West Ham coach Clarke regrets not getting Chelsea job

West Ham United No2 Steve Clarke admits he was disappointed not to be given the top job at Chelsea.

Clarke was Jose Mourinho's choice to succeed him when he left Chelsea three years ago.

“I’d be a liar if I didn’t think maybe they could have given the job to me on a temporary basis to see how it went when Jose left,” he admits to the Sunday Times. “It didn’t happen. They gave it to Avram Grant and it wasn’t easy to continue in what was a turbulent time, but he made sure I was completely involved. It was only under Scolari that I felt isolated.

“Jose and Roman [Abramovich] deciding it was time to go their separate ways was a big disappointment, personally, and for the club. They’d have done better to knuckle down, sort it out and try to keep going. Because of the success we had, Jose stands out a mile. As a manager, he was head and shoulders above any other.

"Working with him gave me the self-belief I could one day be a manager. I didn’t know him and he didn’t know me. It was a professional relationship that developed into a friendship. Now I would count him as one of my friends. I’d like to think he’d count me as one of his.”