He was also part of the Magpies squad under Kevin Keegan that finished runners-up in the top flight in consecutive seasons.

He later became first team manager at Huddersfield Town and had similar spells in charge of Birmingham City, Blackpool, Kilmarnock, Bury and Blyth Spartans.

In 2020 he joined non-league side Newcastle Blue Star as director of football, before moving to Sudan to manage Al-Merrikh.

[2] Clark reasons that this was a mistake that hurt the team dynamic that was working, and that this decision may have cost Newcastle United the title.

A year earlier, he had been a key player in the side that reached the First Division play-off final, only to suffer a penalty shoot-out defeat to Charlton Athletic after a 4–4 draw at Wembley.

However, at the 1999 FA Cup final he was spotted with the Newcastle fans wearing a T-shirt with the slogan "Sad Mackem Bastards".

He collected another Division One title medal with in 2001, enabling him to experience Premier League football for the first time since the 1996–97 season.

[citation needed] In November 2007, Clark left his post at Newcastle to become assistant manager to Roeder at Championship club Norwich City.

[14] Clark signed Peter Løvenkrands, David Lucas, Hayden Mullins and Darren Ambrose in the summer of 2012, as well as Ravel Morrison, Ben Gordon, James Hurst, Leroy Lita, Paul Caddis, Paul Robinson, Rob Hall, Shane Ferguson and Wes Thomas later on throughout the 2012–13 season.

[15] During the January 2013 transfer window, Clark sold Jake Jervis, David Lucas and Jack Butland, who returned on loan for the remainder of the season.

Despite receiving criticism from fans for alleged poor management skills regarding public fallouts with Nikola Žigić,[16] Clark has been praised for introducing academy players into the first team squad, players including Jack Butland, Will Packwood, Mitch Hancox, Callum Reilly, Koby Arthur and Reece Hales.

[20] Despite poor results in the league (including an 18 home match run without a league win) and the removal from the coaching staff of Clark's right-hand men Derek Fazackerley and Terry McDermott,[21] Clark managed to keep Birmingham City in the Championship with an injury time equaliser from Paul Caddis in the final game of the 2013–14 season against Bolton, the 2–2 result being enough to keep the team up on goal difference.

[22] On 20 October 2014, with Birmingham 21st in the table and having won at home in the league only once in more than a year, Clark and assistant Steve Watson were dismissed.

[23] At the time of his dismissal, Clark had won 33 of his 116 games – the lowest win ratio for a quarter of a century from a Birmingham manager – and left the club one point above the relegation zone.

[29] He went on to help Kilmarnock keep their 23-year long Scottish Premiership status by defeating Falkirk 4–1 in the play off final with the latter of the two legs being a 4–0 thrashing with goals from Greg Kiltie (2), Miles Addison and Kris Boyd.

[37] In November 2021, Clark was appointed manager of Al-Ittihad of the Oman Professional League and drew 0–0 with Al-Nahda during his first game in charge.

[40] Clark's son, Bobby, plays as a midfielder for RB Salzburg and featured during Liverpool's 1-0 victory in the Carabao Cup final against Chelsea in February 2024,[41] before scoring his first professional goal in a UEFA Europa League Round of 16 Second Leg tie against Sparta Praha on 14 March 2024.