4. Lee Clark's SMB Stunt Was To Force A Move Away From Sunderland
The Claim Though he has expressed regret for pulling the SMB t-shirt stunt at the 1999 FA Cup final that got him sacked from Sunderland, it was all a ploy engineered so that he didn't have to play for Sunderland against his beloved Newcastle United. The Truth It may actually be partly true. Clark admitted that signing for Sunderland had been a mistake, and that he was already looking to move on before he went down to Wembley:
"Joining Sunderland was a mistake... because of my background. Everyone knows I'm Newcastle through and through. When I left Newcastle, the prospect of staying in the North-East, close to my family, was the big pull in going to Sunderland. But when we won promotion it dawned on me what that really meant. I would have to go to Newcastle the following season as a Sunderland player."
He confessed he couldn't give 100% for the Black Cats against the club he loved, and felt that would be cheating Peter Reid and the fans, so he asked to leave. The SMB incident was merely a happy coincident, but let's not let the truth get in the way of a good story eh?