Steve Clarke

At 61 years old, Steve Clarke has this physical status:

Stephen Clarke (born 29 August 1963) is a Scottish professional football manager and former Scotland manager who is also a former Scotland boss. Clarke competed for St Mirren, Chelsea, and the Scotland national team, winning three major trophies with Chelsea towards the end of his career.

After retiring as a player, he went back to coaching and played at Newcastle United, Chelsea, West Ham United, and Liverpool.

Clarke has been in charge of West Bromwich Albion and Reading since being a manager.

Clarke, who spent a few weeks as a tutor at Aston Villa, was appointed Kilmarnock's boss in October 2017.

In May 2019, he was appointed manager of the Scottish national team.

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Playing career

Clarke was born in Saltcoats, Ayrshire. Paul, his older brother, was a footballer who appeared in more than 350 games for Kilmarnock. Steve began his professional career with St Mirren while playing for Beith Juniors. Clarke began working as an instrument engineer on a part-time basis before beginning his apprenticeship as an instrument engineer.

Clarke was sold to Chelsea for £422,000 in February 1987. He remained at Chelsea from 1998 to 1998, making 421 appearances. He was a member of Chelsea's 1997 FA Cup Final, 1998 Football League Cup Final, and 1998 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup Final. Clarke's last game for the club, against VfB Stuttgart in Stockholm, was his last match for the club. He was elected into Chelsea's Centennial XI in 2005, occupying the right-back berth.

Clarke, a footballer, said he was grateful that Chelsea had signed him because it meant that he and his family no longer had to live with religious sectarianism in the west of Scotland.

Clarke made six appearances for the Scotland national team. On September 9, 1987, his debut at Hampden Park was a 2–0 friendly victory over Hungary, and his last game was a 3–1 friendly loss away to the Netherlands six years later on May 27, 1994.

Coaching career

Clarke was appointed assistant manager to Ruud Gullit, Chelsea's former manager. Clarke was part of Gullit's coaching staff, which helped Newcastle advance to the 1999 FA Cup Final on May 22, 1999, where Newcastle finished runners up to Manchester United after goals from Teddy Sheringham and Paul Scholes in a 2–0 loss.

Following Gullit's resignation, Clarke was caretaker boss, taking responsibility of one match, a 5–1 loss to Manchester United. Clarke also recalled Alan Shearer and Rob Lee to the team for the match.

Clarke was promoted to assistant manager after a stint in charge of Chelsea's youth teams, when José Mourinho was appointed in 2004. Clarke was a member of Chelsea's coaching staff, which culminated in Chelsea winning two FA Premier League titles, an FA Cup, and two League Cups under Mourinho's tenure. Clarke graduated with his UEFA Pro Licence in 2006.

Clarke's services were retained by Avram Grant after Mourinho left Chelsea in September 2007, but Henk ten Cate was brought on as an additional assistant coach. Both Grant and ten Cate left the club at the end of the 2007–08 season. Clarke remained on the Chelsea coaching staff, but BBC Sport and The Times announced later that he would be looking for ways to become a boss in his own right. Chelsea told Clarke that he was safe, citing his loyalty, acclaim among the club's followers, and his efforts in the aftermath of Mourinho's departure.

Clarke resigned from Chelsea on September 12, 2008, in the hopes of becoming assistant to former Chelsea teammate Gianfranco Zola. Chelsea resigned early, rejecting compensation worth two years of Clarke's salary. Clarke became West Ham's first-team coach after an agreement was reached between the clubs.

In the 2008-2009 season, West Ham finished ninth in the Premier League, with Clarke and Zola extending contracts that made Clarke the highest paid assistant manager in the league. During the next season, the club struggled, but it did a good job of avoiding relegation. Clarke left the club by mutual consent in June 2010, not long after Zola's dismissal as manager.

Clarke was named first-team coach at Liverpool by Kenny Dalglish on January 10, 2011, after Dalglish had to replace the fired Roy Hodgson two days earlier. Clarke was praised (alongside Dalglish) for turning Liverpool's season around, with a points average of around two points per match from his arrival, as well as an improved defensive record. Clarke, as well as manager Dalglish, signed a three-year deal on May 12 to continue in his current position as first team coach.

Clarke resigned from Liverpool on May 14th, 2012, following the dismissal of manager Dalglish and Liverpool's eighth-place finish in the 2011-12 Premier League. Clarke left the club on June 6, 2012, following the appointment of new manager Brendan Rodgers. Clarke himself claimed that Liverpool fired him.

Clarke was appointed manager of West Bromwich Albion on June 8, 2012, and he had agreed to a two-year deal. Clarke's first permanent management position for any club, but the club referred to him as "head coach" during his tenure.

