Steve Clarke: I deserve more credit for what I achieved with West Brom
Former boss Steve Clarke believes he deserves more credit for what he achieved with Albion.
The 54-year-old, who guided the Baggies to an eighth-place finish in the top tier 2012/13, has been given the Kilmarnock job in Scotland on a two-and-a-half year contract.
The former Chelsea and Liverpool assistant says his sacking at The Hawthorns in December 2013 was unfairly swift and came too soon after Albion’s best ever finish in the Premier League.
“I feel like I’ve not really had the credit I deserve for the manager job I did at West Bromwich Albion,” Clarke told the BBC. “I took them to their highest ever finish in the Premier League which was quite good.
“The following season 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 and that was also supposed to be a project where we were going to try and build something, but people lose patience very quickly these days.”
Clarke hasn’t managed since Reading sacked him in December 2015, but he was Roberto Di Matteo’s assistant at Villa briefly.
“I was ready to be a manager when I left Chelsea in 2008,” he said. “I’ve had two stabs at it. I think I’ve done alright and I aim to make this one [Kilmarnock] the best job that I’ve done so far.”
