After a long drawn out interview process in which he appeared to be the only candidate Lee Clark has been appointed the new Birmingham City manager. So what do we know about him and what can we expect from him?
The first highlight of Lee’s footballing career was scoring a hat trick for England Schoolboys at Wembley in 1988. A Newcastle lad he signed for his local club in 1990 and went on to make almost two hundred appearances scoring twenty three goals. After that he made a slightly surprising move to local rivals Sunderland where he stayed for two years. His time at Sunderland was cut short when he was photographed wearing a tee shirt on which was printed a derogatory term describing the club’s fans. He was soon snapped up by Fulham where he stayed for six years before finishing his career back at Newcastle. Apart from the schoolboys his only international honours were eleven England U21 caps.
His first job in management was as Glen Roeder’s assistant at Norwich. He must have done well there because in December 2008 he was Huddersfield’s top choice to succeed Stan Ternant. That season they finished 9th but the following two years they made the playoffs losing in the final to Peterborough in 2011. At the start of the 2011-2012 season they went on to achieve a club record of forty three games unbeaten and it was quite a surprise in the football world when Clark was sacked in February. Apparently it was not as big a surprise within the club as the unbeaten record had contained a lot of draws and there was a perception that the team had become too defensive and so were not gaining enough points. After Clark’s departure they still achieved promotion to the Championship via an epic penalty shoot out with Sheffield United.
So he has an interesting recent history. He has been successful but clearly there were issues between him and the board which led to his sacking. He has a decent record of spotting young talent such as Jordan Rhodes and Anthony Pilkington but has also made a few less successful signings. He clearly can get the best out of players but has been criticised for reacting badly to defeats and getting too defensive. In a lot of respects he sounds a bit like Steve Bruce. The thing to remember about Clark is that at thirty-nine he is still at the beginning of his managerial career and any mistakes made in the past may not be repeated at St Andrews. Whether he can find us another Jordan Rhodes or not will depend more on the clubs finances and the transfer ban being lifted. He will have a much tougher job at Blues and his first task will be to try and keep key players at the club.
In his press conference he said all the right things (But then who doesn’t) and promised to play attacking football. A little bit more caution away from home might be welcomed though as in the first half of last season we lost a lot of away games. That wasn’t helped by having to play away after nearly every Europa League game which is at least one thing that Clark won’t have to contend with. It will be interesting to see what he does with the team and who he can bring in. One thing we must do is give him time, he is still young and will make more mistakes but needs our support. Chris Hughton is a tough act to follow but he looks like he’s ready to give it a good go and stay for the long term.
Welcome to St Andrews Lee.
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