Steve Clarke ready to walk away from Chelsea ?!

[morris]

Steve Clarke, Chelsea’s assistant first-team coach, has become so disillusioned with life at Stamford Bridge that he wants to pursue his own managerial career at the end of the season, The Times has learnt. Chelsea’s managerial team could be in for quite a shake-up because the rumblings of discontent felt towards Avram Grant, the first-team coach, are such that several other long-serving members of the coaching staff will also consider their positions if Grant remains in charge next season.

Clarke was given a huge pay rise to £900,000 a year to convince him to stay after the departure of José Mourinho in September last year forced the Scot to consider his future, but the improved contract has not eradicated all his concerns.

It is understood that he is ready to end his association with Chelsea, which stretches back 21 years, by allowing his name to be circulated among Coca-Cola Championship clubs at the end of the season. Such is Clarke’s desire for a fresh start that he is willing to accept a substantial pay cut to secure a manager’s job elsewhere.

Clarke’s renewed case of itchy feet will represent a considerable blow to Chelsea because he is well respected by all the senior players and is the only member of the management team to be genuinely popular with the fans. The former Scotland defender joined Chelsea from St Mirren in 1987 and went on to make 421 appearances, the fifth highest total in the club’s history, later acting as a scout and youth-team coach before he was appointed assistant manager by Mourinho.

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Although Clarke has no personal problem with Grant, the appointment of Henk ten Cate as joint assistant first-team coach alongside Clarke has not helped the situation and he has yet to develop a close working relationship with the Dutchman.

Clarke will remain loyal to Grant until the end of the season, despite misgivings over some of the Israeli’s methods, which are shared by others at the club. There is a widespread belief that training sessions are too often conducted on the hoof, whereas in the past they were planned several weeks in advance, while others have criticised Grant’s team meetings for lacking detail, in contrast to the meticulous preparation of Mourinho.

Grant has also had to put up with his authority being publicly questioned by senior players, with Michael Ballack and Frank Lampard indulging in mild shows of dissent after being substituted in the matches against Middlesbrough and Fenerbahçe in the past week, but he was in a defiant mood yesterday before Chelsea’s Barclays Premier League match away to Manchester City today.

Grant has begun preparing for next season, although his plans are likely to be radically altered if Chelsea are knocked out of the Champions League next week by Fenerbahçe, who lead their quarter- final 2-1 after the first leg in Istanbul on Wednesday.

“What assurance can the club give me?” Grant said. “A contract for ten years? I need to do my job. On the football front I can tell you what I’ll do at Chelsea next week, next season and in two years’ time. Maybe even more. I have my ideas and my plans, but in my private life I don’t know what will happen tomorrow. We’re planning for next season already. There is a vision for the club and it’s very clear. We want to get better over many years.”

Grant did concede that his team are more vulnerable than Mourinho’s Chelsea, although he was adamant that he would not abandon his attacking principles, despite the defeat in Istanbul.

“Maybe we’re more vulnerable, yes,” Grant said. “I’ve not done the statistics about how many leads were lost last season, but when you go to a different way sometimes you pay for this. But I prefer what happened on Wednesday. It was not the time to close the game as we were dominating, so I will not close the game to win 1-0. We looked like scoring a second goal so it was not the time to close down the game. Most of the times we did that this year we won the games.”

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/ ... 686030.ece

[Backbiter]

This stuff really bugs me:

Clarke will remain loyal to Grant until the end of the season, despite misgivings over some of the Israeli’s methods, which are shared by others at the club. There is a widespread belief that training sessions are too often conducted on the hoof, whereas in the past they were planned several weeks in advance, while others have criticised Grant’s team meetings for lacking detail, in contrast to the meticulous preparation of Mourinho.

While press talk is often unsubstantiated drivel, not to mention outright lies, there is too much detail in this to make me doubt it comes from genuine sources. The press are always out to undermine the club in any way possible, but it seems people at the club are seriously concerned at Grant's inability to run the show competently. There's plenty of evidence of that for us supporters, but when it comes from people like Steve Clarke you know there are big problems behind the scenes.

Grant's reputation, such as it is, rests on the fact that he's spent years picking the brains of top bosses around the world. That may be the case, but it would be nice to see him applying some of these brilliant methods he's studied, rather than adopting a seemingly hands-off approach. How the hell can he have such a casual attitude to training sessions? How the hell can he think it not worth geeing the team up in extra time in the CC Final and just stand there letting JT have a word? If he's studied Jose's methods he would know that one-to-one words with players can draw out the extra bit needed to get players to raise their game.

A manager has to have authority and decisiveness or players are just left to their own devices and chaos ensues. It's no wonder our defending has become much less organised since Jose left if AG isn't preparing the team with as much attention to detail as Jose used to.

