CLARKE HANDED NEW CONTRACT AT KILLIE

KILMARNOCK last night rewarded Steve Clarke for his stunning first season in charge at Rugby Park by handing him a bumper new contract. When the former West Brom boss first arrived at the club last October, he signed a three-year deal. But Clarke and his assistant Alex Dyer have now both put pen to paper on a new, improved 12-month rolling contract. The move to reward the pair came after they led Killie to fifth place in the Premiership last season, which included a memorable Rugby Park win over Celtic, as well as home and away victories over Rangers. Prior to Clarke taking over from Lee McCulloch, Killie sat bottom of the Premiership and looked in real danger of relegation. However, under his astute stewardship, they finished the campaign with a club-record top-flight points total of 59. A former right-hand man to Kenny Dalglish at Liverpool and Jose Mourinho at Chelsea, Clarke was linked with the Scotland and Rangers jobs before they went to Alex McLeish and Steven Gerrard, respectively. His successful first season at Killie saw him receive the Scottish Football Writers’ Association’s Manager of the Year award in May. Speaking from the club’s training camp at La Manga, Clarke last night vowed to repay Killie by working hard to bring fresh success to Rugby Park. He told www.kilmarnockfc.co.uk: ‘The club approached me at the end of last season and I have a good relationship with the people above me. ‘I was very grateful and pleased that they came to me with a new, improved contract. It tells you that you’ve done a good job and it shows they have a little bit of faith in you. ‘It is easy to sign the contract and it’s easy to take the rewards but the hard bit is that I need to repay that faith by doing more good work for the club. ‘The support base had been growing and, hopefully, it will grow more next season and we can regularly get 6,000, 7,000, 8,000 people watching us. ‘That’s a little ambition of mine for this season that we start to draw in the crowds.’