Thank You Steve Clarke

THE departure of Steve Clarke from Liverpool has been somewhat inevitable since Kenny Dalglish was sacked last month and on Wednesday, the League Managers Association confirmed that Clarke had left the club.

Clarke had initially offered his resignation when Dalglish left the club, but it was rejected and Clarke was asked to wait until a new manager was appointed to resolve his future.

With Dalglish’s replacement, Brendan Rodgers, bringing in three staff with him from Swansea, including his assistant manager Colin Pascoe, it seems there was no role for Clarke in the new Anfield setup.

The LMA said that Clarke left Liverpool on “amicable terms” and like most Reds fans I have spoken to, I’m sorry to see Clarke go. His training methods were widely praised and it has been reported on several occasions that the Liverpool players enjoyed working with Clarke at Melwood.

Having worked under Jose Mourinho, Avram Grant and Gianfranco Zola, Clarke had a high reputation in football before he came to Liverpool. When results under Dalglish were positive, Clarke was rightly given some of the credit – he was said to have improved our defence and when we struggled under Dalglish, our problems were upfront rather than at the back.

However Rodgers is much more hands-on during training than Dalglish was, meaning it was always going to be difficult for him to work alongside Clarke. With Kevin Keen expected to leave Liverpool too, any remnants of the Dalglish era are being stripped away.

With Clarke now being appointed the new manager of West Brom, it seems that that life after Liverpool will be positive for Dalglish’s former right-hand man. He is said to have harboured managerial aspirations for some time and now he will get his chance at the Hawthorns. The LMA noted on Wednesday that Clarke “now looks forward to the next challenge in his career” and clearly he is wasting no time in seeking that next challenge. I for one would like to thank Steve Clarke for the work he did at Liverpool, and I wish him well with West Brom.
[ad_pod id=”unruly-video” align=”center”]
Live4Liverpool is recruiting columnists. For further info contact the site editor at live4liverpool@snack-media.com

Follow us on Twitter here: @live4Liverpool and ‘Like’ us on Facebook