ROYAL APPOINTMENT
Steve Clarke settles into life in the League as Reading’s new manager
STEVE CLARKE sits down to discuss his new job but the decor at Reading’s Hogwood Park training complex makes for an uncomfortable backdrop for all concerned.
Behind the Royals’ new manager is a giant landscape picture of his new matchday office in all its glory.
The Madejski Stadium is packed to the rafters during a Premier League encounter with Manchester United, and if you look closely enough you can make out Wayne Rooney. It would take an eagle eye to find a spare seat.
Club and Clarke remember those days. Hosting the game’s biggest and best, full houses and packed press rooms. The moody artwork illustrates perfectly how things used to be for them both.
The 51-year-old believes he should still be managing in the top-flight. He won’t say it quite like that, but the Scot does reserve a little dig for West Bromwich Albion, the club that fired him so abruptly just in time for Christmas a year and a day before he returned to the game.
He doesn’t want to be in the Football League for long and feels Reading boast all the hallmarks of a club that can sustain a long stay among English football’s elite.
How times have changed. It’s taken Clarke a long time to get back in at Reading, and his appointment may not have come about at all had they not disintegrated in front of then-boss Nigel Adkins’ eyes at Birmingham 6-1 last Saturday.
Memories
The stadium hardly holds great memories for the ex-Chelsea and Liverpool coach. His last visit in January 2013 saw Albion 2-0 up with eight minutes to go. They lost 3-2. Neither Reading or Clarke would be in the Premier League by the end of the year.
Now the club that turned him over are hovering a little close for comfort over the Championship’s bottom three, a far cry from when they were mixing it with the big boys. With a challenging festive schedule, things may be about to get worse before they get better.
“This time last year the wife was a little happier, I can tell you that!” he smiled, after being confirmed as Adkins’ replacement. “There was none of this festive fixture list as I had just been given Christmas off by West Brom.
“She managed to get a quite nice little bonus – there was no Christmas Day training or three games in a week. She had her husband at home.
“You’ve got to feel for her a bit now. It’s a few days before Christmas, she thinks I’ll be home again with the family and all of a sudden that’s cancelled!
“I can’t say I have liked being out of work but I suppose there have been some plus points. I’ve been well looked after – I’ve been on quite a few holidays. I’ve been lucky really, but I have missed football; the involvement and the people. It’s
been a good break and I’ve been able to work on my tan, that’s for sure, but I’m energised now. It’s given me some thinking time and I’m more determined than ever to make sure this works.”
While Reading have acclimatised to life outside the top-flight after a year-and-a-half, yesterday’s visit of Watford was their new manager’s first taste of Championship life.
It’s a league alien to Clarke, in employment in the Premier League uninterrupted since 2004, first as assistant to Jose Mourinho at Stam- ford Bridge. The Portuguese’s instant success in England was aided by one of the country’s most highlyregarded coaches.
After four years in west London, the same roles at West Ham and then Liverpool materialised, but his ambition was always to be a number one.
His first step on that ladder at West Brom hasn’t blurred his vision. Sacked by Albion a season after guiding the club to eighth in the Premier League, he maintains he was harshly disposed of.
“I think the lifespan of a manager is getting less and less in general and that’s a big concern for football,” he said.
“There seems to be a lot less time given than there used to be. I think the number of casualties seen in the Football League this season demonstrates that, there must be getting on for 30 changes so far.
“The irony for me, of course, is that there hasn’t been a single sacking so far in the Premier League! It was very nearly a year ago since I lost my job. All I will say about that is I am looking at the table and I can’t see an improvement in the club’s position since I lost my job.
Challenge
“This is my first time managing at this level but that holds no fear for me. I am up for the challenge and I have been watching games – you have to. I know a lot about the league, I’m not going in blind.
“If you asked me if I wanted to manage in the Championship, of course I would have to say probably not.
“I have turned down a number of opportunities in the division in the last year, but there’s something about Reading that made me think there’s scope to take things forward.
“We are in a similar situation. We have both come from the Premier League and want to get back there as soon as possible.”
Ten points shy of the play-offs ahead of the weekend, he isn’t giving up hope. Clarke refuses to see the rest of this season as building time for an assault next term.
“I need to get us going in the right direction quite quickly but it’s going to be difficult as I’ve come in at a period when it’s game after game after game,” he added. “We’ve got to hit the ground running. I want us to get an identity quite fast.
“I enjoyed my first training session on Thursday and I was pleased with the squad. If you don’t get a reaction from your players on the first day, then you’re in a bit of trouble!
“But I loved it, I loved getting my boots back on, it’s been a long time.
“One thing that will be vital will be engaging with the club’s fans and making the Madejski Stadium a place teams fear to go to again.
“I’ve got first-hand experience of the Reading supporters. I remember the car-crash game all too well – I wish I could block it from my memory.
“My West Brom team were 2-0 up and cruising and then the stadium came alive. Reading scored three goals late on and it left us reeling – it was a lot to do with the atmosphere generated inside the ground, it showed me the power of the Reading fans at home.
“We don’t think the season is done yet, we don’t think we’re too far away from the play-off places and if we can get the performances we require, the levels from the players and the backing from the crowd, anything is possible.
“After giving me one of my worst days in football, I want the supporters to give me and their team a big helping hand.”