Bumping this for something interesting I found on another forum. My views on Clark are pretty clear - I think he's got a screw loose and we've seen it several times. I think he got very, very lucky that the panel decided the arm break was "reckless but not intentional" which given the clarity of the video replays I strongly disagree with.
Clark said this on twitter yesterday:
I have been to some dark places over the last 32 weeks. A lot of people have had a lot to say. Im going to take my turn.
@Calumclark89
I am ashamed and sorry for what happened. I have taken a long hard look in the mirror and blame nobody but myself. I have learnt a lot.
@Calumclark89
I would like to thank my club who stood by me, and my teammates who have had to carry me for such a long time.
‏@Calumclark89
Today couldn't have been much tougher a challenge. Once in a lifetime. We did out best and lost.
‏@Calumclark89
Thanks.
‏@Calumclark89
I appreciate the fact that he's not making excuses. It's fairly clearly an admission of guilt (I appreciate that he can't actually come out and say he did it on purpose because it leaves him open to legal action - the thought had crossed my mind that the RFU panel were trying to avoid the same thing with their decision) and at no point does he try and deflect. It seems genuine. I hope he has managed to fix himself, because otherwise he's a player I don't want in our sport.
On the strength of nothing more than a few lines, I'm prepared to 'wait and see'. Certainly yesterday he went out of his way to be the peacemaker, and it'll be interesting to see whether this is truly a reformed character, or just a Joey Barton self-delusion.
Losing the Barton hairstyle might help though!
O Fortuna, velut luna statu variabilis,
semper crescis aut decrescis