Steve Clarke

[funky monkey]

2 hours ago, killieboy said:

All the best Steve, Thanks for making me love my club again! If it doesn't work out you know where we are.

This.

Having been a regular attender since the early 80's and a season ticket holder from the 90's to 2013, I virtually gave up on the club following the Kenny Shiels debacle and the dark years under MJ. To be honest, I didn't miss it as I hadn't been enjoying it for a while.

I came back for the Don scup replay last season, where Rugby Park was rocking and we were robbed by a poor refereeing decision.

This year, I've been to a few games and enjoyed the positive atmosphere around the club and the never say die attitude of Steve Clarke's team. Clarke and Bowie have given the supporters their club back, the team on the park play like fans in jerseys, so many of them that we can identify with.

I've already bought a season ticket for next season.

I'm gutted Steve Clarke is gone, especially for the Scotland job where he has had a fractious relationship with the SFA. I understand his need to be with his family, nobody can question that. I thank him for everything that he has done for our club and for giving me back my love of the club.

Onwards and upwards. Together we are Killie!

[C4mmy31]

Well said @funky monkey ....

[Ken T]

I don't remember a day as good at RP as yesterday, crowd, performance, result, speech - cannot exceed that and at least  the timing is at the end of a fantastic season and not in the middle. As someone said he is even going somewhere he can't poach our players, he always stated he wouldn't go to another Scottish club and of course was true to his word. Absolute class act. Thank you for every single minute you spent at our club and our town Sir Steve. 

[mathematics]

Is this the first time a manager has left Killie for Scotland?

[CB]

Malky MacDonald?

[skygod]

MacDonald managed Scotland on an interim basis in 1966 while he was still managing Killie. 

 

 

Edited May 21, 2019 by skygod

[Rondo]

3 hours ago, mathematics said:

Is this the first time a manager has left Killie for Scotland?

It's the second time that a Killie manager has left to manage his international side after guiding Killie into the top 6 comfortably. Remember Mixu!!!

[piffer]

That #Nothingmattersmore nonsense is terrible. Who came up with that crap. 

[mathematics]

54 minutes ago, Rondo said:

It's the second time that a Killie manager has left to manage his international side after guiding Killie into the top 6 comfortably. Remember Mixu!!!

Hah! Had clean forgotten about that!

[kfc_superteam]

Absolutely gutted by this but he leaves with all the respect and gratitude in the world. No one can begrudge Sir Steve leaving. He has delivered in terms of uniting a club with the help of Billy Bowie, delivering an unbelievable period for our club. 

I actually think he may well be the best ever. He took on Rangers and Celtic multiple times and irked them by rejecting Rangers and stating he had no interest in managing Celtic. He leaves with all of our best wishes. A true legend. The respect he has shown by finishing the job, bowing out with class and respect and genuinely striking up rapport with the fans. There will never be another Sir Steve. 

I for one will be cheering on Scotland and firmly believe we can qualify! 

To Sir Steve, what a man! Thanks for the last few years. Best I have witnessed

 

[Silent Bob]

Did SSC not get the West Brom job after Roy Hodgson left to take the England job?

[Jon]

7 hours ago, funky monkey said:

This.

Having been a regular attender since the early 80's and a season ticket holder from the 90's to 2013, I virtually gave up on the club following the Kenny Shiels debacle and the dark years under MJ. To be honest, I didn't miss it as I hadn't been enjoying it for a while.

I came back for the Don scup replay last season, where Rugby Park was rocking and we were robbed by a poor refereeing decision.

This year, I've been to a few games and enjoyed the positive atmosphere around the club and the never say die attitude of Steve Clarke's team. Clarke and Bowie have given the supporters their club back, the team on the park play like fans in jerseys, so many of them that we can identify with.

I've already bought a season ticket for next season.

I'm gutted Steve Clarke is gone, especially for the Scotland job where he has had a fractious relationship with the SFA. I understand his need to be with his family, nobody can question that. I thank him for everything that he has done for our club and for giving me back my love of the club.

Onwards and upwards. Together we are Killie!

The fact that you were a lapsed fan but are now a season ticket holder for next season is the biggest measure of Killie's journey over the past two years.