[MURDOCH_(8)]

First of all... Losing Clarke would cause a riot and everyone would be totally against Grant, not because it was all and totally his fault but because it happened under him. Steve Clarke is a legend amongst fans and fellow professionals and is probably my favourite person at Chelsea and many fans will agree he is their favourite too. If he was to move because he fully wanted to further his career in a managerial sense then we would totally understand but to leave because he is unhappy is totally unacceptable, the man has given so much to this club, he lives and breaths Chelsea. He is more to the club than the current managerial staff and should stay longer than they ever thought they could. This is yet another example of Grants incompetence, there is even disharmoney among his two closest collegues along with the rest of the squad and after reading this and assuming that it is accurate I believe this man is tearing our club apart. He is by no means a bad guy and the board should take most of the blame but he isn't good enough, not qualified, has no managerial quailtys that we have seen, can't inspire the players or even unite his staff, his signings haven't exactly been brilliant and tactically he is easily outfoxed. He does himself no favours what so ever by continuelly plugging this myth that we are playing more attacking football. It is a blatant lie. We do play the same tactics as Jose but I even admit we are far different. We don't have the tactical prowess of Mourinho, the run through a wall mentality and awesome team spirit or even the fearfactor we had under him which quite frankly depresses me, even in the old days we had teams thinking, "Oh Chelsea, good team on their day, not an easy match by any strech of the imagination". Now we have, "Oh Chelsea, we could get a result here you know". To real fans that hurts deep down. We don't seem to be respected by anyone and it's not because of the football we play or the antics of some of our players its because we were on the verge of greatness and we fuc ked it up all by ourselves. I am a Chelsea fan in pain, I support my teamthrough thick and thin but I don't in anyway support the manager, he isn't good enough simple as that. Not a bad person, a bad manager. The club needs to start afresh in the summer, new manager, new players and it will take us at least 3 years, I predict more to get back to the stage we were at under Jose, never mind move forward as a club as we threatened to do not so long ago.

[Mod]

No question that Clarkey loves Chelsea, but I am actually surprised he stayed on since Jose went. I always got the impression that wherever Jose went (maybe alike Drogba) Clarkey would follow him there, and was only seeing out time at Chelsea until Jose settled somewhere in a new role. That was just my theory. He done the same with Gullit at Newcastle didn't he?

Even so, working so closely for over 3 years with one of the world's best managers, he must have stepped up massively with his own coaching skills, and now at Chelsea must be feeling somewhat a 'spare part'. It's clear he no longer has as much 'say' in things there.

[Tim]

If this is true, it will be a black day for the club and a big, big mistake.

[geezer]

If he goes then he goes with my blessing and best wishes providing the new role is as a manager. Steve must have amassed a wealth of knowledge now around how to motivate players, what tactics to use and when to use them etc.

He owes us nothing as he has given his all but he owes it to himself to prove he can do a job as a clubs number 1. Who knows, if he proved to be successful then maybe he would return in ther future and be our manager.

He deserves the opportunity.

[dreadis]

Did this story surprise anyone? Not really. The facts of the current CFC "state of mind from within" are more clearer every day. I will be quite gutted and sad when/if he leaves, but at the same time I am happy for him because I feel that he now has the knowledge and experience to take over a managerial role at a decent club.

And I'll tell you this as well...The club he takes over will probably be my 2nd favorite club next year!

[just]

This was the bit that made me scratch my head:

Grant did concede that his team are more vulnerable than Mourinho’s Chelsea, although he was adamant that he would not abandon his attacking principles, despite the defeat in Istanbul.

“Maybe we’re more vulnerable, yes,” Grant said. “I’ve not done the statistics about how many leads were lost last season, but when you go to a different way sometimes you pay for this. But I prefer what happened on Wednesday. It was not the time to close the game as we were dominating, so I will not close the game to win 1-0. We looked like scoring a second goal so it was not the time to close down the game. Most of the times we did that this year we won the games.”

Did the bloke watch the same 2nd half as us on Wednesday?

[bjd]

I dont know whether or not a hack is putting two and two together or not but it was simply a matter of time before a story of this ilk surfaced.

Im not surprised Clarke is a little pissed off at the moment - he look increasingly marginalised, and if im honest i have to say im not actually sure what his role is these days, or that of Top Cat, in fact i couldn't actually say what TOp Cat does or worse brings to our setup.

If Clarke does leave and if it is because he is unhappy with what is going on at Chelsea, the club had better prepare themselves because it will get nasty and messy very quickly.

Still, to echo everyone elses statements he will certainly get a massive 'good luck' from me!

[coco]

This was the bit that made me scratch my head:

Grant did concede that his team are more vulnerable than Mourinho’s Chelsea, although he was adamant that he would not abandon his attacking principles, despite the defeat in Istanbul.

