NEW BOSS SAYS HE’S THE LUCKY ONE

to their highest league finish in 32 years, as well as taking Reading to an FA Cup semi-final, but the former Scotland full-back is determined to make Killie his most successful appointment to date. ‘It’s nice to work again because I was an out-of-work manager,’ he said. ‘You can play a bit of golf, my handicap’s improved a hell of a lot, but it was time to get back in. ‘It’s in our blood. Sometimes, we’re a little bit crazy the way we keep throwing ourselves back into the lion’s den. But it was an opportunity. ‘There have been other conversations, but they didn’t take me as far down the road as this one. ‘There’s a select group of managers who’ll always be employed. Roy Hodgson, Tony Pulis, big Sam (Allardyce). But there’s a hell of a lot of others who get one chance and never get another one. ‘There are even more who get two chances and never get another one. So I feel quite fortunate to have a third chance. ‘I took a big decision when I left Chelsea because I probably could have stayed forever. ‘But I’ve never been afraid of a challenge and trying to push myself and try something different. ‘I don’t think I’ve been given the credit I deserve for the job I did at West Brom. Then the next year, for reasons unbeknown to me, they decided to make a quick change, which I didn’t think was fair. ‘I also took Reading to their first FA Cup semi-final in a really long time. But these days, people lose patience quickly. ‘I’ve had two stabs at being a manager and I’ve done all right. ‘Now I aim to make this job the best I’ve done so far.’ Kilmarnock director Billy Bowie said: ‘It’s always been my ambition to get a manager of Steve’s calibre. ‘Now we’ve reached that point and I’m really happy. ‘It’s a new, exciting era for the club. ‘The financial safety of the club is always of paramount importance and this appointment does not jeopardise that. It is within our budget.’

STEVE CLARKE insists he feels lucky to have been given the Kilmarnock job despite fans hailing his appointment as a massive coup for the club. As Sportsmail exclusively revealed, the 54-year-old Scot has signed a two-and-a-half year deal at Rugby Park to become the club’s seventh full-time manager in seven years. It marks a return home for Clarke, who left St Mirren to join Chelsea in 1987 and spent the last 30 years plying his trade as a player, coach and manager down in England. Jose Mourinho’s right-hand man during a trophy-laden spell at Chelsea, Clarke said he gave up a job for life at Stamford Bridge to forge his own career in management. He led West Brom