Where is Steve Clarke now?
After a distinguished career at Chelsea where he made over 400 appearances, Steve Clarke finally retired from playing in 1998.
Starting his professional career at St Mirren in 1982, he went onto make nearly 600 first-team appearances for just the two clubs over a 16-year period, winning the FA Cup, the League Cup and the UEFA Cup Winner’s Cup during his time at Chelsea as well as the club’s Player of the Year award in 1994.
On the international front he represented his native Scotland on six occasions between 1987 and 1994.
Upon retiring from playing he immediately joined former team-mate Ruud Gullit at Newcastle United as his assistant but only stayed for one season before rejoining Chelsea as a youth coach. When Jose Mourinho was appointed manager in 2004, Clarke was promoted to assistant manager and stayed for four years before joining another former team-mate Gianfranco Zola at West Ham United.
When Zola was sacked in 2010 Clarke left by mutual consent and joined Kenny Dalglish at Liverpool as first-team coach and then assistant manager. When Dalglish was sacked in May 2012, Clarke offered his resignation which was refused but he eventually left the club a couple of months later when he was appointed head coach at West Bromwich Albion.
After a fantastic first season with the club, finishing 8th in the league, Clarke’s side struggled in his second season and he was sacked in December 2013 after a run of poor results.
He returned to football a year later when he was appointed manager of Championship side Reading and took them to the FA Cup semi-finals where they were unlucky to be defeated by eventual winners Arsenal.
Unfortunately, after a disappointing start to the 2015-16 season he was sacked in the December after just a year in charge of The Royals.
It wasn’t long before Clarke was back in football, and in June 2016 he was revealed as the new assistant manager at Aston Villa working alongside the new manager and former Chelsea team-mate Roberto Di Matteo.
Unfortunately, the Italian’s time was short-lived at the club and he was sacked in September 2016 after a string of poor results so Clarke was placed in temporary charge of the team whilst the club looked for a new manager. He left in October 2016 upon the appointment of Steve Bruce.
He made a return to football management a year later when he was appointed as manager of struggling Scottish Premiership side Kilmarnock and made an immediate impact with draws against Rangers and Celtic. Transforming the team’s fortunes on the pitch, they ended the season in fifth place with a record point’s tally which resulted in him winning the Scottish Football Writer’s Association Manager of the Year award.
His second year at the club was even better, with the club achieving a third place finish and European qualification and he bagged the SFWA award for the second year running as well as the PFA Manager of the Year award.
In May 2019 after Kilmarnock’s final league game, Clarke was appointed in his current role as manager of the Scottish national team where, after a shaky start, he turned around the team’s fortunes and successfully led them to the 2021 European Championship finals via a play-off win over Serbia.
Back to Chelsea
Steve Clarke: Premier League Statistics
| Nationality | Scottish |
| Position | Defender |
| Appearances | 167 |
| Goals | 1 |
| Yellow Cards | 18 |
| Red Cards | 1 |
| Premier League Teams Played for | Chelsea |
Statistics courtesy of www.premierleague.com
Last Updated on 17 March 2021 by Admin