“Maybe we’re more vulnerable, yes,” Grant said. “I’ve not done the statistics about how many leads were lost last season, but when you go to a different way sometimes you pay for this. But I prefer what happened on Wednesday. It was not the time to close the game as we were dominating, so I will not close the game to win 1-0. We looked like scoring a second goal so it was not the time to close down the game. Most of the times we did that this year we won the games.”

Did the bloke watch the same 2nd half as us on Wednesday?

"But I prefer what happened on Wednesday"

[dkw]

if he leaves then he leaves as a chelsea legend and will always be remembered as a legend. but its a natural progression. i wouldnt have been surprised if this would have happened whoever was manager, including jose. he has finished his apprentiship and wants to become a manager in his own right. hopefully he will end up back at the bridge in the future, maybe even as manager. who knows, clarke/wise/zola partnership........

[blizeH]

Clarkey is one of my favourite people at Chelsea right now, and has been for quite some time - I'd be gutted if he leaves now, unless of course it's all some elaborate plan to go away and get some managerial experience and hope that at some point in the future he'll be ready to take on a managerial role at Chelsea

[Luis Enrique]

This is one of the few times the press has written an article that makes complete sense to me. I think it's pretty obvious that there are internal leaks coming either from players, some old coaching staff or both, and Simon Greenberg has admitted as much (interview at CFCnet). In the frame of what has been going on recently, Clarke's desire to set out on his own not only makes sense, but is really a way not just of expanding his future, but preserving it and his reputation.

It will be devastating to the players. I think it was the Spurs match where at the beginning of the second half, the players were huddled around Clarke and ignored both Grant and Ten Cate. This speaks volumes about the trust and confidence they have in Clarke and what is lacking in their relationships with Grant and Ten Cate.

Ten Cate has really seemed an odd bird for me. I'm not entirely sure why he was brought in. As a tactician and organizer for Grant? To be a liason/mediator with players? He's failed stunningly in both aspects. He had a bad reputation in the Netherlands for having "personality conflicts" with players, so much so that rather than deal with them, he sold them off disregarding the potential effect it could have on his team. It's not surprising when there were rumors about a row with JT.

In light of Grant's glaring inadequacies and Ten Cate's prickliness, I suspect that Clarke is the only glue holding the team morale together. I'm not sure that he really has any role beyond this. I think it's pretty clear that he was marginalized by Ten Cate's hiring and whatever wisdom he picked up from Mourinho regarding tactics and his own knowledge about the individual players and what makes them tick has been pretty much ignored.

Whatever he decides, good luck to the man. He deserves better than what he's getting.

[Chelsea FC Champions]

http://tribalfootball.com/article.php?id=86433

[lauren]

perhaps Jose has a job lined up for next season and will take Clarkey with him. So Clarke is making noises to make it easy for him to get sacked. Just a thought.

[falkirkchelsea]

Must have been a kick in the stones when Grant took over considering everything Clarkes done and achieved at the club.If anyone was deserving of a chance to make the job theres it was him.On a side note i remember he used to do alot of the post match interviews when jose was in charge.I dont think he's done 1 since he left.

[callista]

I don't know why anyone would be surprised by this news, you only need to hear the general gossip coming out of the club from sources (some obviously more accurate than others), look at the body language of Clarke at times when intereacting with the rest of the coaching staff to have known that he is perhaps less than happy with the state of play.

It would be a crying shame to lose Clarke and I actually am surprised he has lasted this long actually. If he does go, I wish him all the best with his new managerial career, he has been a great servant to the club but like wiith any job if you can't stand your co-workers life is too short to hang around being miserable - no matter how much you get paid.

On a side note, the comments about Grant's training methods are obviously pretty accurate as we have heard about all this before far too many times from too many different people for it to be total bullsh*t.

It's seems ironic that Grant keeps boasting how he has been picking the brains of the brightest coaches in the world for the last 30 years yet spends his time on the training pitch with his hands in his pockets contributing little. Sort of sums him up really.

Grant did concede that his team are more vulnerable than Mourinho’s Chelsea, although he was adamant that he would not abandon his attacking principles, despite the defeat in Istanbul.

“Maybe we’re more vulnerable, yes,” Grant said. “I’ve not done the statistics about how many leads were lost last season, but when you go to a different way sometimes you pay for this. But I prefer what happened on Wednesday. It was not the time to close the game as we were dominating, so I will not close the game to win 1-0. We looked like scoring a second goal so it was not the time to close down the game. Most of the times we did that this year we won the games.”

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/ ... 686030.ece

And on a final note;

1. What attacking principles is Grant abandoning? Seems he has not taken on any to abandon in the first damn place!

2. He may have liked Wednesday's performance and they way we went from totally dominating a game we should have won easily and then promptly losing it in the second half - but I don't.

