Steve Clarke Sacked

West Brom have sacked head coach Steve Clarke following a 1-0 defeat by Cardiff.

The club revealed only last month plans to hold contract talks with the Scot in the new year.

But Saturday's defeat was the Baggies' fourth in a row and left them just two points above the drop zone.

The club said the decision to dispense with Clarke - and place him, along with assistant Kevin Keen, on gardening leave - was the board's unanimous decision.

Joint-assistant head coach Keith Downing will assume control of first-team affairs while the club searches for a successor.

Sporting and technical director Richard Garlick told the club's official website: "We have reluctantly come to the decision to relieve Steve of his duties after very careful consideration.

"It has been well documented that we have not had the rub of the green in certain games this season but that does not cloud the generally disappointing points return during this calendar year, culminating in today's fourth-successive defeat at Cardiff.

"This club's track record proves we do not take such decisions lightly, having only enforced a change in this position three times in approximately 14 years.

"But with key games coming thick and fast, we felt it was important we acted now to give the club the best possible chance of a successful outcome this season.

"Our player wage bill is the highest in the club's history and we feel we have built a squad capable of being very competitive in the Premier League."

Clarke replaced Roy Hodgson at The Hawthorns in June 2012, taking up his first managerial role having previously been assistant boss at Chelsea, West Ham and Liverpool.

He guided Albion to eighth last season but a late-season slump continued into the new term, with only seven wins from 34 Premier League games during the calendar year.

http://www1.skysports.com/football/news/11698/9074393/west-brom-sack-manager-steve-clarke-after-cardiff-defeat

Another bad decision in my opinion. A knee jerk reaction by the board. Look at his pedigree and he has a wealth of experience as the assistant at top clubs, including Chelsea. I think he cocked it up regarding Craig Dawson by retaining him but never playing him but other than that one blip I think Clarke is a decent manager.

 

I think they might regret sacking him.

Stupid decision, they'll regret this for sure. Sad reflection on the state of modern football, couple of dodgy results so sack the manager. They deserve the relegation that will surely follow.

Terrible decision to sack Clarke. I think WBA would have comfortably stayed up this season.

Let's just hope the next WBA manager doesn't rate Dawson and we sign him on loan in January.  

Panic decision to sack him, RDM the favourite now.

Didn't they sack him once though?

Unless they have got a good manager lined up then this may backfire because WBA have been bloody unlucky in some of their games recently. They should have beat Chelsea and apart from a very good save yesterday they would have taken a point.

The fans have wanted him out for a while. they've got 31 points out of the last 34 games, that's relegation form. Baggies are a very well run club, if they've sacked him they'll have somebody else lined up quickly. I think it will prove a decent decision.

bwfc1874 wrote:The fans have wanted him out for a while. they've got 31 points out of the last 34 games, that's relegation form. Baggies are a very well run club, if they've sacked him they'll have somebody else lined up quickly. I think it will prove a decent decision.

Could well be.

The irony of Di Matteo being favourite is not lost on me. Seems like it was a decision made by the fans as I don't see WBA as being relegation fodder and reckon Clarke would have had no problem keeping them up. However last season, Clarke led them to their highest ever Prem finish so I guess he was a victim of his own success - expectations must be sky high.
This "results in 2013" thing is a nonsense as half of those results were in their high finish season - surely it's where they are at the end of the season that matters? Every club has a bad run at some stage, so this dismissal looks like a knee-jerk to me.

West Brom fans have a lot to say about how Bolton fans "drove Sir Gary out" of the club.

In Clarke they had a manager that achieved far more than Megson did at Bolton and on a tighter budget. 

I don't like West Brom. I hope they go down.

I'd love him here rather than this useless wanker- Remember Blackburn??

He can't get his team up for local matches, Gartside, what have you done???????????

AVB will probably slip into the WBA job quite comfortably.