I WISH TO PLAY FOR STOKE CITY ; Former Newcastle United key star reveals

October 11, 2023 admin Other Clubs 0

The former Newcastle United defender is aiming for a third promotion to the Championship after moving from Stoke City

Former Newcastle United defender Ciaran Clark admits he misses the feeling of being in the dressing room after signing for Stoke City on a short-term contract until the end of the season.

Ciaran Clark: Sheffield United sign Newcastle United defender on loan - BBC Sport

The 34-year-old Ireland international was released by Newcastle this summer after a loan spell at Sheffield United last season. He helped the Blades return

to the Premier League, achieving the same feat with the Magpies in 2017.However, he was not part of Eddie Howe’s plans at United, with players such as

Sven Botman and Dan Burn relegating him to Tyneside, and was allowed to leave in the summer. After a few months away, Clark is delighted to rejoin Alex

Neil’s Stoke and looks forward to contributing to their Championship win. “I remember the feeling of being in the locker room and preparing every week for

Saturday,” he said. “I worked hard throughout pre-season and have been in good form since then, so I’m looking forward to playing with the boys over the next few weeks as the feeling from these training sessions is something you cannot recreate on your own.

“With the quality of the players, if we find consistency, I think we can continue and have a good season.”

Most of the left-back’s 299 career appearances have come in the Premier League with his first clubs Aston Villa and Newcastle. Clark made 36 appearances for the Republic of Ireland and won promotion from the Championship twice, with Newcastle in 2017 and last season with the Blades.

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Alex Neil will hopefully have many more options as he prepares his Stoke City squad for a vital run of five matches in 21 days when the Championship returns.

Neil understands the importance of picking up points no matter when league football returns following the international break – and he should be helped by a mini exodus from the treatment room. There is no doubt that the last few weeks have been challenging as injuries have laid low eight would-be starters but a handful of players are expected to soon put themselves into contention for selection as soon as possible.

Ki-Jana Hoever, Lynden Gooch, Michael Rose and Andre Vidigal could be available for a home game against Sunderland on Saturday October, 21 while Enda Stevens (calf) and Ryan Mmaee (hamstring) are making progress. Tyrese Campbell and Ben Wilmot are longer term lay-offs but Ciaran Clark has joined as a free agent to offer an extra body and experience in defence.

Lewis Baker is also continuing his rehabilitation following knee surgery in pre-season and Emre Tezgel is building up his fitness with the under-18s ready to stake his claim again.

Youth prospect Josh Bickerton would have been an option for a breakthrough at left-back but for a knee injury he picked up in the summer. He is now back running. Under-21s centre-halves Luke Badley-Morgan and Ian Kamga are also injured, as are Matty Baker and David Okagbue, who are out on loan at Newport County and Walsall respectively and cannot be recalled outside transfer windows anyway.

Neil said at the weekend: “We’ve got eight senior players out at the moment but probably five of those should be back after this break and we’ll naturally improve as a squad on the back of that. We’ve got some crucial games coming up that we need to go and attack.

“The fact we’ve got so many players missing, whether the international break has come at the right time for us or not speaks for itself. Obviously results have been disappointing and we know the next batch of games is going to be very important for us.”

 

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