotion.
The lateness of the club’s decision to axe him in favour of Rob Semple left him without a chance to apply for other roles, but he has not given up hope.
“You never know halfway through the season what might happen. I think I have got a lot to offer,” Clark, whose son Sam will play for Southport this season, said.
“I have been around a long time and played at a high level, and I know the game well. I was keen to do Southport again this season but that never happened for whatever reason. I’m biding my time.”
Clark arrived at Ashmore Village Park as a player in 1987, captaining and coaching at Premier League level before taking a step back at the end of 2012. He said his bitter exit last year had done irreparable damage to his affinity for the club. “No (I don’t support them), not after what’s happened. I will just go and watch my son play,” he said.
“My history has been with Southport and I have been loyal to that club since 1987. I don’t think I got treated with any sort of respect I deserved.
“(But) what I say doesn’t matter. If they do well they deserve it and if they don’t they deserve it.”