Some clubs losing such an inspirational leader would metaphorically pack away their dreams. But Clarke and Billy Bowie and most importantly the players have built a platform where we can't wait to see where the revolution leads us next.

[kfc_superteam]

 

Steve Clarke had heart set on Scotland and Kilmarnock couldn't compete admits Billy Bowie
The Rugby Park chief says Kilmarnock's loss is Scotland's gain but admits he couldn't stand in Clarke's way when his country came calling 

Billy Bowie took the kitchen sink with him into Rugby Park yesterday morning. But deep down, he knew no matter how hard he threw it at Steve Clarke, it was never going to wash.

Not when Clarke’s heart was already set on cleaning up the affairs of an entire nation.

Record Sport first revealed last week that Bowie had pencilled in a Monday morning heart-to-heart with his manager in the hope of persuading him not to call time on this whirlwind romance at Rugby Park after 18 barnstorming months during which he dragged a club from the brink of relegation into the Europa League qualifiers.

No wonder Bowie wasn’t prepared to let him leave without a putting up a fight. But in truth, it was a token effort.

Speaking to exclusively to Record Sport later yesterday afternoon, a few hours after conceding defeat, the Killie supremo sighed reluctantly: “There was nothing much more we could do to make him stay.

"The moment he told me he wanted to become Scotland manager there wasn’t much point in trying to stand in his way.

“It’s been a tough day. I was in for our meeting at half past ten today so it feels like its been a long day.

“We discussed everything that we had to talk about. We discussed his options and we talked about the club going into Europe next season.

“But he just saw the Scotland job as an honour that he couldn’t turn down. It was a straightforward conversation. When Steve told me he wanted to become the manager of Scotland and that he considered it a great honour, I knew there wasn’t much we could do to keep him at Killie.

“We’ve got to be glad that Scotland now has a great manager because we are all supporting the national team as well.”

If Bowie was trying to sound sincere then it was perfectly understandable that he couldn’t quite manage it. This loss will be a sore one to swallow at a moment in history when Kilmarnock appeared to put a troubled past behind it.

How exactly is he meant to replace a man like Clarke who has worked a succession of miracles over the last season and a half, culminating in Sunday’s crowning glory? If Bowie was grinning through gritted teeth for Scotland’s good fortune, then he could hardly be blamed.

By contrast yesterday afternoon SFA chief executive Ian Maxwell was purring around Hampden’s sixth floor like the cat who got the cream. And little wonder.

Make no mistake, these were testing times for Maxwell who can this morning celebrate his first full year in the job by unveiling the Scotland’s manager of the year as the new national boss. The process may have been long winded, cumbersome and clumsily handled at times but Maxwell got there in the end.

 
Having taken the lead on the decision to remove Alex McLeish, Maxwell has now delivered a replacement who is likely to unite the Scotland support - in much the same way as he managed at Rugby Park.

When Clarke said his goodbyes on Sunday, following the 2-1 win over Rangers which secured third spot and European football, he spoke of his pride at seeing three of the four stands belonging to the home fans.

He also paid a glowing tribute to Bowie’s work as owner and, perhaps at that moment, Killie’s sugar daddy might have thought there was a chance of talking his man around.

That there was none will have come much to Maxwell’s relief.

Bowie went on: “What he’s done for Kilmarnock has been phenomenal. But Kilmarnock has also been good for Steve and that’s something we are happy about because it has always been about team work. In his time here it has always been about working as a team.

“So this is an emotional time for us and I’ve still got a lump in my throat just now just thinking about the speech he delivered on the pitch after the game. I never expected him to say anything like that. It was nice to be given that kind of recognition.

“What I enjoyed about working with Steve was that he sees things the same way I do. Keep it simple, don’t complicate things when you don’t have to. We’re straight talking because we are all busy people.

“He was doing a great job so there was no need for me to interfere. He knows the job better than me anyway so why would I interrupt? We just dealt with things on a need to know basis.

“So yes, it’s a sore one to lose a manager of Steve’s calibre but the good news is we are keeping his assistant Alex Dyer, so that’s fine. We do intend to bring in another manager but Alex will be staying here as a second coach.

“And now we’ll get on with the job of trying to replace Steve which is obviously not going to be easy. But we’ll do what we have to do.

“The past couple of weeks have been difficult for everyone to handle because we obviously realised there was a chance of him leaving.

