Ex-Newcastle & Sunderland star thinks Steve Bruce should re-sign Andy Carroll

The ex-England international left Tyneside in 2001, signing for Kenny Dalglish’s Liverpool for a whopping £35m fee.

However, injuries hampered the Gateshead-born forward’s once-promising career and the now 30-year-old striker is now available for nothing after leaving West Ham this summer.

Clark, who manages Blyth Spartans, believes his former protege could do a job for the Magpies.

“I know Andy Carroll very well. I was the reserves team manager at Newcastle when he was breaking through, Clark wrote in his Tribal Football column

“I gave him his opportunity as a young boy in the reserve team and then he quickly had his debut against Palermo in the Europa League.

“I watched him develop into a unique striker and the type of striker of his ilk is up there with the very best. The issue that Andy has had, as we all know, is the injury history.

“If the club could strike a deal where they can cover their back in terms of the injury problems that Andy's had, I'm certainly sure that the fans would be delighted if he was one of our strikers that you could call upon, alongside Joelinton and Almiron.

“Certainly for me it would be an exciting signing, but you obviously have to look at the injury background and what's caused certain injuries. There's no guarantees when you sign a player, you've just got to hope that he's injury history is behind him.