THERE'S an old saying that you should never mix business and pleasure.

For footballer Lee Clark that remains as true today as it did in May 1999, when his fashion faux pas spelled the end of his career at Sunderland FC.

His business is football, but his pleasure is still to support Newcastle United FC.

When he's playing, for whatever club, then his professionalism never comes into question.

Ask any real Sunderland fan how good a player he was for them, and they'll tell you he was one of their best midfielders of the past decade.

When he was caught wearing that dreaded t-shirt at Wembley before the Newcastle United versus Manchester United Cup Final that poked fun at his employers, some Sunderland fans may have questioned his sanity.

The hardcore still question his parentage whenever they deem it fit to refer to him by name.

After Peter Reid took the only available option and cashed in on one of his prize assets, west London appeared to have mellowed the 30-year-old.

But when the Fulham midfielder fired in the winner in the 86th minute at Loftus Road on Saturday, those black-and-white demons in his head started stirring.

In his first start against his former club he was far from keen to accept the congratulations of his peers.

His priority appearing more to beg for the forgiveness of the travelling Newcastle support - including more than one of the Clark clan.

When the final whistle came, Clark was straight over to the away fans - or as close as he could to ensure a lynching was out of the question - hands clapping above his head.

It would be fair to say the reaction was mixed. An analogy would be your best friend running off with your wife, and then expecting you still to turn up for your regular Friday night's out.

If caretaker manager of the Cottagers, Chris Coleman, is correct then he won't be rushing back to Tyneside in the near future.

Coleman said: "His father was in the away end so he'll probably get a hammering the next time he's up there.

"He's got a great personality and a great attitude. He's a great worker and we were playing Newcastle so I brought him back in.

"His feelings may have been mixed at the end because he's a 100 per cent Geordie. But he's also 100 per cent professional.

"He went over to the away fans at the end because he's one of them."

In truth Newcastle should have had the game won long before Clark turned up to crack home a 25 yard effort after substitute Barry Hayles had knocked a free-kick down to him.

After 20 minutes Craig Bellamy was tripped in the box by Martin Djetou, only for Dermot Gallagher to wave away his pleas for a penalty. That did not please Bellamy or his manager.

"It's a stone cold penalty and he hasn't given it," was Sir Bobby Robson's assessment.

"I could see it from where I was, I didn't need to see a replay. We could have gone in two up and then it's a completely different game."

But it wasn't to be although Newcastle did go in one up thanks to their skipper - his first goal in five starts - and a scrambling save from Shay Given.

Fulham substitute Elvis Hammond brought Given to life after 26 minutes when full-back Jon Harley ran almost the entire length of the field to deliver a pin-point cross to the Fulham substitute.

For a second Given appeared all shook up by his back post effort, but he just about managed to get way down at his near post to save the day.

Shearer then showed the youngster who really is the king, meeting Hugo Viana's corner on 40 minutes to send a header crashing into the net.

The threat to Given's goal in the second-half was minimal until the hour mark when Andy Griffin decided he'd had enough of Luis Boa Morte.

An earlier booking for a foul on the Frenchman didn't deter him and a mistimed tackle later Newcastle were down to ten men.

"At half-time we felt comfortably that we could go on and win this game," said Sir Bobby.

"I said at half-time 'a good team wins this game and we're a good team'.

"The dismissal of Andy Griffin has cost us dearly. He was warned about his attitude and not being caught into a desperate situation.

"He was playing against a very difficult customer in Boa Morte, who's very quick on the turn but Andy is capable of handling him.

"He felt he had a good chance of winning the ball and being aggressive in the tackle, but it turns out he did catch him and got a second yellow card."

Even then Kieron Dyer should have put the game safe a few minutes later.

After exchanging passes with Bellamy the England midfielder bore down on goal only to see Maik Taylor push his effort past the post.

Then the realisation they were a man short set in and Newcastle sat back ten yards.

When Sylvain Legwinski picked up possession from Clark near the right hand touchline 40 yards out there appeared little on.

But he advanced ten yards into space and hit a speculative swerving effort that flew in off the post.

With time running out a point now seemed a good return for the Magpies, until Clark stepped in that is.

"They've scored with two long-range shots and our keeper hasn't had a chance with either," said Robson.

"I never thought we would not get a point out of it even when we were down to ten men.

"We've lost two away games in a row and we haven't deserved to lose either."

But lose them they have and one good thing about today's game against Aston Villa is that there is unlikely to be a Geordie in Graham Taylor's starting line-up.

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