“It’s been tough. My main aim throughout all of the speculation was to concentrate on yesterday, so that’s what we did. We had a big day yesterday and then we had our sit down today, as I said we would.

“Steve told me he wanted to become the Scotland manager and I couldn’t really hold him back from that. We did offer him things and we did our best to keep him but it was pretty obvious that he wanted to leave because its an honour for him to manage the country. We can’t really compete with that.”

Now Clarke must begin his new job on behalf of a nation which has suffered more than enough down the years. Let’s hope for all our sakes that he’s left a few tricks up his magic sleeve.

[killie1961]

20 minutes ago, kfc_superteam said:

 

Steve Clarke had heart set on Scotland and Kilmarnock couldn't compete admits Billy Bowie
The Rugby Park chief says Kilmarnock's loss is Scotland's gain but admits he couldn't stand in Clarke's way when his country came calling 

Billy Bowie took the kitchen sink with him into Rugby Park yesterday morning. But deep down, he knew no matter how hard he threw it at Steve Clarke, it was never going to wash.

Not when Clarke’s heart was already set on cleaning up the affairs of an entire nation.

Record Sport first revealed last week that Bowie had pencilled in a Monday morning heart-to-heart with his manager in the hope of persuading him not to call time on this whirlwind romance at Rugby Park after 18 barnstorming months during which he dragged a club from the brink of relegation into the Europa League qualifiers.

No wonder Bowie wasn’t prepared to let him leave without a putting up a fight. But in truth, it was a token effort.

Speaking to exclusively to Record Sport later yesterday afternoon, a few hours after conceding defeat, the Killie supremo sighed reluctantly: “There was nothing much more we could do to make him stay.

"The moment he told me he wanted to become Scotland manager there wasn’t much point in trying to stand in his way.

“It’s been a tough day. I was in for our meeting at half past ten today so it feels like its been a long day.

“We discussed everything that we had to talk about. We discussed his options and we talked about the club going into Europe next season.

“But he just saw the Scotland job as an honour that he couldn’t turn down. It was a straightforward conversation. When Steve told me he wanted to become the manager of Scotland and that he considered it a great honour, I knew there wasn’t much we could do to keep him at Killie.

“We’ve got to be glad that Scotland now has a great manager because we are all supporting the national team as well.”

If Bowie was trying to sound sincere then it was perfectly understandable that he couldn’t quite manage it. This loss will be a sore one to swallow at a moment in history when Kilmarnock appeared to put a troubled past behind it.

How exactly is he meant to replace a man like Clarke who has worked a succession of miracles over the last season and a half, culminating in Sunday’s crowning glory? If Bowie was grinning through gritted teeth for Scotland’s good fortune, then he could hardly be blamed.

By contrast yesterday afternoon SFA chief executive Ian Maxwell was purring around Hampden’s sixth floor like the cat who got the cream. And little wonder.

Make no mistake, these were testing times for Maxwell who can this morning celebrate his first full year in the job by unveiling the Scotland’s manager of the year as the new national boss. The process may have been long winded, cumbersome and clumsily handled at times but Maxwell got there in the end.

 
Having taken the lead on the decision to remove Alex McLeish, Maxwell has now delivered a replacement who is likely to unite the Scotland support - in much the same way as he managed at Rugby Park.

When Clarke said his goodbyes on Sunday, following the 2-1 win over Rangers which secured third spot and European football, he spoke of his pride at seeing three of the four stands belonging to the home fans.

He also paid a glowing tribute to Bowie’s work as owner and, perhaps at that moment, Killie’s sugar daddy might have thought there was a chance of talking his man around.

That there was none will have come much to Maxwell’s relief.

Bowie went on: “What he’s done for Kilmarnock has been phenomenal. But Kilmarnock has also been good for Steve and that’s something we are happy about because it has always been about team work. In his time here it has always been about working as a team.

“So this is an emotional time for us and I’ve still got a lump in my throat just now just thinking about the speech he delivered on the pitch after the game. I never expected him to say anything like that. It was nice to be given that kind of recognition.

“What I enjoyed about working with Steve was that he sees things the same way I do. Keep it simple, don’t complicate things when you don’t have to. We’re straight talking because we are all busy people.