Albion began the Clarke period with a 3–0 victory over Liverpool on the first day of the 2012–13 Premier League season. Clarke then won by 2–0 at home against Tottenham Hotspur and a 1–1 away draw against Tottenham Hotspur. Clarke suffered his first competitive loss away at Fulham, but West Brom thrashed Reading 1-0, but the team quickly recovered with a 1–0 home win. Southampton, Wigan Athletic, Chelsea, and Sunderland all won four matches in a row in November, the club's first match since 1980. Clarke was named Premier League manager of the month for November 2012. Although the squad will advance to lose their next three games, Clarke's side will bounce back with a draw at home against West Ham and a 2–1 victory over Norwich City. West Brom finished seventh in the table with 30 points, behind Arsenal and Spurs only on goal difference. Clarke had some issues with neo-away Nigerian Striker Peter Odemwingie, who wanted to move to Queens Park Rangers during January, but West Brom refused to sell. Following the transfer window tragedy, Odemwingie was never sold and was later granted time off. The club had trouble resurrecting their early season form during this January season. Clarke defeated Liverpool 2–0 at Anfield, the club's first victory since Boxing Day against QPR, following a string of poor results that saw West Brom fail to win in six games in a row.

West Brom defeated Southampton 3–0 on April 27th, their 14th victory of the season. In a Premier League season, this was the first club record for wins (14) and points (48). West Brom finished the season on a high note by drawing Manchester United's 5–5 draw in what was Sir Alex Ferguson's last match as manager. West Brom finished eighth in the table, their highest finish since 1981.

Following a 90th-minute Rickie Lambert penalty, Clarke and West Brom returned to Southampton at The Hawthorns for the new season. In a 1–1 victory over Fulham, the team initially struggled to score goals, eventually scoring their first league goal of the season. Manchester United defeated them 2–1, their first victory at Old Trafford in 35 years, on September 28. They won just one more game under his new managership, a 2–0 home loss of Crystal Palace on November 2, 2013. West Brom were seconds away from securing a historic victory at Stamford Bridge on November 9, which would have put an end to José Mourinho's undefeated home record, but a contentious penalty decision ensured that the game came to a conclusion 2–2. Following a 1–0 loss at Cardiff City, Clarke was put on gardening leave until December 14, 2013; a further draw and four consecutive losses followed, and Clarke was put on leave until May 2014. With this loss, the club had two points above the club's relegation zone, which had been in 16th place. They had won 9 of their first 41 Premier League matches.

Clarke was named boss of Reading on a two-and-a-half year, succeeding Nigel Adkins. Clarke led Reading to a 3–0 victory over Bradford City in the FA Cup on March 16, 2015, the first semi-final for 88 years. Clarke was hired by Fulham to become their manager in November 2015. Clarke had permission to speak to Fulham, but he decided against accepting the position following the discussion. After one year in charge, Clarke was fired by Reading on December 4, 2015.

Clarke was recruited by Aston Villa on June 2nd, 2016 to be their assistant manager, along with former Chelsea teammate Roberto Di Matteo. Following Steve Bruce's appointment in October 2016, he was not retained.

Clarke was appointed manager of Kilmarnock, the Scottish Premiership club that he had admired as a child for a year. The club sat last in the league table when he took over. Kilmarnock's first game as manager of a Scottish club match in 30 years ended in a 1-1 draw at Rangers. Clarke's side returned to reigning champions Celtic for a 1–1 draw three days later. Kilmarnock won by a home victory over Celtic during the league's winter break, with Youssouf Mulumbu scoring the only goal to flict the second domestic defeat on the Glasgow club's manager Brendan Rodgers. Kilmarnock finished the season in fifth place, tallying 59 points in the process. Clarke was named the SFWA Manager of the Year for 2017-18.

Clarke's incredible work this season included another victory over Celtic and two over Rangers, culminating in a third-place finish and European qualification for Kilmarnock. Both manager of the year and SFWA have given him the coveted SFWA and PFA Scotland respectively. Clarke left Kilmarnock immediately after the league season ended to take over the national team's manager role.

Clarke, a footballer, was elected manager of Scotland's national team in May 2019, a term that will continue until the end of 2022 FIFA World Cup qualification. In UEFA Euro 2020 qualifying, the Scots defeated Cyprus 2–1 at home on June 8th, winning 2–1 at home. The team suffered four straight losses against Belgium and Russia, two of whom were decided by 4–0 margins, putting an end to any hopes of qualifying automatically for Euro 2020. Scotland defeated Serbia 4–5 on penalties after a 1–1 draw to advance to the UEFA Nations League's delayed finals on November 12, 2020.

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