RUMOUR: Clarke to Fulham

[Libertine]

Just got home from work, so this news is all new to me.

What a complete, and utter, clusterfuck.

[semtex1871]

Confrimed.....just on SSN.....

1st with the news

[Royal Rother]

I blame social media.

Exaggerated story in all probability suckering in muppets like the BBC Berks sports crew.

Logic always said it was pretty bloody far fetched that he would actually leave but he's entitled to speak with them. And the club, if they've got faith in him and the deal he is on, are quite likely to say, oh go on then, see what's on offer because we can fire you at any second as you know.

Managers can't have such tenuous hold on current employment, realising they may very well be fired after a short poor run, and not be allowed to talk to other potential employers.

Well said.

I know clubs, agents and players leak stuff to the press/gossip sites in order to engineer transfers but I'm baffled as to the motivations of whoever let the cat out of the bag on this one.

This could have all been done quietly with none of us any the wiser. Clarke's reputation intact and Fulham not looking like some sort of joke club, turned down by two managers in two days.

Doesn't Fulham have to make an official approach to the club before they can even speak to him? Doesn't that have to be somewhat public?

I just don't understand why people are defending him. On what reasonable basis could he decide to leave Reading after 11 months to join Fulham? This isn't like when McDermott was approached by Wolves, in that case I completely understand why he would have been interested. This would have been a sideways move into a club that has little more to spend than Reading.

But he isn't leaving....

[holsgrove breaks a leg]

Surely not another twist....

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/footba ... paign=1490

[genome]

The gift that keeps on giving.

[Ian Royal]

Vision made a very good point earlier I'd like to expand on why this can't be good whatever.

If this is all bollocks you'd expect the club and / or Clarke to have said so. Instead the club cancels a routine press conference Clarke should have held and there's no reference to him in the match preview apparently. Now that's another pretty big clue this isn't all just made up by the media.

So we've got to asume one of four things.
1) we're contractually obliged to let Clarke talk to Fulham and he heard them out then said no.. . tbh, this is the best possibility, but how likely is that contract clause? We didn't have it for Pards.
2) Fulham had already spoken to Clarke without permission so ww had to let it go ahead anyway. That says bad things about Clarke.
3) Clarke demanded to speak to Fulham.. that says bad things about Clarke.
4) we don't care if Clarke leaves / would be happy for him to go. This suggests his time was numbered anyway.

With all but the first I can't see how his position is tenable. It's just a matter of time before he jumps ship or gets shoved. I know that's management in general, but there's not even plausible deniability anymore.

[Royal Ginger]

Watts reporting on interviews today that it was allowed by the board, the Reading situation was much better for Clarke than the Fulham one, Steve acknowledges the anger from fans, there's a bit of bad blood between manager and board.

[MmmMonsterMunch]

I listened to the conference. To quote word for word he said "Reading is the best option for me AT THIS STAGE".

Roughly translated as I don't really want to be here but still a better option than Fulham.

Will jump ship as soon as it's feasible & he gets more £££.

Very disappointing - I was a fan of his but very unimpressed by all this. Why he wants to talk to another club after 11 months here when he's had free reign I don't know. Your stock ain't that high mate.

Hope he goes now TBH.

[Rollerbob]

I listened to the conference. To quote word for word he said "Reading is the best option for me AT THIS STAGE".

Roughly translated as I don't really want to be here but still a better option than Fulham.

Will jump ship as soon as it's feasible & he gets more £££.

Very disappointing - I was a fan of his but very unimpressed by all this. Why he wants to talk to another club after 11 months here when he's had free reign I don't know. Your stock ain't that high mate.

Agree with all of this. He's shot himself in the ballbag a bit I think - by the sounds of it, he's put himself right in the eye of the owners, and not in a good way.

[Coppelled_Streets]

I listened to the conference. To quote word for word he said "Reading is the best option for me AT THIS STAGE".

Roughly translated as I don't really want to be here but still a better option than Fulham.

Will jump ship as soon as it's feasible & he gets more £££.

Very disappointing - I was a fan of his but very unimpressed by all this. Why he wants to talk to another club after 11 months here when he's had free reign I don't know. Your stock ain't that high mate.