“He was doing a great job so there was no need for me to interfere. He knows the job better than me anyway so why would I interrupt? We just dealt with things on a need to know basis.

“So yes, it’s a sore one to lose a manager of Steve’s calibre but the good news is we are keeping his assistant Alex Dyer, so that’s fine. We do intend to bring in another manager but Alex will be staying here as a second coach.

“And now we’ll get on with the job of trying to replace Steve which is obviously not going to be easy. But we’ll do what we have to do.

“The past couple of weeks have been difficult for everyone to handle because we obviously realised there was a chance of him leaving.

“It’s been tough. My main aim throughout all of the speculation was to concentrate on yesterday, so that’s what we did. We had a big day yesterday and then we had our sit down today, as I said we would.

“Steve told me he wanted to become the Scotland manager and I couldn’t really hold him back from that. We did offer him things and we did our best to keep him but it was pretty obvious that he wanted to leave because its an honour for him to manage the country. We can’t really compete with that.”

Now Clarke must begin his new job on behalf of a nation which has suffered more than enough down the years. Let’s hope for all our sakes that he’s left a few tricks up his magic sleeve.

ITS good hes kept Alex Dyer on as assistant as gives the club continuity now has to get the right manager in

[Sp3ckyh0td0g81]

Waking up this morning, first day back at work and without sounding dramatic the old heart is heavy. 

What a day we had on Sunday, what an amazing 2 seasons its been under SSC.  When i saw the "breaking news" story on the BBC website yesterday, i knew it was coming like we all did, aye i still held on to the slight glimmer of hope that we could persuade him to stay. 

It didn't make it any less painful when it was confirmed.  I dont ever remembering feeling as gutted as i do now, having lost SSC to the national setup. 

Knowing we are in Europe next season is still unbelievable, where we are now to where we were is incredbile. In the search of a new gaffer we are an exciting prospect for any applicant and we certainly can use that as leverage in the quest.

With all that said and done, its a sore one to take and that is testament to the man who was everything we could only have dreamed of as a Manager.

Reading the headlines and he is reference as Scotland Manager is like a punch to the gut everytime you read it. 

I know the club is more than one man, but like any fairytale you never want it to end, and with SSC leaving, the uncertainty of what the future holds is a stark contrast to the feeling round the ground on Sunday afternoon.

SSC i doubt i could every properly express what you have done for my love for Killie in your time here and i have no doubt you can go on and unite a nation with every single Killie fans support.

The fairytale was real and it was a privelage to call you our Manager.

Billy Bowie its over to you ......

Together We Are Stronger

Together We Are Killie

[skygod]

 

On Sunday, Steve Clarke was given a hero’s reception as he bade farewell to Kilmarnock fans ahead of agreeing to take charge of the Scotland national team. It was remarkably different to his previous managerial exit three and half years ago, as his Reading team were booed off the Madejski Stadium pitch after conceding late on to lose 1-0 to QPR. Clarke would be sacked the next morning.

His undoubted success at Kilmarnock - guiding them to third in the Scottish Premiership for the first time since 1966 with a club-record points total - may suggest that Reading were too hasty in their dismissal of the former West Brom boss. Indeed, when Clarke was announced as the new Killie manager in 2017, he was critical of his treatment in Berkshire, saying of Reading “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”.

On the face of it, Clarke has a point. When he was let go by the Royals, we were ninth in the table and only one point off the play-offs. Of the 41 managers sacked since then in the Championship, only five have been in charge of clubs higher in the table. It certainly pales in comparison to Reading’s position in the table at the time of other recent managers’ departures: Paul Clement (21st), Jaap Stam (20th) and Nigel Adkins (16th). Of course, under Clarke’s successor Brian McDermott, Reading fell rapidly down the table and ended the campaign in 17th before he too was given the boot.

It wouldn’t be outlandish to suggest that, for a period of two or three months, Reading played some of the best football we’ve seen this decade under Clarke. We have not scored five goals in one game or won a game by four goals since the 5-1 thrashing of Ipswich Town, while the 2-1 win over Burnley (then in fourth) and 2-0 defeat of Middlesbrough (then in second) made us real title contenders in October 2015.

A discussion on Clarke would also not be complete without mentioning the huge achievement of reaching the FA Cup semi-final - the club’s first in 88 years - where they put in a superb performance to take Arsenal all the way to extra-time.

