Clarke Carlisle ⭑ From A-Z since '92

This is part of my (eight year long, it'll fly by) attempt to write about every Leeds United player since 1992. For more about why I'm doing this, go back to Aapo Halme, and to read all the players so far, browse the archive here.

After relegation from the Premier League in 2004, Leeds United urgently needed some esteem to silence the laughter all around them. Telling a new story about the club began with a new manager, Kevin Blackwell, said to be the most qualified coach in the country. And it included a new defender, Clarke Carlisle, the brainiest footballer in Britain.

That was official: Carlisle had won a television quiz, hosted by Carol Vorderman, proving it in 2002. Previously his school had wanted him to give up football and study for Oxford or Cambridge, and later he fulfilled an ambition by appearing on Countdown and beating the defending champion. His intelligence comes through in his conversation, raising the level of podcast Undr The Cosh when he describes Michael Duberry cutting up his clothes on his first day at Leeds, with a metaphorical flourish: "That cut up all my intentions," of showing off a new Clarke Carlisle at a new club.

Clarke Carlisle, like Leeds United, needed a new start. And like Leeds United, the need had been well publicised. After moving from Blackpool in his native north-west to QPR, Carlisle had suffered a potentially career ending knee injury. By the time he was back playing he had lost control of his lifestyle until, with the option of sacking him for turning up to training drunk, manager Ian Holloway got Carlisle into Tony Adams' Sporting Chance clinic.

Leeds was another chance, for a fresh start closer to home at a club his wife and family all supported. It was also, despite relegation, still one of the biggest clubs in the country, that players felt honoured to join. QPR and Neil Warnock's Sheffield United were offering more money, but they weren't offering games at Elland Road every other week.

The fresh start only lasted as long as it took Duberry to shred Carlisle's clothes, for Michael Ricketts to pull up in his Aston Martin and mock Carlisle's new Range Rover. "In my head I was like, what can I do to impress these guys and fit in?" Carlisle remembers. "What I'd brought there, me not drinking, being a recovering alcoholic and all good and true, it didn't fit." What did fit, was, "We had a night out. And obviously, Clarke is an insane drinker. So that's what I did."

It was the easier option. Sean Gregan, Carlisle says, took a four-pack and a bottle of wine for every overnight trip with Leeds to help him sleep. Reports from the time make light of Carlisle collecting bottles of champagne for his player of the match performances. "I am going to celebrate tonight with a cup of rosey lea," he said after a 3-0 win over Coventry City in September. "My other bottle of champagne is still in the boot of the car but I will put them both together and display them on a shelf at home." If it wasn't already, Carlisle would tell you now, the clean living and cups of tea were soon a public mask.