Hope he goes now TBH.

This!

[Royal Rother]

I listened to the conference. To quote word for word he said "Reading is the best option for me AT THIS STAGE".

Roughly translated as I don't really want to be here but still a better option than Fulham.

Will jump ship as soon as it's feasible & he gets more £££.

Very disappointing - I was a fan of his but very unimpressed by all this. Why he wants to talk to another club after 11 months here when he's had free reign I don't know. Your stock ain't that high mate.

Hope he goes now TBH.

Well it obviously is, isn't it?

You need to stop being so bloody precious about it - it ain't a marriage. Yes he gets paid well to do a job but knows he could be fired next month if results don't pick up.

Someone asked if he'd be interested in having a chat about moving jobs, he thought, why not? Asked RFC if they'd let him have that conversation and wisely they said "yes, go ahead".

Having met with them he decided RFC was where he wanted to be.

It happens all the time in every profession, but generally doesn't get reported in the press, regurgitated and embellished by every social media wannabe itk tosser and by melodramatic local radio stations.

It's a shame it's like this but it is and there's no point fighting it.

The guy has done nothing wrong and anyone thinking any the less of him are being a bit silly. Well, a LOT silly really.

[Pepe the Horseman]

The problem isn't necessarily that he's gone for another job, it's the fact that he's barely even started this one.

[winchester_royal]

Agreed, and tbh I'm surprised RR is taking this particular line, given that he often seems to be one of the first to lament the path that modern football is taking.

Perhaps we should invite a few out of work managers into the directors' box tomorrow, you know, just to be professional and ensure that we've got the best possible manager for us at this stage.

[harmoye]

Hi all, this guy Clarke is a fanny go lightly ! The management should ditch him and go for a manager who will be loyal to the club and fans ! Can you imagine the talk in the dressing room among the players ? Doesn't inspire the blood and guts to get promoted..does it ?

[sandman]

Hi all, this guy Clarke is a fanny go lightly ! The management should ditch him and go for a manager who will be loyal to the club and fans ! Can you imagine the talk in the dressing room among the players ? Doesn't inspire the blood and guts to get promoted..does it ?

The players won't care as long as they're being paid.

[marlowuk]

I listened to the conference. To quote word for word he said "Reading is the best option for me AT THIS STAGE".

I assume you are referring to the Press Conference? The transcript of that conference is on the OS and the phrase '..at this stage.' is not there! Nor does he use that phrase in the audio interview on the BBC site. It seems that either the club has decided to edit the transcript (which would mean it was not a truthful transcript) or, MM, you have mis-remembered or misheard what was said. In my view this was quite a damning phrase if SC (not SSC!) really used it

[MmmMonsterMunch]

He used those exact words. I listened to it this morning.

Live on BBCRB. I can't be the only person who heard it sure someone else can also confirm.

[Royal Rother]

Agreed, and tbh I'm surprised RR is taking this particular line, given that he often seems to be one of the first to lament the path that modern football is taking.

Perhaps we should invite a few out of work managers into the directors' box tomorrow, you know, just to be professional and ensure that we've got the best possible manager for us at this stage.

Didn't say I like it, in fact I said it's a shame the game is like this, but Clarke is working in 2015 and personal reactions towards him are misplaced.

30 years ago the average tenure of a Championship manager was nearly 4 years, now it's 11 months I believe.

You can't blame someone working in this business for looking at other alternatives when approaches are made.

[Royal Rother]

He used those exact words. I listened to it this morning.

Live on BBCRB. I can't be the only person who heard it sure someone else can also confirm.

He definitely said "at this stage".

And that's exactly how it is. Someone else WILL come in for him and he'll go if he feels it's a step up or he WILL be sacked.

So at this stage RFC is his best option.

Loyalty in modern professional football is a virtual fantasy.

[Nameless]

You can't blame someone working in this business for looking at other alternatives when approaches are made.

Of course he can be blamed, and criticised for it. You can understand it, maybe even sympathise to a degree but it's a poor thing to do and he's put himself in a bad position purely as a result of poor judgement.