NIGHTMARE SCHEME TO TOP 6 DREAM
SFWA manager of year Clarke proud to restore Killie’s community links while transforming onfield fortunes
Steve Clarke watched with dismay from down south as Kilmarnock was stripped of its industry and its dignity.
Now the pride courses through him at restoring a sense of community in his Ayrshire home.
For Clarke, the Rugby Park revival he has sparked is more than taking over a team who were winless and hopeless then catapulting them into the top six.
That feat – and the manner of it – has earned him the Scottish Football Writers Association’s Manager of the Year award.
And whi le he admits the recognition is deeply satisfying, he sees his greater achievement as something that can’t be measured by goals or gongs.
Kilmarnock’s image was dragged into the gutter by fly-onthe-wall TV show The Scheme .
And its morale was sapped even lower by the closure of the Johnnie Wa l k e r whisky bottling plant and loss of hundreds of jobs.
Clarke was born and raised 15 miles up the road in Saltcoats and his dad, brother and five sisters all still stay nearby.
He said: “I may have been away for 30 years but I keep an eye on things so I know it has been a tough time for Ayrshire and for Kilmarnock.
“A lot of decent industry has left this area and the town has been deprived.
“It got bad press through that TV programme as well. “It was broadcast down south and I watched it because I knew the area but it didn’t portray Kilmarnock in a good light. “In fact it made it look really, really bad – and it’s not. “There is a lot of good people in Ayrshire and Kilmarnock. So a big part of the discussion when I spoke to the club initially was where they were and where they thought they could get to.
“At the time they were honest about it and realistic about a timescale to get there.
“I don’ think they were expecting such a big impact.
“The actual turnaround for the town has been amazing.
“I take pride from the job that I have done so far. The fact there is now a connection between the town and the club again is great. It had been allowed to drift too far.
“Now I get people coming up to me non-stop. The supporters have been great to me.
“They felt I was
a big name when I signed for Kilmarnock – but that’s not my personality.
“I didn’t come here thinking I’m some big cheese.”
His arrival raised eyebrows throughout the game though. Clarke’s CV includes highprofile coaching gigs at Chelsea, Newcastle and Liverpool. He has worked with some of the biggest names from the past two decades and managed West Brom to their highest finish in more than 30 years. His signing was a coup by anyone’s standards – and a real sensation for a side then joint last in the Premiership.
But the 54-year- old feared at first that Killie had not yet hit rock bottom.
And his first conversation with the board was a pact that they’d stand by each other if the club dropped out of the top flight for the first time in 25 years.
Clarke said: “I told the board that maybe we would have to go a bit lower before we picked up.
“We had honest discussions about the bottom line if the club were relegated this season.
“What were their contingency plans? But they had plans in place.
“And part of the discussions was ‘If we went lower, would they stick by me?’
“We would work together to get where we wanted to be. Thankfully it didn’t come to that.
“The players responded really well and I wouldn’t be speaking about winning this award if it wasn’t for my players.
“Without good players there are no good managers.”
The restoration work has been a two-way street. Clarke’s own faith as a manager has been restored after gut-wrenching treatment by West Brom and Reading down south.
Having taken the Baggies to eighth in the Premiership, he was bagged less than halfway through the following season with the club still above the relegation zone.
Worse fol lowed at the Madejski, where he rejected an offer from Fulham to stay put then was sacked three games later.
He said: “It’s the way the game has gone – it’s short-term now. I went back to being a coach after those two spells because I wanted to fall in love with the game again.
“I was disillusioned. I didn’t think that I had done such a bad job that I deserved to lose my job at an early stage both times.
“Yo get a bit sad but I went to Aston Villa with Roberto Di Matteo and just coached.
“I found a bit of enthusiasm for the game. Just at the right time Kilmarnock came in and said, ‘ Do you want to come up this time?’ And they got the timing just right.”
In reaching the top six, Clarke barely put a foot wrong. His wins over Celtic and Rangers despite limited recruitment showed his skill on the training ground,
The players he did bring such as Youssouf Mulumbu enhanced the league as well as his team.
Clarke said: “I still didn’t think things would turn as quickly but if I’m going to take a little bit of the credit, I’d say there’s a bit of good coaching in there.
“I know how to coach. I’ve worked with top players and know how to get the best out of them.
“Having to learn how to be a manager is slightly different and I think I’m getting a better grasp of that now.”
Managing expectations is part of that and he warned: “Realistically we have to aim for top six now next year but before you get to that you have to secure your place in the league.
“Look at Partick Thistle. They finished top half last year but are struggling a the bottom this time.
“Outside the two big Glasgow clubs, the two Edinburgh clubs and Aberdeen, the first port of call of the other seven is safety.”