The team was taken aback by Clarke’s dismissal, midfielder Funso Ojo told The Sentinel. “A change of manager, that just happened out of nowhere…it went quite quickly.”
The players, he continued, were the ones who should have fired Clarke. “Most of us thought we were safe and thought we were going to finish in the top 12,” he said. It’s that simple: teams started scoring more points, and we stopped winning. We didn’t even get many draws in between if you’re not winning.”
It was an odd choice to replace Clarke with Crosby considering Crosby’s record in the last four games and his victory percentage of 30 percent at Vale, which was far lower than Clarke’s 42 percent. Additionally, he was fired after just 27.
Clarke’s stint at Cheltenham pays off
Prior to being appointed manager of Cheltenham Town, Clarke took a break from the game.
With only one point from their first ten games and no goals, the Robins had had a terrible start to the season.
However, Clarke quickly changed their luck. Putting his trust in more seasoned players, he was nominated for October’s EFL League One Manager of the Month award. According to the EFL, he has “astonishedly quickly instilled spirit and belief with six goals, seven points in five games.”