Every time that man open his mouth I lose respect for him a little more.

[Jimboola69]

I have feared this for some time now.

I wish him all the best!

[youlots]

Lauren; the same prescriptive rules (be it from FIFA or the FA) that apply to players' contracts don't apply to managerial contracts. Hence, and save for the existence or otherwise (that I seriously doubt) of an attempt at a form of restraint of trade clause in Clarkey's present contract prohibiting him or his agent from sounding out future possibilities with other clubs whilst under contract with us (such clause in any event being unenforceable at law) there is absolutely no prohibition on Clarke (or any one else for that matter save for footballers because of the prescriptive association rules) testing the market as it were. Accordingly, if the club were to sack Clarke on the basis that either he or his agent were in talkies about possible postions elsewhere, the dismissal would be unlawful. So I don't really understand your point. If Clarke wants to leave or signs a contract with another club in the near furture to manage that other club next year or even from next week (subject to the notice provisions in his present contract) there is nothing to stop him doing so. And if he, more than likely, given the present circumstances, is just on a month to month or year to year contract and chooses to sign a contract with another club now to go to that other club from the end of this season/start of next, Chelsea would have to pay him up until he leaves. Moreover, given the antipathy (that remains) regarding the club's handling of Jose and the ever increasing transperency of the folly of installing Grant, surely our beloved owner and his cohorts are not so obtuse that they would risk sacking Clarke. To do so to such a respected, loyal and loved figure at the club would destroy any remaining respect that any supporters would have for the owner and his cohorts.

[lauren]

youlots I don't know anything about Clarke's contract and I suspect neither do you. I was merely suggesting that he may be going with JM if JM was in talks with another club, be it an EPL club or any other. And possibly stirring things up.

My opinion, for what it's worth is that there will be a major shakeup this summer in terms of management, and once again, I reiterate something I have asked a few times, why was Grant given a 4 year contract? He will be expensive to sack and in my mind that is bad business.

[mad_mac]

If Grant leaves, then I will be really sad. He is the one thing that links us with the past, the old regime as it were. He was a great player for us, and one of the players who attracted me to following Chelsea.

I, like many of you, feel that Clarke could have stepped in and taken over after jose left. And, I think that he may go on to either, join Jose, or take up his own position. Either way I wish him all the best

Scott

[youlots]

But Lauren you speculated in your original post that Clarkey may have been doing this (ie. putting the feelers out/letting it be known that he was available) in order to have himself sacked. Why would Clarke want to be sacked? What point would it serve either him or the club? And I don't credit Clarke with the idea of having any political motive behind "stirring" things up at the club either in his own right or as an accomplice of Jose with some slow burn retributive/revenge theory. And I don't see what Clarke's present or future intentions have to so with Grant being given a four year contract either. That to me is an entirely a separate issue unless you are of the view that Clarke has now decided (some 6 months or so after Grant signed that four year deal) that his chances of managing Chels in the near future are not going to be realized. I don't think any of us have ever entertained that possibility have we? And I don't think Clarkey has probably entertained it either except in a possible caretaker capacity to the end of the season.

As for Clarkey going with Jose to Jose's new club whether that be Barca or Inter or whereever, well I suppose that's always possible but I think it's more than likely that Clarkey realizes that he's probably at the stage where he needs to have a go a management in his own right. I mean he's ideally placed to take that step don't you think. He's learnt from one of the best and had an initmate view for the last 6 of 7 months of what not to do.

And lastly, even if it were expensive to sack Grant (if that indeed takes place) do any of us care how much it costs. And any payout in that regard would be chickenfeed compared to the amount that is paid to players. Therefore, how could it be said that it would be bad business to sack Grant? I would have thought that it is always good business to get rid of someone who is clearly not up to the task.

[bjd]

I dont think Clarke will follow Jose where he goes next.

Jose brought in his own management team with him but kept on Clarke because he wanted someone who knew Chelsea and the English game, and i suspect he will do the same thing at Inter or Barca or wherever he goes to next...

[BLUENUT]

A sad sad day in the life of Chelsea football club if true!

Last day of the season chant - Stevie Clarke's Blue and white army!!

Stevie Clarke's Blue and white army!!

The club is losing touch with the supporters and removing any links to our past.

[mad_mac]

If Clarke leaves, then I will be really sad. He is the one thing that links us with the past, the old regime as it were. He was a great player for us, and one of the players who attracted me to following Chelsea.

I, like many of you, feel that Clarke could have stepped in and taken over after jose left. And, I think that he may go on to either, join Jose, or take up his own position. Either way I wish him all the best

Scott

just realized a glaring mistake in my first post