Why Clarkie will be Huddersfield's loss and somebody else's gain

For me Clark STILL has all the makings of a future Newcastle manager.

He loves the club dearly, understands what the fans want, knows the passion needed on the field and has a clear appreciation of what the city demands of those lucky enough to be in the starting XI in a black and white shirt when Saturday comes (or any given day these days due to TV scheduling).

Clark has also been prepared to get his hands dirty and learn the trade of management from an early point, and work his way up the leagues.

His knowledge of the local grassroots area is also second to none.

When Clark was working with the reserves at Newcastle, he played a huge part in the early careers of Andy Carroll, Tim Krul and Kazenga LuaLua.

It was no surprise that he was clearly on his way up the coaching ladder, but Clark back then was one of the inspirations behind the early first team debuts of Carroll and Krul.

Even then I can remember Clark predicting that Carroll had an "excellent chance" of plying his trade right at the top level, and Krul's later emergence to the first team has also underlined his judgement.

He didn't last long at Norwich before Huddersfield came knocking.

The Terriers may well be in the same division they were in when Clark arrived in 2008.

In that period Huddersfield lost just 40 matches from 178 with a higher than average managerial win-rate of just under 49%.

Of course, there are arguments for Clark leaving Huddersfield from their fans.

But those arguments are what I would call flimsy at best.

Huddersfield fans should know what a tough division the third flight is, after all they've spent plenty of time in it since the early 1980s.

Huddersfield obeservers say that Clark left because of tactics, man-management and most staggeringly relations with the media.

Do I need to even question the tactics side of a man who has lost just three games in 55?

As far as man-management is concerned, Clark is savvy enough to expect 100% effort from his players who are at the end of the day being paid to perform every week and being paid an awful lot of money to do so.

The media side of it is baffling, I have never known Lee Clark to shirk his duties with the media nor be anything but honest about a situation - he's what I call a proper Geordie.

Clark has never been one to pander to the media but just like he did on the pitch as a player, he knows there is a job to be done.

He left Huddersfield with the Terriers still in with a great chance of promotion.

If they do get up this season he has laid the foundations at a club who - as I say - have spent plenty of time in the lower leagues to know how tough it will be if they fail to get up this year.

For me, the expectations of Huddersfield are high for a club have never really had a real sniff of promotion to the revamped Premier League.

As for the future, well I'm sure Clark will be back in a managerial hotseat sooner rather than later.

He still in my eyes, remains one of the great young managers in the game - and Huddersfield have also lost a great backroom team too of Terry Mac, Steve Watson and Paul Stephenson.

Clark and his backroom boys deserve to be given the chance at a club where his talent and passion for the game is fully appreciated.

Sometimes you don't know what you've got until it's gone.