On his kutte, he wears patches reading "President", "First 9", "Men of Mayhem" and "Unholy Ones"; the last two are worn on the front lower seam instead of his chest, one each side.

He did later go on to serve in the military, joining the US Army as an Airborne qualified Infantryman in 1969 and was deployed to Vietnam until 1972 (this is commemorated by a tattoo on his left arm and the paratrooper pin on his vest).

While serving as the Vice President during the early 1990s, he was responsible for a number of murders during the SAMCRO-Mayan War, including that of Lowell Harland Sr., a mechanic at the auto shop who became an ATF informant.

Juice Ortiz, the club's intelligence officer, finds out where the Mayans stored the guns and Clay, Tig, Jax and Chibs Telford all head out to San Leandro to retrieve them.

However, he is dying from cancer and will retire at the end of the month, handing power over to his Deputy, David Hale, who is overtly suspicious of the SOA and will almost definitely begin an investigation into the club.

[4] Local businessman Elliot Oswald goes to Clay after his 13-year-old daughter is raped at a carnival and asks the Sons of Anarchy to hunt down the rapist and kill him, in exchange for money.

He also sends Bobby and Jax to inform the Devil's Tribe that the Sons of Anarchy will be patching over them, and Tig and Juice to steal a truck to transport the guns in.

When Clay and Jax visit Otto in prison, he tells them that if they protect Chuck when he is released, he will inform them where the money that he has skimmed from the Asian Triads gang is located.

Instead of starting a war, Clay decides to make a deal; SAMCRO hands over Chuck and the plates for $60,000 from the Triads as the skim money is all counterfeit.

Meanwhile, Kyle Hobart, a disgraced former SAMCRO member, goes to Jax and asks him if the Sons want in on his deal selling stolen car parts.

Ernest Darby is also being held there, and Clay tells Unser to bring Álvarez in, in order for the three gang leaders to hold a meeting and, hopefully, prevent further bloodshed.

He then meets with Álvarez and the pair make a deal; the Sons of Anarchy will begin selling guns to the Mayans, and all Mayan-SOA disputes (over turf, businesses, etc.)

[11] Rosen, the club's lawyer, meets with Clay and tells him that the ATF has put a warrant out for Opie's arrest and that he will most likely get convicted of Hefner's murder because of the witness.

They again blackmail him with the knife that he used to kill the rapist earlier in the season, this time to get his friends in the US Attorney's office to tell him the witness' case number and location.

We see him giving Opie a fake story of how a Mayan MC member killed Donna and he throws a welcome back party for Bobby.

He is last seen consoling his distraught stepson Jax, whose son Abel (Clay's grandson) has been kidnapped by IRA gun dealer Cameron Hayes.

In the episode "Turas", when SAMCRO are nearly killed by a bomb hidden in a gun shipment put there by the SAMBEL Sergeant-at-Arms, Jax has a shell shocked vision of his biological father speaking to him but it turns out to actually be Clay.

In the episode "Firinne", Clay kills McGee, member of the First 9 and President of the Belfast Chapter, for his treachery against the club by pushing him off a roof after taking his cut.

After retrieving the last brick of cocaine that Juice had stolen, framing Miles for it, Clay asks Romeo for help killing Tara, to keep the secret of the letters hidden.

Given the club's difficult circumstances, Clay calls the Irish Kings for a meeting to set a new deal that lets them survive the war against Lobo Sonora.

Clay promises to Gemma he won't hurt Tara, however he uses the cell phone Luis gave him, and the next morning pays the contact 25,000 dollars for the murder.

After finding out that Jax and the babies are with her, Clay desperately tries to stop the hit, but is unsuccessful and Tara has her hand broken by a car door while struggling to escape.

The next episode "Small World" shows Clay having recovered to the point of no longer needing his oxygen tank, though he continues to wear it (either for sympathy or to keep people off-guard).

When Unser (who has been investigating the break-ins) comes close to discovering the truth, Go-Go and Greg meet with Clay to discuss killing him, while Frankie goes underground.

When Jax reveals a new deal to the Club, which would allow the Mayans and Triads to take over muling the cocaine and selling big guns, respectively, Clay votes yes along with everyone else.

It's revealed in "Darthy" that Bobby convinced Clay to confess his role in the Nomad attacks in exchange for vetoing his death: club-sanctioned assassinations (known as "A Visit from Mr. Mayhem") require a unanimous vote.

Clay also meets with Gaylen, tells him he plans on starting his own crew to run any guns SAMCRO doesn't pick up, and asks for a plane to Belfast to wait out any immediate danger.

He is shown to be ready to leave in the season finale when Roosevelt and several policemen state they found his gun (the same one he gave Juice) at a crime scene as the murder weapon that killed Damon Pope and three of his men.

Clay initially refuses, but after being transferred to general population and realizing he is certain to be murdered in retaliation for two deaths he had nothing to do with and didn't even approve, he agrees to help Toric and is returned to protective custody.

However, series creator Kurt Sutter decided to go in a different direction with the character and re-cast Perlman in the role, and Clay's scenes were re-shot for the pilot episode that aired.