This all paints a fairly rosy picture of the Scot’s time in RG2, but the reality is of course very different. The results across his whole 12-month tenure weren’t good enough. From a total of 53 games his win percentage came to 35.85%, which drops to 29.55% if you take away results from cup competitions. This ranks him sixth in Reading’s last ten permanent managers.

At the back of end of the 2014-15 campaign, Reading recorded just three wins in the final 17 league games and were only saved from relegation by their early season form and the fact that the relegated trio of Millwall, Wigan Athletic and Blackpool really were truly awful. At the time of Clarke’s sacking the following season, we had won once in eight games - against 23rd placed Bolton Wanderers.

Perhaps more significantly, Clarke never saw Reading as the right long-term fit for himself. This manifested itself when he spoke to Fulham about taking over as manager, despite the Cottagers being below the Royals at the time. We’ll never quite know how much that incident had an impact because he was sacked just three games later, but it certainly seemed like a turning point.

From that moment, the fans lost trust in him, and perhaps the players did too. However good a coach he was or now is, even if he had been the right manager for Reading before, things changed the moment he spoke to Fulham. It was a point of no return.

Clarke clearly saw Reading as stepping stone. His appointment was a quick one, just a day after Nigel Adkins had been sacked, and the 55 year-old himself admitted that he didn’t do enough due diligence on the club before joining. In fact, he had been lying on a beach in the Caribbean 24 hours before being presented to the media at the Madejski Stadium. That to me suggests he was too quick to take any job to get back into football; to climb the ladder. The Fulham job might not have taken his fancy, but the vacancy at Derby County three months later probably would have.

Now, Clarke has the biggest job of his career so far, and if he earns Scotland qualification to their first major tournament since 1998, then you would be naive to question his managerial ability. After all, just because he wasn’t the right fit for Reading, doesn’t mean he’s a bad manager.

Just look at Brendan Rodgers.

https://thetilehurstend.sbnation.com/2019/5/21/18632259/steve-clarke-the-trouble-with-hindsight-reading-fc-royals

 

 

 

[skygod]

SFA press conference:

Maxwell thanks KFC and BB for the way in which they conducted the discussions.

SC - "Honoured and humbled to be manager of Scotland….pinnacle of my career.....wouldn't be here but for my time at KFC....unbelievable time, great success....thanks to them for the opportunity they have given me....challenge for me, but I like one.....could have sat in the Asst Manager's seat at Chelsea for ever."

And that was it! Apparently there is more to follow.

 

Edited May 21, 2019 by skygod

[skyhigh]

'it's nice to be on this side of the fence'

[piffer]

Who comes up with this stuff. From a national team point of view he’s the right appointment but they are heaping the pressure on already with this nonsense. He wants to go and tell the social media mob to take a holiday. 

[King]

The SFA advert at Rugby Park on Sunday with “Nothing Matters More” particularly riled me. Dicks. 

[skygod]

"Had decided to leave KFC because of personal issues.... Scotland job was a good fit at the time, like the KFC one at that time...I'm employed by the SFA but I will be working hard with the Tartan Army.... it's my job to make sure the team is focussed and payers are committed … (keeps talking about the TA and the women's team!)…. get everybody on board, get positivity back....still hurts me that I only got six caps - I deserved more.… ambition to take Scotland to a finals....spoke to A Robertson this morning.... (Sky cuts away)

Sounds like he's going to have a big input on PR.

 

Edited May 21, 2019 by skygod

[undefined]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7CKoDt-HaVU

[Greg2208]

Nice to see Clarke has already made the phone call to Andy Robertson to tell them that he’s dropped. He’s not the best left back in Scotland any more... step up Greg Taylor. 

[jazza]

32 minutes ago, piffer said:

Who comes up with this stuff. From a national team point of view he’s the right appointment but they are heaping the pressure on already with this nonsense. He wants to go and tell the social media mob to take a holiday. 

What do you want them to say? “You know what...things might be no as s**te now.” 

[Prahakillie]

1 hour ago, skygod said:

"....still hurts me that I only got six caps - I deserved more.… "

 

who was he competing with at the time? Boyd? McKimmie? 

It seems unbelievable now that he wasn't a regular when he was such a steady player in the Chelsea team.